The British Caving Association

I have mentioned in several newsletters the problem of the storage of BCRA's back-stock of publications (mostly Cave & Karst Science and its predecessors). We would now like to make a final clearout.

This back-stock arose because, for the traditional printing method we have used in the past, the cost of printing is all in the set-up charge, with individual copies costing next to nothing to print. It made sense, therefore, to always print as many copies as we were ever likely to require. However, that "lifetime" requirement has reduced significantly over the last ten years, to the point where we do not really need to keep any back-stock at all, because...

• Our publications have been scanned and are online.
• If we need reprints they can done digitally
• Stock can be printed in small batches, digitally, as "print-on-demand"

Last autumn, we had a large-scale clear-out at the Caving Library at Glutton Bridge, with a van-full of stock going to the recycling point in Ashbourne. The remaining stock comprises

• Current sales stock held by various officers including Katie Eavis, David Gibson and Dave Gough
• Historic stock (5 copies of most items) "archived" with Andy Eavis
• Historic stock from a previous clear-out, held by David Gibson

We would now like to dispose of the remaining "historic" stock. Our rationale for this is that Interest in the stock from potential customers is zero. If anyone wants an item, we have a scan of it or, if we do not, there is a library copy at Glutton Bridge. The book value of the stock is zero. We could, of course, try to keep the stock "just in case" - but "in case of what?". The bottom line is that there is no interest in this stock and the space it is occupying needs to be recovered by the volunteers who are storing the items.

In the past, Trevor Faulkner and others undertook a monumental task, trying to distribute items free of charge to people who might be interest - including libraries, caving clubs and research organisations, as well as individuals. But this has had only a minor impact on the problem of stock storage.

BCRA Council is therefore proposing to have a final clear-out and to dispose of all of this back-stock. If anybody is interested in taking it off our hands - either to store, or to sell, or to otherwise dispose of, please get in touch as soon as possible. You will need a large van to transport the items.