Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2024 Issue

Deaccessioning of Library Books Goes to Court

Ohio Attorney General sues Hebrew Union College.

Ohio Attorney General sues Hebrew Union College.

A case is taking place in Cincinnati right now that could have significant ramifications for the collecting and preservation of old books and related ephemeral material. We have entered a period that has been called the “Great Deaccession.” People, libraries, institutions are flooded with books and some are drowning in them. They want or need to remove some. If it's your personal books, no one really cares. It's your business. Unless you are a serious collector with valuable books, the issue is more finding someone who wants them. The same is true of ordinary books in a library (hence library sales). If it's a library or institution with valuable books, that is another question. There may be no good answer.

 

A Cincinnati institutional library has some very valuable books and manuscripts they may, or may not, wish to convert to money. They are hurting financially. As if this issue of control of private property weren't enough, this case involves religion. So along with Fifth Amendment rights (private property), throw in the First Amendment (free exercise of religion).

 

The institution is the Hebrew Union College and its Klau Library. The Cincinnati college for well over a century was the major training ground for Reform Jewish rabbis in the U.S. It was the oldest college for training rabbis in America. The Klau Library's collection of Jewish material is said to be second only to that of the National Library of Israel.

 

In 2022, it was decided to close the residential rabbinical program in Cincinnati. Decreased enrollment and financial constraints were cited as reasons. However, pledges were made to continue to support the Klau Library as before.

 

In April, the local Jewish press reported that the institute was considering selling parts of its collection to raise funds. They brought in an appraiser to estimate the value of its collection. An appraisal is not in itself a red flag, but this appraiser was – Sotheby's. Sotheby's is best known for something other than its appraisals. That is not to say they don't have the best appraisers. They do, but still, we all know what Sotheby's is best known for doing.

 

This story got the attention of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. Yost had expressed dissatisfaction with the earlier decision to close the Cincinnati seminary. This time, he went to court. He sought to prevent the institution from selling off its collection. He requested, and was granted, a temporary restraining order to prevent the sale of the books. This will put a halt to any potential sales until the case next comes up again in July. For its part, the Hebrew Union College has continued to deny it plans to sell the collection. Obviously, not everyone takes that as written in stone.

 

What makes this case so significant well beyond the borders of Cincinnati is Yost's reasoning. Naturally, overruling private property rights or interfering with the free exercise of religion is not something you can do because you (and many others) feel that it is ethically wrong to disperse parts of such an important collection. Distasteful as it is, it happens all the time. However, he is asserting something along the lines of contract law. He believes many of the books and other items were given to the institution with stipulations, or at least understandings, as to how they were to be used. Selling them to raise money was unlikely an intended use. Beyond that, Hebrew Union undoubtedly at times did fund raising on behalf of the library, and most likely said the funds would be used to build the library's collections. A sale would run counter to the understanding contributors had when they gave the institution their money. Yost wants to enforce that, perhaps unwritten, agreement. As he said in a release explaining his action, “Their sale would not only betray donor trust but also may violate legal restrictions placed on the gifts.”

 

Rhetorical question warning. For how many other libraries wishing to deaccession materials can the same be said?

 

Now, in the age of the Great Deaccession (much of which goes on quietly behind the scenes), this case could throw up a roadblock. Is this good or bad? It's both. It's the ideal versus the practical. Whatever the outcome, it will be good and bad. The reality is that many libraries are struggling with insufficient funds. Maintaining books little used is expensive. Patrons now want services beyond books, such as access to databases and the internet. Those compete for limited funds. Being a repository to preserve history and culture was not an original purpose. Nonetheless, that is a role many libraries play today and it is an essential one. If they give up that role, what society will lose is immeasurable. There is no easy answer.


Posted On: 2024-07-03 08:41
User Name: jfryhoff

Deaccession concerns me because when collections become scattered they tend to deteriorate, lose knowledge through insignificance (emasse a collection and its knowledge can create a story of a timeline that we can't necessarily see with one book) and it provides a gathering place for study and reference.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

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