In an incident that has entered Bloomington folklore, former library board member Richard Wells wheeled in a cart full of the latest Danielle Steele novel, a romantic potboiler that he felt needlessly stocked the shelves, in protest at a board meeting. But he says that wasn't the case. I felt those were probably too many, and that perhaps we needed to make sure that we spent more money on a wider array of books. Bucove defended the choice. Even though there were a lot of copies, they all appeared to be pretty well worn, and if they were on the shelves, then chances are they hadn't been most of the time.
Most bestsellers have a shelf life of six months to a year.
Libraries begin to feel that they're swimming in them, but if they were to discard them, then there is a new interest, and again when that movie shows up on television. Adult fiction tends to run in cycles. Libraries carry current fiction based on the belief that if we get people interested in reading, then we can perhaps redirect them to what's considered literature. In other words, there's a place for those who want to read Stephen King and King Lear. At the same time, if somebody wants us to take a second look at a book, we're certainly willing to do that.