It’s a word that can send a chill through even
the hardiest of librarians: Weeding. That seemingly counterintuitive
responsibility to keep the library collection fresh by emptying the shelves of books
that are outdated, worn out, misleading, irrelevant, uncirculated, or contain
information that can be found elsewhere. While the thought of weeding can send
shivers down the spine, it is necessary for the good of the library
collection and the library stakeholders.
To make the process more appealing, Dr. Gail
Dickinson recommends three simple steps to weed that can take as little as
fifteen minutes per week.
Step One: Focus on one shelf per week. Do a
quick visual check and pull out any books that look as if they need to be
weeded.
Step Two: Apply the rules of deselection to
the books you pulled off the shelf – decide to toss or keep.
Step Three: Take the books you decided to
remove from the collection immediately to a workstation and complete the steps
to remove a book from your collection. Once the book is properly removed from
the collection, place it in the trashcan.
This process ensures that weeding is occurring
on a regular basis, prevents large amount of books from disappearing from the
library shelves all at once, and helps you become familiar with your collection.
While this may not be the most appealing part
of being a librarian, weeding is necessary to make space for all of the new
titles that are being released and for the benefit of the library patrons.
Some helpful articles on weeding:
Dickinson, G.
(2005). Crying Over Spilled Milk. Library Media Connection, 23(7),
24-26.
Tracy B.
Tracy B.
I love this idea! Weeding is very stressful. However, you have helped to simplify this process into a very manageable process.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! I agree that weeding throughout the year is important. Weeding reminds me of the cleaning process as well. Doing it in small chunks is best. It can be overwhelming to weed at the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteThe librarian at my school has a really tough time weeding. I think that if she had a process like this one, she would do better. She gets really overwhelmed, but I think if she did one shelf at a time, that would really help her. I also think she needs to come up with rules, like you said. She sometimes gets attached to books even though they have 1950s copyright and then doesn't want to get rid of them. I think I am going to have her read this! Great ideas. Thank you.
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