I am posing a question to this group to see if someone has a different perspective on BAC libraries that might convince me to keep the libraries in my -80 freezer instead of discarding them as I am presently inclined. Is there good value in retaining old BAC libraries. In the pre-Pac Bio days, when one wanted to sequence a genome, often a BAC library was prepared and BAC clones sequenced to help provide longer scaffolds than whole genome shotgun libraries or Illumina seqs would provide. Also, if there was a gene of interest, one could probe filter copies of the BAC libraries, isolate a hybridizing clone and primer jump to sequence the entire clone.

I have half a chest freezer filled with plates that contain glycerol stocks from two Rhipicephalus microplus (a cattle tick with genome size greater than human) BAC libraries. It has been at least 5 years since any use has been made of the libraries. As I approach retirement in 2019, I am wondering if these libraries should be disposed of (properly, of course) while I am still present or if they should just be left behind in the old freezer for my replacement to decide upon their value. Would anyone like the BAC libraries? If someone had a need for them, I could possibly arrange for a transfer, though USDA legal team and technology transfer would have to generate the proper paperwork. Comments are welcome!