Fine Arts.—Books must be discarded very sparingly in this section. Collections of engravings, finely illustrated books, and collected music, not at all.
Theology and Philosophy.—Philosophical works, particularly systems of philosophy, should never be discarded. Historical and explanatory text-books may be discarded as they become superseded by later works. Old theology, commentaries on the Bible, sectarian literature and sermons should be discarded very freely. Theological controversies should never be collected by general municipal libraries unless of local interest.
Social Science.—This class requires frequent revision, especially in the sections devoted to political economy, government, law and other topics. Books on questions of momentary interest can be replaced by historical résumés. Constantly changing subjects like law, government and political economy should be kept up to date as much as possible, and the historical record kept by means of recent histories. Questions like parliamentary reform, slavery and chartism are illustrations of once burning topics which may just as well be represented by a few modern histories as by actual collections of the very voluminous literature attached to each subject.
Language and Literature.—Old grammars may be discarded without risk, and also ordinary school dictionaries. Books on literary history, bibliography and librarianship are tools, and should never be discarded.
Prose Fiction.—Novelists mentioned in literary histories should never be discarded. Minor novelists of all lands, who are not mentioned in literary histories, whose works have remained unissued for a year or two, should be promptly discarded. So, also, should merely topical novels of no permanent interest, which libraries are often forced to buy under pressure. Continuous popularity is a good reason for retaining any novel, provided it is not immoral.
Poetry and Drama.—Collective works should never be discarded unless efficiently superseded. But poets and dramatists of a day who are no longer read may be safely discarded, but no one who is named in histories of literature.
History and Geography.—Historical works which are mere résumés, and not themselves original authorities, may be discarded with comparative safety; but the matter of illustrations again applies here with considerable force. Works of travel of the ordinary globe-trotting description may be discarded when ten years old, along with all kinds of guidebooks, save those which are local. But here, again, beware of discarding illustrated books. Pioneer works of exploration should be retained. Old gazetteers are, as a rule, lumber, but some of the illustrated ones, like Lewis’ for Britain, may be retained for their armorial illustrations. Histories which are literary classics, like Hume, Robertson, Clarendon, should be kept, even if superseded by more accurate modern works.
Biography.—Collected biography should never be discarded. The biographies of nonentities in the individual biography class may, however, be weeded pretty freely and frequently after they are from forty to fifty years old.
Miscellaneous.—Discard old encyclopædias with care; newspapers or directories freely. Retain all local matter of this kind however. Be extremely chary about storing inferior magazines of the miscellany order. A long set of an old magazine of this kind is a positive incubus, and most modern magazines of the snippet order are not worth house-room. Wear them out in the reading rooms by all means, but do not preserve them.