This is true. Think of how many airport novels exist, the print equivalent of a TV movie or a soap installment. For every work that actually does something interesting, there's so much formulaic dreck that isn't worth preserving (though they reinforce cultural value by contrast, I suppose).
ShepherdMy most unpopular opinion is that not every book has historical and cultural significance and it is not, in fact, morally wrong to shred books. There are a shit ton of books out there that are "old" and "rare" and it's fine to shred them. They're in the Library of Congress probably.