Rant: Local Sources are Ancient History

[Easy E]

This is a bit of a rant.  I live in a rural community, and we do not have a lot of access to Ancient History secondary sources. I am pretty excited if I can find 1 book locally about a topic of interest available on a shelf. 

We have three local libraries.  Two are run by the County and one is run by a local community college.  Obviously there is not a big demand for these resources.  However, all of the secondary sources I can find locally are ancient.  I am talking from the 1950s- 1990s.  1995 is often the newest (and a re-print) and that is 30 years old at this point!  There is a dearth of new material locally.     

I have worked with the county to donate some books on the topic, but unless they are hard covers they will just sell them for pennies to raise funds.  Therefore, I am not that interested in giving them many of my own books. 

Thankfully, in 2024 we have access to the internet now but it is still a rant worthy frustration.  Is this the same everywhere?  Is there not much interest in the general population for ancient history anymore?   

[Citizen Sade]

No, I don’t think it’s the same everywhere. Have you asked if your local libraries have access to a interlibrary loan system?

[Ran The Cid]

I'm based in the US, and have seen the same trend over the past 10-15 years.  There are fewer and fewer history books on the library shelves.  My local library is part of a suburban wide network with lending access to dozens of libraries - and its not much better even with all those resources.  My wife is a librarian - keeping books on the shelf is all about circulation.  People are not checking out history books and so they are removed.  Hint:  go to your local library and check out the books you want to keep on the shelves!

What I am seeing is a large increase in E books for history.  I'd rather have paper, but at some point I'll be forced to move over to electronic versions of the books I am using for research. 

[has.been]

A couple of years ago, when I was still working in a school, & helping with the Wargames club,
the school management decided to remove ALL reference books from the library shelves.
The Librarian was not consulted & agreed I could take any history books for the Wargames club.
The management had to go through the books first. That was supposed to happen over the immanent
half term. When I saw the Librarian after half term she told me the management had (again without
consulting her) arranged for every book to be taken for pulping.
Yes those books were 'old' but would have been useful for the club.

[fred]

I’m in the UK, and in my town there used to be several libraries - but over recent years most of these have closed down leaving just the one in the centre of town. Which I’m not sure I have ever been into - even though I have been into the other part of the building it is in.

I’m not sure it even occurs to me to visit a library to get history books.

10 or so years ago when the kids where younger and we had a library within walking distance we used to visit regularly, and I would take out random history books then - but this was more from seeing something (from a small selection) that might be of interest.

Going back 30+ years when I was a school and first got into gaming, I used to make extensive use of the inter library loans system - but now that just sounds way too much effort vs the internet.

[dadlamassu]

Our nearest library is small and in a "disadvantaged" area so reference books are scarce.  There are many reasons but cost is a very important one.  The readership for reference books is small and historians/wargamers very scarce.  Quality reference books are expensive and fiction books with a much larger readership are relatively inexpensive.  Thus the librarian can purchase several books that will be read or one that only one or two people will read or look at and which will then lie for ages on the shelf.  I know this because I took a book out a few months ago.  The previous date stamp was 2005.  I asked about it and was given it for a donation.

Usually I can order any reference book that I want and it arrives in due course then it sits until someone else orders it.  If I want to consult several books quickly I can order them at the National Library of Scotland (a reference not a lending library) and a couple of days later I can go in to the reading room and consult them.  I can reorder them when I return them to use the next day or on any other suitable day. 

[Easy E]

I am getting to a point where I do not want my own personal library.  It is big and bulky and hard to move around. Plus, I want to share my resources, especially some of the more obscure ones to a larger audience. 

I guess if I want more history books in the library, I need to start doing things there to attract people to ancient history!  Be the change and all that.....

[has.been]

I am getting to a point where I do not want my own personal library.  It is big and bulky and hard to move around. Plus, I want to share my resources, especially some of the more obscure ones to a larger audience.

Me too!
I want to greatly reduce my 'library', but:-
No point taking them to a wargame show, they don't sell.
Difficult giving them away to friends, they are in a similar situation.
Local second hand book shops either already overstocked or offer pennies.
On-line book shops also offer pennies (I have already sold about a hundred books this way).
Charity shops will take books, but only in small numbers. I fear they will end pulped.
Even giving them to other LAFers involves postage & books are heavy.

Any suggestions?
Anyone?