SPRINGFIELD - State statute makes selling outdated books and journals close to impossible, so Illinois university libraries decide to trash about 500,000 used books every year.

If state Rep. Dan Brady’s measure to ease the used book resale process is approved by the General Assembly, books now destined to be soot could recover about $1 million to replenish university collections.

Dane Ward, associate dean for public services at Illinois State University, Normal, hates the thought of tossing books into a trash bin.

"Throwing books away is something I cannot pull myself to do," he said.

To salvage them, Ward urged Brady to get the law changed so books in state university libraries may be treated as books and not state documents.

"The current statute was created to address the transfer and sale of state property, such as furniture and computers," Ward said. "The new statute makes this process less cumbersome, while also providing a wider range of potential recipients of these books in cases where they would be donated to another agency or organization."

The legislation moved through the House by a unanimous vote on April 4 and carries three sponsors in the Illinois Senate.

"Especially in these times where funding is very tight for universities, let’s sell these and keep the revenues for university operations," said Brady, R-Bloomington.

Although the money generated from the sale of used library materials won’t go directly into each state school’s general fund, the money could relieve some pressure from university budgets that give libraries money to buy new books every year.

"The cost of maintaining libraries is increasing, while our budget is slim," Ward said. "It would help a little bit to give back some money to that process."

Aside from the financial benefit of making some money from books no longer deemed to be the most up-to-date sources on a subject, there is a social benefit to saving books from being destroyed, he said.

"They’re not all just books that are old and beat up. Many just no longer fit the need of the curriculum," he said. "It’s knowledge, it’s information that’s probably been superseded by old materials, but it’s knowledge and intellectual capital."

The legislation is House Bill 4202.

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