book dumping

Noun

book dumping (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) The practice of donating old used books that burden rather than assist communities.
   • ...there is some sensitivity in Africa to being the recipient of the West's unwanted or secondhand surplus goods, and sometimes well-intentioned gifts of educational materials have been criticized by their recipients as examples of "book dumping" - equivalent, that is, to garbage disposal or to the...1993 Bernth Lindfors, "Desert Gold: Irrigation Scemes for Ending the Book Drought," in D. Riemenschneider and F. Shultze-Engler, eds. African Literatures in the Eighties, Rodopi, Amsterdam, 1993. p....
   • Many book donation programs, though well-intentioned, engage in “book dumping,” a practice of shipping old used books that burden rather than assist communities.2003 Donna Nixon, "From North Carolina to KwaZulu Natal: World Library Partnership," North Carolina Libraries, Winter 2003, pp. 146-151.
2. (literal) The discarding of quantities of books.
   • Since January, the book-dumping has ceased, following an expose by the San Francisco Chronicle.1996 October 14, Nicholson Baker, “The Author vs. the Library”, in The New Yorker, page 50