Staff Writer
Nelson Star
Book lovers will get a chance pick up something new to read following a city council decision to part ways with the library collection of the David Thompson University Centre.
Council accepted a staff recommendation Monday that the sizeable collection — which requires 3,000 boxes to hold — be made available to the public for free. No date has been set for the giveaway.
Any books that remain will either be offered to an organization for resale at no charge or recycled. The books have been stored by a private citizen since 2008, and were made the responsibility of the city in November after the Nelson University Centre Education Society dissolved.
City staff reached out to Selkirk College librarian Gregg Currie and the city’s chief librarian June Stockdale prior to making its recommendation.
Both advised the city get rid of the books, with Currie suggesting it would cost approximately $750,000 to process the collection if kept.
Former DTUC librarian Ron Welwood meanwhile wrote a Star column in December that said the valuable books of the collection had already been picked over.