WEEDING WORKSHOP (from J meeting April 14, 2004)

WEEDING WORKSHOP
“Something is not better than nothing if what you have is outdated or inaccurate.”

AGENDA
· Why we weed
· Why we don’t weed
· When should we weed
· Weeding process
· What to do with the materials
· Information (printouts) available from LAS

NOTES FROM READINGS

Look at the goals of the collection first:

·to provide books exhibiting a variety of stories and illustration styles to accommodate the varying interests ad comprehension levels of the intended audience
·to maintain a complete (as possible) collection of standard, award-winning authors and illustrators, replacing titles as necessary
·to achieve and maintain a physically attractive collection by replacing popular and standard titles as needed and weeding titles that have outlived their personality

WHY WEED?

·Save shelf space
·Save search time
·Circulation increases as remaining items are more visible
·Collection quality improves
·unreliable information is gone
·Librarian actually doing the weeding becomes reacquainted with the weeded area
·rediscover new or forgotten resources
·Collection development

WHY DON’T WE WEED?

·Not enough time
·Don’t like to throw anything away
·What if someone needs what I just discarded?
·No money to replace weeded items
·No materials left on shelf
·What if it is valuable?
·Admits to making a mistake when the item was ordered
·Status of a “large” collection

WHEN SHOULD WE WEED

·Once a year
·When new items can’t be shelved
·Every time an item is returned
·check for wear, rips, markings

WEEDING PROCESS

·Review weeding policy
·Create a plan
·ideally collection should be weeded every year but time and personnel may make this difficult
·break library down into sections and determine order in which to read
·Review criteria for section to be weeded

Criteria includes:
· circulation
· physical condition of item
· interest level
· format
· duplicate copies
· reading level
· quantity of books of that type of subject
· new editions or better books available
· content of material

MUSTIE

· Misleading or factually inaccurate
· Ugly (worn beyond repair)
· Superseded by new edition or better book
· Trivial (no discernible literary or scientific value)
· Irrelevant (your collection no longer has a use for the item)
· Elsewhere (available though ILL or branch holds)

Ephemera = trivial = features characters created to sell a product

Gather necessary supplies:
·shelf list or computer printout
·pen

·paper slips to mark items:

bind

mend

discard

donate to….

promote

book sale

replace/new edition

check for other locations of title (within library)

change catalog number

·Read the shelves
·Look at the section as a whole and then item by item
·evaluate overall appearance
·note general appearance of collection
·examine item by item
·Check for availability elsewhere
·Check standard indexes
·Dispose of item
·Pull records of item/delete from database
·Confirm item deletion from database

Follow-up:
·replacements
·updated editions

WHAT TO DO WITH ITEMS

·Keep but mend
·Increase circulation of item
·displays
·change call number
·relocate within library
·use plastic bags to put items in dumpsters
·Be aware of public relations (Sacred Cows)
·save examples of most blatant material that should not be in the collection
·Book sale
·Give away
·Destroy
·remove cover/identifying labels so that the item doesn’t make it’s way back to you
·use pictures from books for displays
·Last Copy in System should be sent to?

DO I REALLY NEED IT?

OTHER RESOURCES

The CREW Method: Expanded Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding for Small and Medium-Sized Public Libraries by Belinda Boon; Texas State Library, 1995

CREW = Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding
· First figure refers to years since the book’s latest copyright date (age of material)
· Second figure refers to maximum permissible time without usage (years since last circulation)
· Third refers to the presence of various negative factors (MUSTIE)
· X in any category means factor is not applicable to specific subject

Guidelines are given for each Dewey classification.

WEEDING RESOURCES

Boon, Belinda. The CREW Method: Expanded Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding for Small and Medium-Sized Public Libraries.
Austin, TX: Texas State Library, c1995.

Gwinnett County Public Library. Gwinnett County Public Library Weeding Manual.
2nd Edition. Public Library Association, c2002.

Slote, Stanley. Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding Methods.
4th Edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. c1997.

“SUNLINK Weed of the Month Club.” www.sunlink.ucf.edu/weed/

“Weed It! For an Attractive and Useful Collection” prepared by Karen Klopfer.

Western Massachusetts Regional Library System. www.wmrls.org/services/colldev/weed_it.html

“Weeding.” Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records.

Collection Development Training for Arizona Libraries—CDT.
www.dlapr.lib.az.us/cdt/weeding.htm

“Weeding the Collection.” Idaho State Library. Alternative Basic Library Education.
www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course4/01index.htm

~ by cathykyle on November 28, 2007.