This might not be bad item for us to hoard- pencils, paper, and paper clips in a bundle. Getting me to fix something for you costs X, getting me to copy out the apropriate parts of the appropriate books costs several Xs.

In all honesty, if we are talking TEOTWAWKI scenarios, knowledge is going to be the greated long term resource. Ignoring the socio-political abuses of the catholic church (and I mean it, don't bring them up, please), the function of monestaries as knowledge repositories was critical during the dark ages.