By Christine de Kock
Shoni Ellis said disposing of the books in such a way showed disrespect for the books and the environment, as the books were not recycled.
“I would have thought that someone would have wanted them,” she said.
Ms Ellis said she was surprised no one wanted the books, as a number of people trawled through the skip that was situated outside Victoria University’s (VU) Barkly St campus.
“There were law, philosophy and poetry books … valuable hardcover and leather-bound books dating back to the 1800s,” she said.
“The books could have been offered to an archival library or to the community. I’m surprised students at VU wouldn’t want to take them home.
“The fact that they were dumped over the Easter period didn’t give students a chance to take them.”
A VUspokesperson said the books were “surplus to its need”.
“The majority of the publications were old English law reports.
“VU already has copies of these books both in hard copy format and online.
“Before the books were disposed of the university offered the books free, via the Law Library listserv, to law libraries and institutions across Australia. However, there was no interest.”
She said the hardcover books were not recyclable through normal collections and therefore the only way to dispose of the books was via the skip.
“From time to time it is necessary to dispose of older publications, in order to provide students with the most up-to-date publications for the current curriculum,” she said.
