I have books that are decades old. In fact, when I lived in So CA the neighborhood kids would come to my house when they needed a book for school projects or homework versus the school library. Yes, they take up room. But I have never thrown a book away - even my college textbooks. I noticed the process of library purges even in the late nineties and I grabbed books even then. When the colleges started going digital I knew then there would be a push to control what people read, especially young people. If the electronic system goes down in some way, then what? Where is the depository of our collective history as Americans, as mankind? Without a written history, who shapes the future? My advise... everyone should be trying to get books - not for yourself, but for the future.