Re:Saving 4M Books from Landfill – Internet Archive Blogs
by masklinn on Saturday March 11, 2023 @08:57AM
(#35108314)
> That is absolutely not a library's main goal.
I'd say you're both wrong, and both right: "library" doesn't imply either, in and of itself it's just a repository of material.
Where it leans in its goals depends on the type of library: a national, reference, or research library will likely have preservation as a foremost goal (the first and second especially, but a research library needs to preserve primary and secondary sources no matter how old they are, unless they get punted to a specialised reference library), while a public or academic library will be more concerned with having resources patrons are generally interested in.
I'd say you're both wrong, and both right: "library" doesn't imply either, in and of itself it's just a repository of material.
Where it leans in its goals depends on the type of library: a national, reference, or research library will likely have preservation as a foremost goal (the first and second especially, but a research library needs to preserve primary and secondary sources no matter how old they are, unless they get punted to a specialised reference library), while a public or academic library will be more concerned with having resources patrons are generally interested in.