Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mary, Undoer Of Knots: Unraveling Best Practices For Unwanted Donations And Deaccessioned Collection Items In A Catholic Library, Sarah Burke Cahalan, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

When humorist Tommy Tighe tweeted that he is “so Catholic I bury old parish bulletins instead of throwing them out whenever I clean out the van, just in case,”1 many on #CatholicTwitter felt a twinge of recognition. In addition to the human tendency to accumulate material things, there is also legitimate concern in a Catholic context about discarding materials associated with the practice of faith. The parish bulletin is an extreme example; we can safely relegate that to the recycle bin once we have read about the ladies’ breakfast and the Christmas wreath fundraiser. In the routine practice of the …