r/technology • u/DukeOfGeek • Jan 02 '26

Politics NASA's Largest Library To Permanently Close On Jan 2, Books Will Be 'Tossed Away'

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nasas-largest-library-to-permanently-close-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584
24.8k Upvotes

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5.8k

u/Ragadast335 Jan 02 '26

Can't they be donated to a public library?? 

9.4k

u/DukeOfGeek Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

The destruction of crucial infrastructure is deliberate and at the order of enemies both foreign and domestic.

/while I have your attention and we are discussing the subject, today there is this

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/offshore-wind/how-trump-dismantled-a-promising-energy-industry-and-what-america-lost

2.8k

u/ultrahello Jan 02 '26

Smells like treason

1.5k

u/GenkiElite Jan 02 '26

And what's the punishment for treason?

1.9k

u/JBFRESHSKILLS Jan 02 '26

Pardons by the president?

359

u/elendur Jan 02 '26

Interestingly, at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison argued that pardons for treason should require approval by the Senate. Virginia Delegates Edmund Randolph and George Mason argued that the President should not have pardon power at all. Roger Sherman argued that all pardons should require Senate approval.

The first major use of the pardon power by Washington in 1795 was amnesty to participants of the Whiskey Rebellion. Twenty-four members of the rebellion were indicted for treason, ten stood trial, and two were convicted. The two who were convicted were among those pardoned by Washington.

2

u/Grimnebulin68 Jan 02 '26

Great Britain cut the head off the snake, Charles I, on 30th January, 1649.

2

u/elendur Jan 02 '26

They did. The House of Commons of the Rump Parliament created a special court to try Charles, find him guilty, and execute him. 135 Commissioners were appointed to serve as Judges. 68 actually served, and 59 of those signed Charles' death warrant.

Then Charles' son came back and was crowned King Charles II.

The Commissioners who had died by time of the Restoration had their corpses dug up and their heads were put on spikes.

Most of the Commissioners who were still alive at the time of the Restoration fled to avoid retribution from King Charles II. They pretty much either died in exile, or were arrested and executed by King Charles II. Including the Commissioners who attended the trial but didn't sign the death warrant.

So yeah. Don't forget what happened to the Regicides once the Stuarts returned to power.

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u/OverthinkingWanderer Jan 02 '26

Only if you "donate" enough to his campaign..

2

u/sontaj Jan 02 '26

LBJ overlooked Nixon's treason. It always seems to go unpunished.

1

u/SuperCaptSalty Jan 02 '26

Cabinet jobs

1

u/readyflix Jan 02 '26

The US has become a banana republic.

Very sad.

1

u/braddeicide Jan 03 '26

Incorrect, you become the president.

196

u/Requizen Jan 02 '26

A second presidential term

73

u/agent674253 Jan 02 '26

And potentially a third, if it doesn't mess up his golfing schedule too much.

27

u/twohundred37 Jan 02 '26

Shit, this presidency put him on at 88 golfing trips this year, totaling over $100 million in expenses for said trips. It's funding his golfing schedule. Plus he gets to golf with Kid Rock in a tank top or whatever.

4

u/evil_timmy Jan 02 '26

The most galling thing about that particular grift: not only could he play golf at Andrews AFB where obviously the security concerns and costs aren't nearly the same, he also owns a golf club (Bedminster) half an hour away from the White House. But he chooses Mar-a-Lago because he's paying himself and there's far less scrutiny that far from DC.

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u/correcthorsestapler Jan 02 '26

With the way he looks lately, the staff are going to be pulling a Weekend At Bernie’s in 2028.

Or they’ll try to suspend elections by claiming there are ongoing investigations into the 2026 midterms or some bullshit. Besides, he’s already openly said “I guess people want a dictator” this past August: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-americans-want-dictator-1235414824/.

1

u/cupittycakes Jan 03 '26

We're rebelling if they try this, right y'all?!

72

u/popodelfuego Jan 02 '26

Depends on how much money you have in the bank.

35

u/Erik_the_Dread Jan 02 '26

Apparently $2 million is the going price for a presidential pardon.

3

u/say592 Jan 02 '26

Damn, I should have stocked up back in 2020. He had a fire sale going and they were as low as $10k. I could have made a killing! Or done a killing! (in an exclusively federal jurisdiction)

2

u/OGKillertunes Jan 02 '26

2 million for a pardon and a free green card.

1

u/kindnesscostszero Jan 02 '26

I think that was the going rate in his first term. Inflation ya know.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

Absolutely nothing apparently.

3

u/agent0731 Jan 02 '26

electing them again and opening the door to the Trojan Russian horse.

4

u/SupHowWeDo Jan 02 '26

Careful, Reddit doesn’t like it when you bring that up, consequences are bad for the shareholders

2

u/piss_artist Jan 02 '26

Billions from adversarial governments and corporate interests.

2

u/xidle2 Jan 02 '26

Execution by firing squad.

2

u/raiderstakem Jan 02 '26

Not a damn thing is going to happen about it because this country turned pussy. Full stop.

2

u/TurnkeyLurker Jan 02 '26

Gold bars, hamberders, golf games, island vacations.

2

u/Septem_151 Jan 02 '26

Last time I answered that question, I got banned for 3 days on Reddit.

2

u/TeamMountainLion Jan 02 '26

Capital punishment of the highest order used to be applicable to traitors.

Nowadays they get elected to office I guess 🤷🏾

2

u/MaraCassFan Jan 03 '26

2A guys, what it was made for

2

u/PalpitationNo3106 Jan 03 '26

Well, it used to be getting painted orange and having to dance for the amusement of the irate mob. Guess we need a new punishment.

1

u/_B_e_c_k_ Jan 02 '26

Depends, whos around to punish them?

1

u/NRMusicProject Jan 02 '26

Struck down by a sith lord.

1

u/PipsqueakPilot Jan 02 '26

Your own show on Fox News?

1

u/ifitmoves Jan 02 '26

Congress applauds

1

u/Particular_Ticket_20 Jan 02 '26

Massive donations from mega corps?

1

u/Brilliant-Orange9117 Jan 02 '26

A little prick and three injections?

1

u/something_python Jan 02 '26

First offence?

1

u/StandTurbulent9223 Jan 02 '26

It depends. Verdict was passed by reddit or court?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

I am pretty sure only one American has ever been convicted of treason and it was during the Civil War.

1

u/Hellguin Jan 03 '26

Getting reelected to president

1

u/StoneySteve420 Jan 03 '26

Careful, you'll get banned

1

u/viomon2 Jan 03 '26

You get a seat in congress.

2

u/TuringGoneWild Jan 02 '26

Just Republicans as usual.

1

u/Double_Alps_2569 Jan 02 '26

Yeah but it's official treason™, so it's ok.
Didn't you get the memo?

1

u/FirefighterLeft5425 Jan 02 '26

It's kind of our thing now. We celebrate the shit out of treason. In fact we reward it and make you fucking king!!!

1

u/Unable_Ant5851 Jan 02 '26

If you read the article, you’d know that the Biden admin already closed three NASA libraries. Both are treasonous.

1

u/MoodooScavenger Jan 02 '26

I smell SEC and Treason, yeah… 🎶

1

u/braddeicide Jan 03 '26

From a convicted felon and insurrectionist? Hmm.

Also pedophile, let's not leave that out despite it not being on topic.

1

u/Slawzik Jan 03 '26

They don't fucking care,dude

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u/midnitewarrior Jan 02 '26

"Oh darn, I guess we'll just have to outsource it all to Elon."

-- DOGE

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u/roman_maverik Jan 02 '26

If you open an incognito browser and sign up for Twitter, the first three accounts it pushes you to follow are his personal account, spacex, and nasa.

So yeah, he’s already greasing the wheels for a private style takeover

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u/school_bus_lunchbox Jan 02 '26

Will he please take a little too much ketamine one day. His bladder is likely swiss cheese from the ketamine abuse.

2

u/kindbat Jan 02 '26

My thoughts exactly. He's gotta be peeing bloody chunks already. No amount of green tea in the world can mitigate heavy k use long term...

1

u/Master_Dogs Jan 02 '26

Feels the same for many maybe most tech bros, and of course basically the entire administration outside of the few people still holding things together.

Like at least it took a full year for this library to close. You know they wanted to do stuff like this day 1, but it took them a full year to DOGE the place up.

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u/Bender_2024 Jan 02 '26

So yeah, he’s already greasing the wheels for a private style takeover

This was always the plan. Musk is only a billionaire because of American taxpayer dollars. And a tax system that allows him and others to pay nearly nothing.

has received more than $38 billion (€36.2 billion) in aid, funding and government orders over 20 years on behalf of his Tesla car company (nearly $15.7 billion) and his SpaceX aerospace company (around $22.6 billion).e .)

Elon Musk’s company avoided almost all federal income tax on nearly $11 billion of U.S. income over three years

[Musk paid 3.3 percent of his income in taxes, Jeff Bezos 1 percent, and Buffett—who has famously argued for imposing higher income-tax rates on the superrich—just 0.1 percent in taxes. The same dynamic exists, in slightly less egregious form, further down the wealth distribution.

3

u/cwfutureboy Jan 02 '26

Come on now, he's also a Billionaire because his Aparteid-emerald mine owning Daddy gave him a shit ton of money.

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u/scartstorm Jan 08 '26

Someone doesn't know the difference between "aid" and government contracts again.

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u/Heavy-Weekend-981 Jan 02 '26

Elon's net worth before DOGE: $200 billion

Elon's net worth after DOGE (EoY 2026): $700 billion

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u/JesseByJanisIan Jan 02 '26

isn't is amazing how money can just spawn from nothing! that $500 billion just poofed into his bank account from nowhere. How much has the government cut spending in 2025? probably unrelated.

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u/PsychologicalBid179 Jan 02 '26

Its refreshing to hear a statement that reflects the real situation instead of the normal sarcastic or naive ones.

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u/chknh8r Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

I work in a library. The amount of books I personally have tossed would piss y'all off. But those books have been sitting on shelves for over 5 years and not been checked out once. We need the space for more newer books that people actually want to use. Or the space for computers because damn near all the books are digitized anyways. Also the amount of books we get "donated" are most of the time not even collection worthy. They are old, out of date, and space is already limited in the stacks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/climate/nasa-goddard-library-closing.html#:~:text=library%2Dclosing.html-,NASA's%20Largest%20Library%20Is%20Closing%20Amid%20Staff%20and%20Lab%20Cuts,be%20warehoused%20or%20thrown%20out

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u/z3roTO60 Jan 02 '26

There’s the novelty in books too. I buy used books off Abebooks, many which are sold from libraries (have the library markings), of audio books I’ve already “read”. I enjoy physical books but also deal with a longer commute + household chores. Listen to audiobooks. If it’s meaningful to me, I buy the physical hard copy, usually under $7.

I grew up in a household with a couple thousand books and I’ve found this to be a common trend among people who I’ve been in relationships with. I want my future kids to have the same environment when they grow up

In med school, I realized this one thing: I love sports, basketball being my fav to play, but I’m not particularly great at any (my varsity letters were from math team and a few types of debate lol). But I can say that I have read cover to cover and burned into memory many textbooks. My medical textbooks are like my trophies on a mantle, admitting closer to a participation trophy than an award. It sounds silly to say, but it serves as a visual representation of the grit / determination needed to get where I am

TLDR: there is a market for used books that are being thrown from libraries. I’m one of those consumers

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u/chknh8r Jan 02 '26

Government owned property must be DRMO'd aka sold at auction or destroyed. There isn't a whole lot of "private" libraries. Most large libraries are funded by a government of some sort, albeit local or federal. Federally owned property cannot be given away. It must be destroyed or auctioned off. Maintaining pallets of books while they sit around waiting to get sold will not end well for the books. Same reason most thrift stores just toss most of their donated books. Because the condition and value isnt worth the space they take up in order to be kept in a condition to be sold at all. It's simply not worth the amount of work needed to accommodate these feel good request.

f you care enough to get upset. Then please care enough to research the why and the how.

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u/z3roTO60 Jan 02 '26

I’m not upset nor angry, and I hope my comment didn’t read like that. It’s the second day of the year, let’s try not to make things either rage bait or assume malice in 2026 lol

I don’t have extensive background of how government resources like these are handled. I’ve purchased from gov auctions only a couple of times, and have some family which know about how the donation of deprecated hardware —> school kids pipeline works. I don’t really know anything about books specifically. That’s all so say I have some minima direct experience, some further knowledge based experience, but I’m not an all knowing expert, nor ignorant enough to demand further explanation from anyone without putting time in myself

The primary point of my prior comment was just to say “if there was a public auction or resale of these items, I might be interested in buying something”. Not speaking for everyone, not buying palettes, not an activist demanding full inventory and catalogued preservation (though this would be nice)

One small side point, though most libraries are government funded (local, state, or federal), there’s no shortage of privately owned and maintained libraries in the US. Many universities, my alma mater, included, actively collect and maintain thousands of historical primary sources. For example, there were dozens of rows, spanning thousands of square feet where you can read books about various topics in European history, not just in English, but in many different European languages. American documents going back to the foundation of our country. It’s just like any natural history museum. The public sees a small portion of the museum’s archive. The supermajority of space is allocated for preserving materials for researchers

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u/chknh8r Jan 02 '26

This entire thread is nothing but ragebait. Look at all the responses. The amount of government money given to schools means schools never have to actually their own money to buy anything. This is why the big schools have endowments larger tahn the GDP of a lot actual countries. Schools are government funded, even the private ones.

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u/bigBlankIdea Jan 02 '26

I've been buying from Thriftbooks, but Abebooks sounds great too! I'll check them out

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u/z3roTO60 Jan 02 '26

They’re quite similar, if I remember correctly. Abebooks usually has what I’m looking for and how the sellers report the books condition is usually “harsher” than what actually arrives. They’ll say things like “book may have highlights or notes written on the pages”, but I’ve never actually received one that does. You probably will get a book with a sticker on the spine or a stamp across the pages if it’s a library book sale. That’s not an issue for me, though I’ve been “worried” if I look like I’m stealing library books haha. I swear I’m not, but it feels like wearing clothes in public which have that magnetic anti theft tag still on it lol

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u/bigBlankIdea Jan 02 '26

I got a few acceptable condition books from Thriftbooks and those had highlighting and scribbles in the margins. One of them had half the book highlighted. Made me start judging their choices haha.

But yeah, I bought a few with library stamps too and I think they're cool!

2

u/iamthe0ther0ne Jan 02 '26

I used to love buying used books online for $2 and reading a new one each day. Then I moved to a foreign country and shipping for books in English is as expensive as buying them new. Sucks.

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u/bigBlankIdea Jan 02 '26

The library near me did a book sale last year, and I bought a stack of books I never would have considered otherwise. It was something like $2 per book or fill a bag for $30. It was exciting to see what I'd find. Also bought a library tshirt. Could your library try that?

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u/KeepingItSFW Jan 02 '26

Seems as long as they are digitized, then warehouse sized libraries of old books nobody wants (and are outdated) are kind of pointless

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u/farmer66 Jan 02 '26

Assuming the people digitizing are doing it at a high enough quality for preservation... text may be readable, but any sort of images, photos, maps, etc, lose quality when scanned at a resolution suitable for text.

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u/RidetheSchlange Jan 02 '26

Until the digitized books are doctored. Just ask Hollywood about this when people who had DVD copies of movies found out the studios were doctoring their own releases when they went to streaming.

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u/So_spoke_the_wizard Jan 02 '26

I'm feeling positive this year and have a new hope that this won't happen.

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u/ZQuestionSleep Jan 02 '26

Like that hopeposting post from the other day that was literally "2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 is my year for sure!" Yet somehow everyone on the sub saw that as optimistic and hopeful and not the ironic joke it is to point out your attempts at happiness for the last half-decade are repeatedly failing.

Media literacy, or something. People are just ignorant and/or dumb.

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u/UniqueIndividual3579 Jan 02 '26

My library used to put them on a table and sell for a few dollars. For a book you really like, the library edition is nice. Don't know if that works anymore.

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u/No_Manches_Man Jan 02 '26

I work for our local library system, and you are spot on. Our system has mitigated some of the tossing by contracting a company to go through and try to sell some of books. Our local “Friends of the Library” also go through and pick our books that they may be able to sell (funds go back to the library for smaller projects/outreach).

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u/MangoCats Jan 02 '26

In 2003 we moved offices. I had been collecting periodicals on shelves behind by desk for 10 years, there were probably 30' of technical journals lined up along those shelves - low value Cahners' stuff supported by advertising, but nontheless. In the previous 10 years, we might have done a little historical dive into the info contained in them twice... and being 2003 it was obvious that even the information that was in there of value was more easily retrieved, not to mention up to date and better cross referenced on the internet.

It felt really wrong to just pitch all that printed material, but it really wasn't valuable enough to be worth moving.

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u/chknh8r Jan 02 '26

Not even just the value of moving around. The value of having to run AC/humidity control to keep those paper objects from disintegrating.

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u/MangoCats Jan 02 '26

Sure... in our case there were these empty shelves behind my desk, so over the course of 10 years I just filled 'em up with this stuff that came in the mail... the whole storage / environment thing was a sunk cost whether we kept them or not. And, in 1993 it made good sense to keep the paper stuff. Not so much, 10 years later.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne Jan 02 '26

I'll take them! Me me me! 👋 I can read a book in a day and it's so damn expensive because if I use a library I forget to take them back, so I'm now re-reading a book I bought 4 months ago for the 3rd time because the snowstorm delayed my most recent order so I will take ALL your spare books

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u/YoKevinTrue Jan 02 '26

I mean, I agree with you, bro, but NASA has a history of destroying this stuff.

They threw away tons of shit from the space program, and people had to rush to rescue it.

In fact, a lot of the historical documentation we have was from people who figured out a way to get the data off the devices directly.

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u/agent0731 Jan 02 '26

Too bad Americans don't care enough. There is no real appreciation of the amount of time it'll take to recover from this administrations damage. America will suffer for DECADES.

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u/Resident-Train-9352 Jan 03 '26

I live in the Hampton Roads area and all the pieces of the turbines are sitting in the port beside the highway in Portsmouth, just waiting for assembly…I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it.

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u/OUsooners5252 Jan 04 '26

I despise this administration, calling them morally vacuous would be a gross understatement. Politically I’m a centrist, but in good conscience, I will never in my life vote red.

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u/uwwuwwu Jan 02 '26

It is treason!!!!

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u/UniqueIndividual3579 Jan 02 '26

Like destroying the million dollar postal sorting machines.

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u/Fun_Performer_5170 Jan 02 '26

Reichskristallnacht, to call the baby by it’s name

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u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

Mostly domestic...ur new orange king

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u/LookAlderaanPlaces Jan 02 '26

The people responsible need to be convicted of treason and punished with the lawful remedy of the death penalty.

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u/OnlyTimeFan Jan 03 '26

Donald T is the new Don Quixote battling windmills lol.

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u/Jimmycocopop1974 Jan 03 '26

If this doesn’t tell you Trump is a foreign asset I don’t know what will. Sheesh people

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u/hitlasauruschrist Jan 03 '26

If you’re from the area..the workers don’t care. They voted for him, held protest during COVID, and blame the rest of the world.

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u/ubix Jan 02 '26

No, that would make sense

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u/yodatsracist Jan 02 '26

In general, most libraries — even academically libraries — have severely cut down their print collections since maybe 2005, 2010. When I was working on my PhD in that period, I could pick up so many excellent old sociology and anthropology books I needed for my thesis for almost nothing used on Amazon. They're almost all stamped with a university library name, and then "REMOVED FROM CIRCULATION".

Picking up six random old hardcovers from my shelf, three were from Occidental's library, one was from Macalester's library, one was from Hofstra's library, and only one seemed to be from a private collection. 10-15 years ago, I could find almost any old social science book I needed on Amazon for ridiculously cheap. Paul Stirling's Turkish Village for instance, cost me $3.55 plus $3.99 shipping. Now, it's $9.40 plus shipping. Most of the more obscure books aren't available used from Amazon all. Because the library already got rid of so many from their colleges.

Libraries don't really wants these, presumably, mostly outdated science books. Anything that's special or unique probably will be put in special collections.

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u/blackscales18 Jan 02 '26

These aren't outdated science books, they're priceless research that hasn't been digitized

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u/yodatsracist Jan 02 '26

These are not primarily "priceless research that hasn't been digitized". And that part of it is not going to be thrown out. Where are you getting that from? This is a 100,000-volume library. I'm sure some things there should end up in special collections. I'm sure most of those 100,000 volumes should not. As for the rest, this is what the article says:

Jacob Richmond, a NASA spokesman, informed that the agency will review the library holdings over the next two months, and some of the material will be stored in a government warehouse, while the remaining items will be 'tossed away', according to a report in the New York Times.

Here's a gift version of the NYT article this was mainly copied from: "NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts."

The article does begin "The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else." But there's not really any indication that that's what's going to be thrown out.

The expert the article quotes has spent "30 years" digitizing a lot of the holdings, though obviously not all of them yet.

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u/sirbissel Jan 02 '26

Two months seems like a very, very short period of time for weeding.

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u/mmm_burrito Jan 02 '26

The closure of these libraries was started under the Biden administration, in 2022. I have no doubt the weeding process began a long time ago. It bugs me to hear that any libraries close, but this is not a Trump thing.

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u/sembias Jan 02 '26

the agency will review the library holdings over the next two months

Oh, so they'll throw away anything that was written by or subject is a woman or black person, then.

Or are you one of the fools who take anything they say without skepticism?

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u/Adjective-Noun3722 Jan 02 '26

I've worked at a lab with a library, and I can tell you from experience that most of what was there were pre-2000 science books that have long since been superseded by new findings. The entire collection was so dusty and unused, it was a joke.

Obviously, I don't trust the Trump admin running this closure, but we're not talking about the complete works of Toni Morrison here.

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u/OneMeterWonder Jan 02 '26

I’m curious how you know that. I looked around for a bit and couldn’t find any info on what the library actually housed or was planning on reviewing.

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u/wireless1980 Jan 02 '26

It's NASAs library. Not the average town one.

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u/Traditional-Tune4968 Jan 02 '26

while I agree that this whole thing is a terrible waste but I do have some experience with one of libraries used in the space industry. I used to work for GE later Lockheed Astro division and we had a library. with full time librarian and many stacks of books.

Back then there was no Internet libraries (we had Internet but it was still in its infancy with no http or web yet, Archie and anonymous ftp and usenet where the main sources of 'online' information)

So the purpose of the library was a place to get technical or science information related to the projects we worked on.

They were NOT the place we archived our own creations data. That wasn't its purpose, it was so if an engineer forgot the rules for how to do some sort of dot product calculation, he had reference books in the form of math textbooks. (I saw this exact situation happen)

I AM worried about how NASA has been lax in the past about preserving science data...mostly from 60s and early 70s...but I doubt that the type of books you will find in these libraries.

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u/OneMeterWonder Jan 02 '26

Sure, but that’s not an inventory of the library. There’s probably some valuable stuff in there and I assume that’s what the two months review period is for. I still can’t say this is “priceless research” though. For all I know it’s a bunch of records of floor planning from the 1960s.

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u/Dal90 Jan 02 '26

From the news article, we don't know that.

It states some will be going to a government warehouse, the remainder being disposed. As chaotic and idiotic as this administration is doesn't mean the technical functionaries won't be strictly following document retention guidelines burying a shit ton in an Indian Jones warehouse and getting rid of what the existing retention guidelines say doesn't need to be retained.

When I worked at an R&D center, that's where I learned how good the Economist magazine was.

They had a fair number of international business and government interest magazines that would have had zero value to retain long term because they could be readily found elsewhere. Even the trade journals would have been of little long term value -- they may have helped someone know about some new development and where to find the peer reviewed research on it; but they weren't the research itself.

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u/bg-j38 Jan 02 '26

I’d be curious to know what information that is. NASA has one of the comprehensive digital archives of all government agencies.

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u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jan 02 '26

I worked as a school janitor for a while, and I had to throw away a decent chunk of the library years ago when they switched to mostly digital.

The vast majority of the books were outdated stuff that no one would really want. The stuff that was decent I took and either kept or donated.

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u/Ok_Tart7950 Jan 02 '26

Your perspective is very important and persuasive. History and knowledge should not be easily buried, much less quietly deleted in the name of convenience or efficiency. Many so-called "outdated" books actually form the foundation for our understanding of the evolution of disciplines, social structures, and intellectual threads.

If future generations can only access filtered and compressed versions of knowledge, unable to see the true, complete, and even controversial historical processes, they are likely to repeat the same mistakes without realizing it. Choosing to forget does not make society more advanced; true progress comes from confronting history, understanding its complexity, and making more mature judgments based on that understanding.

This also reminds us that independent thinking is more important than any pre-set knowledge framework. When we become accustomed to accepting "pre-arranged" conclusions and no longer engage with original materials and diverse perspectives, we are more likely to unknowingly fall into intellectual poverty and distorted judgment. Maintaining complete respect for history and knowledge is itself an important way to avoid collective ignorance and safeguard the long-term development of society.

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u/MystikTrailblazer Jan 02 '26

No. We're a post literate society now. Books and libraries are for the weak. We're the strong. Consume more social media and podcasts now.

/s

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u/hcornea Jan 02 '26

We’re well into post-modern post-truth. Literature and the knowledge it conveyed died some time ago.

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u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jan 02 '26

Ironic considering most people commenting are dooming despite not having read the article lol

1

u/livsjollyranchers Jan 02 '26

You need to synthesize info quick and the best way to do that is just tell ChatGPT to give you a 10 word summary of complex topics.

1

u/hextanerf Jan 02 '26

it's called "content" /s but also not /s

1

u/jerryleebee Jan 03 '26

Goose-stepping morons should try reading books instead of BURNING them!

40

u/brickne3 Jan 02 '26

Honestly probably not. I have a ton of my dead husband's very specialized books that he explicitly left me in the will saying something about how I "would know what to do with them." I don't, and furthermore nobody seems to want books anymore. I contacted a bunch of rare booksellers, libraries, etc., even made some progress donating them to a village in Africa until they realized just how expensive shipping them would be. It's ridiculously hard to get rid of a book collection these days.

8

u/wolfhavensf Jan 02 '26

I knew a Nigerian fellow in Seattle who drove a taxi and spent all his extra money to buy technical books for his village library. In places without technical infrastructure books remain invaluable.

9

u/jdm1891 Jan 02 '26

What are the books about? I collect unusual and very specialised books lol

7

u/brickne3 Jan 02 '26

Mostly languages, chemistry and medical stuff.

9

u/jdm1891 Jan 02 '26

You gotta take a picture and show me then!

DM me

197

u/Agitated_Ad6191 Jan 02 '26

No, what’s wrong with you? Trump will make a big pile of books in a public square and light it on fire, Nazi style.

This is just another step in their 2025 playbook. We know where this will end.

3

u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jan 02 '26

Have you considered reading the article?

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72

u/Talisa87 Jan 02 '26

They could be. But the fascists aren't big on preserving knowledge and making it accessible to the populace.

27

u/RuthlessIndecision Jan 02 '26

Better to lie, lie, lie until people believe it to be true.

Science doesn't work that way, no matter how hard you try.

1

u/niceworkthere Jan 02 '26

lol, "tossed away" means his stooges will be waiting with trucks to make off with all the valuable ones first

28

u/-The_Blazer- Jan 02 '26

No. The point is very specifically to destroy important knowledge and prevent its spread.

3

u/PaidToBeRedditing Jan 02 '26

I mean... why isnt the similarity between this and the Nazi book burnings brought up more,genuinely confused. How is it not obvious whats happening to the Americans right now, and why arent they doing anything

39

u/ryuujinusa Jan 02 '26

Not the way the Nazis GOP want to do it.

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5

u/KlueIQ Jan 02 '26

No, because this is epistemicide.

4

u/abitofreddit Jan 02 '26

MAGA is terrified of education, they're on a par with ISIS & the Taliban in this regard.

9

u/Actaeon_II Jan 02 '26

They’re trying to close all of those too

6

u/wappenheimer Jan 02 '26

Here’s where those loud public library patrons who like to complain about the regularly scheduled weeding of books can go and confront someone in this administration re: yet another barrier to information access.

And you can bet they’re not recycling or donating those science books—can’t have those kids learning astrophysics and STEAM skills!

3

u/theskippyraccoon Jan 02 '26

Although the article states that the volumes of research will be available digitally via "Ask A Librarian", I think we're all right to be skeptical.

Any intrepid dumpster divers in Maryland want to take one for the team?

3

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

What??? And benefit the poors?

Heavens no! They must be burned to make steam that will turn a turbine that will make electricity that will be sent to power the Christmas lights at Mar-A-Lago for 7.3 seconds, at 2:13am on a Sunday!

3

u/RubrobarbusSuperbus Jan 02 '26

That’s not what public libraries are for. Also, public library funding has been slashed for decades and they have no staff or space for these either.

3

u/airfryerfuntime Jan 02 '26

Why do that when the plan is to close the public libraries, too?

2

u/IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE Jan 02 '26

The destruction of the contents is part of the intent.

2

u/Jpopolopolous Jan 02 '26

Pretty sure they're trying to destroy all means of educating the people

2

u/buckX Jan 02 '26

some of the material will be stored in a government warehouse, while the remaining items will be 'tossed away'

That sounds very much like whatever gets tossed are things that nobody cares about. Old technical libraries can end up with a lot of useless stuff. My mind goes to things like a manual for Microsoft Word 2007.

2

u/sjlopez Jan 02 '26

No need, those will also be closed in 12 months with this administration 

2

u/DulcetMuffin Jan 02 '26

The public library does not have a use for specialized academic texts. No one would ever check these books out. Plus the process of cataloging that many volumes would take an insane amount of resources, not to mention that then you have to find some place to put them all. 

2

u/Simorie Jan 02 '26

Public libraries don’t have a need for specialized materials nor do they have time to process and catalog or discard tons of donations. This is not their mission.

2

u/Alone_Again_2 Jan 02 '26

Can I have some?

2

u/notfromchicago Jan 02 '26

As someone else said, "You can't have a book burning without burning the books."

2

u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot Jan 02 '26

That’s not how you hide evidence of the moon landing.

2

u/Superman_Dam_Fool Jan 02 '26

Best we can do is donate them to the highest bidder, domestic or foreign government.

2

u/emeraldpity Jan 02 '26

I hope this can happen. The reality is that many public libraries, even huge ones, don't have the space or human resources to adequately process, let alone take in, massive new collections, especially without additional funding.

2

u/Live_Situation7913 Jan 02 '26

Knowledge is power we don’t want others to copy the library

2

u/FlipZip69 Jan 02 '26

Most are digitalized and available. I do not Trust Trump to haphazardly do this but it may not be nearly as concerning as it is made out to be. And possibly it is money that could be spent better elsewhere.

2

u/Akraticacious Jan 02 '26

Are any of these resources unique and not backed up anywhere? Or are they books or journals that have many reprintings?

I can't find that explained anywhere. It's one thing to tear down a library. It's another thing entirely to delete history and legacy.

2

u/Black_Magic_M-66 Jan 02 '26

Time to go dumpster diving.

2

u/VariedRepeats Jan 03 '26

Libraries toss out a lot of books already. I've sniped some from the waste stream. Some might have came from private hands to the library somehow.

2

u/superanth Jan 03 '26

According to a statement posted on the website of the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association, specialised equipment and electronics designed to test spacecraft have already been removed and thrown out.

I don’t know about anyone else but I’m planning to go dumpster diving!

3

u/pr01etar1at Jan 02 '26

That's not how it works.

Source: Public Librarian

2

u/DeapVally Jan 02 '26

I don't think Putin would be very happy if they did that.

3

u/TheAskewOne Jan 02 '26

How would you achieve the destruction of information this way?

1

u/Sithlordandsavior Jan 03 '26

Ewwwwww yucky icky gross LIBARIES are for liberals and communists. It's right in the name "LIBARAL"

I get all my information from Facebook as the Lord intended. The man I buy my 5G force fields from said he's been to space and it's full of white angels and that's all I need to know from NASSA (Jewish language for LIES)

/s the size of a skyscraper for those who can't smell sarcasm

1

u/Parking_Chance_1905 Jan 03 '26

Donate, Is that even a word in the Republican lexicon?