I did think of taking the lot. But just about the only place I could put them would be in the garage, which would admit damp air, and buckram grows mold under those conditions. It is sad to think of the fate of so many nicely bound magazines. I took about 25 volumes, I guess. Even most of those will, for the time being, have to be stored on a bedroom floor.
One of the (I think) largely overlooked stories of the past 40 years or so, and especially of recent years, is the discarding of library books and periodicals. Nicolson Baker wrote about the discarding of catalog cards
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/04/04/discards
and went on to write a book about the discarding of periodicals called
Double Fold, which I recommend provided no one has a depression or stress management problem, because it may make you sad and angry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Fold
I don't see what's happened at my own univ library as something instigated by the librarians. They have done what they've understood themselves to have to do, and by the norms in the profession now they have acted unexceptionably. The emphasis for the past 30 or more years in librarianship seems to be on attracting patrons and conforming policy to their preferences rather than on the preservation of physical objects (books, newspapers, etc.). I think this implies too much deference to what people supposedly want now. Will, for example, future generations crave contact with physical remains of past print? The current generation of 20s-30s people allegedly likes to own less than its predecessors; they allegedly want "experiences." Me, my iPad, my buddies, and let's do some urbex this weekend. But suppose this generation has children ... what will those children think of the way what could have been a trust for them was managed?
