Book theft rates will likely differ from library to library, but, from my limited experience, I am not aware that loss is a huge issue. Many libraries now offer far more expensive items, such as telescopes, microscopes, and robots. But, for the purposes of this thread, if you want to recommend different RPGs for lending and for reference collections, please feel free! I could see academic libraries supporting ludological research being interested in old editions of RPGs for their reference collections, but I suspect most lending collections will want current editions. In fact, that is the recommendation of the authors of
Dragons in the Stacks.