This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
Besides a parody of a famous song by Michael Jackson starting to form in my mind, the topic of weeding a library collection has been a contemplation of mine as I step into the TL shoes at my school library for 2022.
First day back and I am checking with staff if there are specific resources or topics which they would like me to source for their programming. The school is looking at history as a key learning area for the first semester and the Colonial Australia and First Contact are part of the Years 3-6 curriculum. Upon the non-fiction shelves I came across a limited selection of texts which did not inspire me as a teacher… imagine what the students think of them! A number were published in the early 1990s and while the information is mostly factual for that time it does not reflect the increase in historical knowledge and the perspective of indigenous Australians in the information. I know that teachers will not just present the physical books as sources of information, however, with what I pulled of the shelves am I sending a message that history is just old and musty with faded images?
Reading literature about deselection it has become apparent that I need to view a collection with critical eyes as ‘out of date materials can be dangerous… out of date materials are often text feature poor… readers DO judge a book by its cover… books reflect the times in which they were written’ (LaGarde, 2013). As a TL, I need to ask, can it be accessed in another more attractive way? (McKenzie, 2013). I do want to keep the collection fresh – which is where the acronym of F.R.E.S.H comes into play. When in the selection or deselection process I need to remember to have this is in mind.
Some rights reserved by LibraryGirlCC
Back in my school library, to me it is obvious what the best course of action for the current collection is, to remove some of the books from the shelves, unfortunately my library does not have a policy around the deselection of resources. As Braxton (2021) reports, deselection is a contentious issue and without a policy in place it allows both my decisions as a teacher librarian to come into question, as there is no clear authority and standard placed in writing.
I wonder what one of the policies I will be organising for the library will be this year…
References
Braxton, B. (2021, 1 October). Sample collection policy. 500 hats the teacher librarian in the 21st century. https://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy/
LaGarde, J. (2013, October 1). Keeping your library collection smelling F.R.E.S.H! [blog post]. The adventures of Library Girl. https://www.librarygirl.net/post/keeping-your-library-collection-smelling-f-r-e-s-h
McKenzie, D. (2013, November 2). Weeding inspired creativity. Library grits. http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2013/11/weeding-inspired-creativity.html