Top management at the Salem Public Library has launched a massive project to permanently remove thousands of books from the Library collections. The collection has already seen aggressive removal of books, over 178,000 in the past five years. The collection is already lean and removing more books will destroy the core collection of older, classic books that a mid-sized public library like ours should have. The recently adopted Collection Development Policy calls for "a broad and diverse collection" that can offer "the broadest possible access to content within the library's walls." That policy is now being being violated as thousands more books are being removed from library shelves. By signing this petition to the Salem City Council you are asking for the mass removal to be stopped and for books to be returned to the shelves where they belong to serve our community.