by Aisya Shurfa
Kuala Lumpur: Hundreds of books have been given away for free at the UM Main Library, causing disgruntle among many UM staff.
Students and staff of the University of Malaya flocked to the car park at the Main Library on Monday to grab books given away for free. The reason behind the event, according to librarians, is that 'room must be made for newer books.''These books have not been borrowed for more than five years, so we should get rid of them,' says one library staff.
This has angered many others, including professors and students alike who believe libraries should be where old, rare books are stored, along with newer ones, for easy access when needed.
'This is incomprehensible,' says one very distressed professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. 'I don't understand why they would throw away precious books when our very own students need them.'
One student, who refuses to be named, complains about the lack of resources available in the library. 'We never had enough books to begin with, and now they're throwing the few precious ones we do have. It makes no sense.'
‘A library is worth only as much as its books,’ exclaims another dissatisfied student.
A member of the library staff, however, explains that there are multiple copies of the books that were given away, and they do keep at least one copy in the library. However, students have complained that some books existing in the library’s online catalogue are in fact not available at all due to the fact that the books have already been disposed of.
3 comments:
heyyyy librarian out there!!! u cant just give away the books for free, at least ask them to pay some ringgit because the book is valuable and if they have paid for the book, they would appreciate it more or read it..otherwise they get it for free and they would just get all those free books at your 'dump of books carnival' put on the cabinet for exhibition or finally have to burn it up or dump it back on the floor because cant understand the language...what the fishball. btw, good post and keep on saving the "books rights" girl!!
Yeah. I know some people would completely take advantage of the situation and sell those free books for a large sum of money.
Ugh it makes me angry.
Books are precious, giving them away free may cause some people to take it for granted, at least keeping it in the library can keep track and record of where the book is going, got accountability, now the free books, who knows where they will end up?
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