The dumpster behind Homer Babbidge Library is always filled to
the brim. But not with discarded candy wrappers, old coffee cups
and used tissues. It is brimming with books. “It was like a
treasure trove,” said one student who crept across campus in the
middle of a winter’s night to rescue stacks of books from the
giant metal bin two years ago. UConn’s main library has ushered
in the digital age, in part by tossing away countless books,
regardless of their condition. “As far as I understand it, the
director of the library is taking low circulation books and
seeing if there are digital copies of them elsewhere,” a library
student employee said. “And if there are, they throw [the books]
away.” A variety of titles Among these books are volumes of
environmental records, public service announcements and other
itemse used less frequently than other research materials. But
many of the books that take the trip to the dumpster have
recently passed through the library’s conservation lab, meaning
they have been widely ci