Time to weed the LPs.... (choosing stuff to dump)

I have 3500 books.  More than half were my late wife's with history a major part of it.  I will part with most of the collection sooner than later as she was actively using the books for various urban archives exhibits as well as other museum exhibits which I am not capable of doing.  You are correct about books that I may never read again but my Judaica, art, engraved illustrated and cinema history books are never leaving my home.

As to my cds and records, I am asked by friends and professional musicians to find recordings they want to hear (unavailable on YouTube) prior to performance as I am the archivist for several choirs recordings as well as make recordings of rarely performed works locally in Los Angeles.  I just made a 12 track 50 minute CD for my father's funeral of favorite vocal works as he loved music as much as I do.  That was a very difficult task knowing how to build up the music with popular music and transitioning to more somber, introspective music prior to the funeral from among 3500 records and cds from one genre of music.  

I have no financial need to exchange them and custom built my storage space for 20,000 LPs, 7,000 78s and 5,000 CDs.  You know what that means, I have 5,000 more LPs and 2,000 more CDs than storage space built.  I probably will eliminate another 3-4,000 LPs in the next few years after auditioning them.  

@surferandy Enjoyed your two unfortunate episodes. 

fleschler, I am sorry to hear about your loss. You follow your father, and this is a gain.
Just make sure not to accidentally get rid of valuable to you records.

inna,  Thank you.  It took more effort to construct the funeral music recording than the eulogy last Sunday.   My father loved music as much as I do but he became a successful businessman with great sweat equity (he lived to 94 physically very strong, working until he was 89). 

I have sold 18,000 records in the past 40 years.  I also have another 4,000 which I haven't heard yet.  I collect only to listen, not as some (well three) acquiantances who have/had 1 to 1.5 million LPs and don't listen.  If I don't potentially want to hear a recording 3 times annually, out it goes.  Some genres have such limited release/pressings that I will never part with them as they are nearly or are one of a kind recordings.  And, of course, my own recordings I won't part with.  Luckily, I'm 62 and fit so I hope to enjoy my music for decades to come.  

elizabeth, my collection is smaller than yours and I still feel the need to reduce it.  I think many of us end up with records we don't listen to because of duplicate copies, changing taste, finding it was not as good as expected when we bought it, disappointing sonics/damage, etc.

But moving can also be a real stimulant to examining what we want to keep.  I made a modest start on that some time ago but that move didn't happen.  Now I'm faced with a much greater likelihood of moving in the near future.  So that will be a real motivation.

Another point that younger collectors don't likely consider, what are the chances of having time to ever listen to all of our collection?  Even with about 3K LPs I'm old enough to admit I'll not likely ever play some of them again.  And my favorites certainly deserve more than only one more listen.  So I've set a goal to end up with around 1,500 LPs that I know I'll enjoy listening to.  That is still many hours of fun and enjoyment.