Australian Universities Burning Books

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/books-get-the-shove-as-universi...

Sydney Uni got into the news some years ago for burying a whole lot of books, same sort of justification.

I'm rather relieved they're not *literally* burning books, I had a heart attack at the thought of the carbon footprint of that!!

"The policy ... does not allow the last Australian copy of any book to be discarded."

So when they get down to the last two, one uni thinks "we don't have the last copy" and so does the other, so they both throw out their copy?

I've read about his happening in university and other libraries worldwide for several years now.

My local council library discards any novel which hasn't been borrowed in the previous three years.

I don't know their policy on non-fiction.

Many of the 2nd hand books I buy from here are library discards which is, at least, better than permanently disposing of them:

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

I don't understand getting rid of old newspapers and the like as actually holding one in your hand is so much better than microfiche or digital copies.