[This is in reply to a posting on the Ordnancemaps group, but I suspect that the matter is of equal interest to lis-maps]
In the disposal of surplus maps, I know of no difference in practice between university and 'other' libraries. Although it is true that there have been some 'mishaps' over the past few years, there has also been a great deal of care in the disposal of surplus University map collections, as anyone will know who has been party to, e.g., the Oxford School of Geography and University of Reading disposals (advertised via lis-maps). The idea seems to have got abroad that digital-mad carto-illiterate university managements are irresponsibly ditching precious map collections built up over many years. My experience and views are somewhat different. Whilst it is to be suspected that most university collections started before about 1965 will have a few oddities, if not 'gems', most of the holdings will probably be a mixture of standard topographic map series and teaching sets. The standard topographic series will usually be replicated elsewhere (a lot of universities now have access to historic OS large-scale mapping via the EDINA service, a facility admittedly denied to the tax-paying general public), and the teaching sets will be so much waste paper, taking up valuable space: and 98% or more of these maps will be paper flat, and practically unsaleable to map collectors, and, indeed, difficult even to give away. (Let anyone party to sales and disposals at Charles Close Society map fairs deny this!) The other 2% is likely to consist of a 'loan' or 'fieldwork'; collection of standard folded OS maps, often in such a tatty state that it would be an insult to offload them to charity shops. (Incidentally, does anyone know if 'cloth mounted' post-war OS mapping is suitable for paper recycling?)
One of the problems has been that often the map curator has been disposed of in advance of the map collection: another is that the map curator may be simply unaware of anything out of the ordinary, as it is never asked for, and the fact that it is actually out of the ordinary and worth preserving is not publicised. (This applies equally to university and other libraries.) The alternative is for some philanthropist to offer to store all these redundant maps in an aircraft hanger somewhere, until such time as the maps can be combed through for, presumably, the OS equivalent of the Hereford Map!
It seems that 100+ maps have been rescued in Manchester. What areas do they cover? If of Manchester, it might just be possible to dispose of them locally. A method that has been used with some university collections has been to post a list, first-come-first-served, on condition that the new owner takes responsibility for collection/carriage. How many maps thus advertised have found homes other than a recycling skip, I wonder...
Yours provokatively (but he hopes even-handedly),
Richard Oliver