..a book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements, clumsy hands. If for a hundred and a hundred years everyone had been able freely to handle our codices, the majority of them would no longer exist. So the librarian protects them not only against mankind but also against nature, and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion, the enemy of truth. Umberto Eco
About This Quote

It is said that the Library of Congress has over 35,000 books. At the average rate of one book per day being lost or damaged, this means that the library has to replace those books every year. The librarian of Congress notes that it costs $14,000 to replace each book! Imagine if all those books were replaced every year. It would cost over $250 million dollars per year! Even though we can’t see it happening, there is a war on books and we don’t even know it!

Source: The Name Of The Rose

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