A Library is Lost at Leceister

    I have written about university libraries and noted that many are now getting rid of books and materials since they wish to be seen as much more than storage sites. Space is highly valued on most campuses and one can understand how various areas can be colonized by factions with more prestige and power - those in the administrative wing, for example.  Here is a case to consider. 

   Jillian Becker was born in South Africa and now, almost ninety years later, resides in California. During that period she wrote, Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang and The PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization. She also was a co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Terrorism which became the home of the books, papers and research material which had accumulated over the years. In 1993, the archive was bought by the University of Leicester. More recently when someone inquired about the collection, it could not be found. 

   Ms. Becker raised this question in an essay to which I will provide a link: "How Did the University of Leicester Manage to "Lose" the Institute for the Study of Terrorism's Archive? Her remarks are reasonable as are the replies from Leicester, which basically indicate they don't know what in the hell happened to the material. 

   There is probably no mystery involved. Priorities may have changed or space was needed and a clerk was told to dispose of all those papers in the stacks on the third floor. But, Ms. Becker does raise an interesting point in her concluding paragraph which is bolded below:

The loss of an archive, whether by negligence or decision, is a calamity. To lose it by negligence is barbarously callous. To discard it deliberately is an act of intellectual vandalism, the equivalent of book-burning. If, in either case, a university is responsible, the disgrace must leave a permanent stain on its reputation.

   I would have assumed in the past that such things were lost simply because no one cared much about them. Now one wonders if sometimes people care too much and choose to get rid of items they find distasteful, or which could be 'hurtful' to those who might stumble upon them. Becker also wrote a book about Sylvia Plath. Had she donated Plath material, might it still be around?

Source:
   The essay above is found on the website of  The Freedom Association which is a right-leaning, libertarian-type and Ms. Becker is a member. I don't think that matters in this case, but I thought I should mention it. 
The Bonus:
   Some more cheap advice. If someone from an "Advancement Office" at a university takes your money in exchange for your name being affixed to something on campus, or if a librarian agrees to accept your books, papers or artworks, don't assume they will be there a decade from now.