I went to Leeds City Music Library today for the first time since it was relocated a couple of weeks ago. It used to be an uplifting experience...

The room is now a quarter? a fifth? of the size of the original music library... I asked the librarian what had happened to all the stock, and he said part of it had been destroyed and part would be sold at a general book sale. He said he had actually had the job of tearing some of the books up himself

Who ARE the philistines running a music library that ordered music books to be torn up If they don't want the stock (and why don't they want it, as if we didn't know ), why couldn't it all be put into the book sale? Why couldn't the books be given to charity if they couldn't be sold (did they ask my music college, a charity, if they wanted them)? Why couldn't the unwanted books be left out on tables in the large amount of empty space that there now is at Leeds City Library for people to take? Anything is better than destroying them.

The waste .... and the mindless vandalism of it .... I want to weep ...


The sci-fi book "Fahrenheit 451" came to mind - set in a brave new world where books were not just obsolete but banned. Any books which were found were burnt, fahrenheit 451 being the temperature at which the books were burnt. Pass me the tissues someone

How stupid, short sighted, and ..... argh.......... just......... ARGH!

That's very sad. We have no music library in my town and two of the three music shops have shut. We must start a "Save Our Music" campaign....

That's terrible!!

What a waste!!

That's terrible!! How could anyone actually do that?? There are so many other alternatives, as you said, where atleast some of the music could have been saved and given more people enjoyment, it's barbaric!!

The skunks! What a wasteful shame.
One of the reasons that I have decided not to leave my lovely music books to a local uni music library after my days is the fact that they allow only a select few to use them. Mine will be going elsewhere.

How shocking!

A few years ago there was a similiar event at University College London. Several skips in the college grounds were filled with Library books that were being dumped. Yes some were old and tatty but still... Students were climbing inside and rescuing some of them. No one could get a straight forward answer as to just why these books were being sent to pulp rather than sold or given away to students. The Leeds City Music Library seems to have done theirs in a very underhand way.

Its quite Bizare.

Cultural vandalism of criminal proportions - unbelievable & deeply shocking in it's implications as much as in itself.

!!!

Never Ever throw books away!!! The only decent reason would be if they were illedgible, and that wouldmean they hadn't been looked after. Thats awful!

I can't think of words strong enough to express my feelings towards Leeds City Libraries' actions here....

what a terrible indictment of a) general policy and b) the people concerned

It absolutely beggars belief that people who are in postions of making decisions are stupid enough to make one such as this.

These people lack any level of intelligence and how on earth they get jobs is beyond my understanding.

Yeah. How anyone could think that tearing up loads of music books was the best option........

just gobsmacked

Sob cry sob sob sob I cannot believe it!

Words can't even begin to describe how utterly disappointing this is. When I was at school, the library in Leeds was a bit of a refuge. Loads of piano and organ music in there and some very helpful and knowledgable staff. Sadly, I have a feeling that this pattern is likely to be repeating itself in other large municipal libraries across the country.

Could some publish here an email address for the library?

- so we can all complain express our concern.

I rang them up yesterday to find out the name of somebody to protest to. I spoke to the Head Librarian at the Music Library and told her what the librarian on duty had said to me. She was most concerned at what I'd been told and she said it wasn't true. She said some books always have to be destroyed because people have torn out pages or "had their breakfast over it", but no books had been destroyed that weren't in unfit condition. I have to say that isn't what I was told on Sunday. When I asked what had happened to the stock seeing as the library had been so much reduced in size, I was told that part of it had been destroyed. Nothing was said about it only being a few books in unfit condition. She also said that some of them hadn't been taken out of the library for 10 years (the implication being that nobody would miss them if they were destroyed?). I asked why they couldn't be given away (I asked if my College could have them, or even if I could have them so that I could take them to forum events), but she said there were strict rules against this. I've still got a niggle as to why the libarian on Sunday would say that the part of the excess stock had been torn up (he said he'd done it himself) if it was only a few unfit books .... I don't suppose we'll ever know exactly how many books have been destroyed, what condition they were in, or whether they were just unloved because nobody had wanted them for 10 years...

I can't help thinking about Ayshah's story about the University College London - it just goes to show that one person's "unfit" might be somebody else's "treasure"...

I rarely went to that music shop, it was always an excuse to go to york-sorry need sheet music must go to Banks!

However, Huddersfield has a University Music department, and it was hard enough to get the books I wanted in 1987-91, this just makes it harder.

You could always buy online.

Mind you re Leeds Library, at least their collection didn't share the fate of Norwich and go up in smoke...including the Norfolk Collection, local history material for generations lost!

Wish we had a really great music shop nearby

That's so shocking. When our college music library was getting rid of old stock - they put it all on a table and said anyone who wanted it could have it. I rescued some really old volumes of Beethoven Sonatas that were owned by one of the original lecturers, Marion Berry, after whom the Hall which housed the music department was named. It has practice notes in it from a hundred years ago!

I can't use it - the paper is far too fragile, but just owning a piece of history like that gives me chills. If I want to learn one of them I p-copy it. It's WAY out of copyright so it's OK.

Terrible. And, why Leeds? Why our city? Why? WHY?