It's just a pile of discarded books which are no longer of any use. Not every single book ever made can or should be kept forever. Many books lose their usefullness over time due to becoming obsolete or damage.

Those books look like old textbooks that are in no condition to be used. Due to their age they are probably useless as textbooks and certainly their condition makes them so. The only value they may still have is historical, and you don't need a bunch of copies of the same book for historical preservation. One or two of the same book is good enough, and I would bet you that the Library of Congress already has a copy of every one of those books.

As to the comment that one could sell them for a lot of money. Doubtfull. A book needs to be more than just old and worn looking to be sold as an antique. It has to have some historical signifigance, and be in at least decent shape. Doubt any of the books in that picture has those characteristics.

The only thing sad about that picture is the fact that someone failed to dispose of those books properly. They shouldn't have been just dumped in a pile in a school yard or wherever that is.

It's not a symbol of a society reading less, or the education system roting, or whatever. It's just a sign of someone being sloppy and not correctly disposing of no longer usable books.