Current Professional Thinking on the Deaccessioning of Rare Books in Academic Libraries

Abstract

In 1981, Brown University was the site of the first (and to date only) conference to be devoted entirely to the topic of deaccessioning rare books. In effect, the Brown symposium, organized by Samuel Streit and Thomas Adams, brought deaccessioning out of the back room and into the light of day.1 One might have expected a spirited curatorial debate to follow, much like the one that raged in the art museum world in the 19705 and ’80s. Instead, after an initial boomlet of articles on deaccessioning of rare books, [he rest has been largely silence—a silence which may mean . . .