I have to admit that before undertaking these readings, I was a reluctant weeder; whereas now I feel armed with the knowledge and criteria to be an effective weeder. The important thing to remember when weeding is that school libraries are not archival centres, our purpose is to get the best most appealing resources into the hands of our students and teachers to match their research and recreational needs. If our shelves are stuffed with dusty, raggedy old books, our students might just avoid the library altogether. Shelves that have been given some tender loving care are much more inviting, so weeding must be regularly prioritised in the TLs schedule.
If students cannot find resources easily because they are rummaging through crowded shelves stuffed with old and unappealing resources, they could likely be turned off the whole process. We TLs need to stay ahead of the trends and current attitudes to make sure our collection does not contain information that is out-of-date or attitudes that are hurtful, offensive and harmful. We would do great damage to our student’s learning journey if we undermine the value of their research by holding onto irrelevant and outdated resources.
It was validating to read about the excuses many librarians make as to why not to weed as I now know that I am not alone. The Baumbach and Miller (2006) guide to weeding school library collections, outlined why some of my concerns “don’t hold water” (5). Such as my concern around someone requesting an item as soon as I have weeded and disposed it. This, of course, is highly unlikely as if I have weeded it, it is because it has not been borrowed for a number of years and likely contains misleading information. Or it is in poor condition, in which case we will be purchasing a new and improved copy.
Baumbach and Miller (2006) also outlined how to weed according to subject area, as the publication date that we use to guide our weeding practice will vary according to the subject area. Some subjects (such as computers, science and technology) require much more frequent weeding than other areas (art, history and philosophy). So when I am weeding the non-fiction collection, I would actually print off these pages and use them as a guide. I enjoyed the acronyms M.U.S.T.Y., M.U.S.T.I.E. and F.R.E.S.H. which I may stick up somewhere in our office as a reminder of this vital task of weeding in collection management.
I realised just how fresh we need to keep our fiction collection, so that our students are actually drawn to pick up books. Our Fantasy collection, for example, is bursting at the shelves. What student is going to want to even peruse these shelves? Items need to be taken off. Popular interest waxes and wanes, so adding and culling regularly is vital to keep the collection appealing, thereby fulfilling one of our most important missions: building the reading culture of the school.
In the past, I have been nervous that the principal will “catch” me weeding, and will be unhappy about this, however now I feel ready to provide a rationale for why weeding is a necessary component of collection management. In my current context, we do not have a collection development policy but once I have created one, I could share this with the principal – which would include the criteria for weeding. This would help the principal understand that weeding ensures that the collection continuously evolves to meet the teaching and learning needs of our school. The weeding policy would outline the purpose of weeding and the professional tools implemented when evaluating the collection.
It was also validating to read that it is common that librarians and TLs do make mistakes in purchasing. I am always wracked with guilt when I make a dud purchase! After these readings, I now feel I have “permission” from removing these mistakes from the collection. It is better to have a smaller selection of high quality books than a tonne of books that hold little interest for our students.
In terms of disposal, there are many ideas with what to do with discarded books. Of course, anything with mould must be chucked straight in the bin. I have donated old books to my school. They were great titles but old so not for the school library, but great for classroom libraries – which tend to be consumables in any case! I run a book club at school that meets weekly. Obviously we can’t read a book each week, more like each month. So in between discussing books, we do literary activities like play Scrabble and create bookmarks. With the weeded nonfiction books, we cut them up and create collages on our bookmarks. This is a really great way to repurpose weeded books.
There are many approaches to weeding, and I would use a combination of them to suit our needs. I would begin with areas of the collection that get heavier use, looking ahead to what is being taught across the curriculum particularly in Humanities, Jewish Studies and Science (the classes that tend to book research sessions in the library the most). Then I would use the shelf-by-shelf criteria outlined in the Baumbach and Miller (2006) guide or the Vnuk, R. (2015). The weeding handbook : A shelf-by-shelf guide. Then I would proceed to areas of current interest before just going through shelf by shelf.
With regards to fiction, I would go through genre by genre until I have weeded the entire collection and then start again a year later. If weeding is scheduled into my timetable, much like shelving, then I could make solid progress throughout the year. I would consult teachers in the process, especially when I am unsure about a resource, that way the teachers involved would feel more connected with the collection and be more likely to interact with it.
When it comes to weeding eResources, some different criteria might need to be applied. Obviously finding shabby, worn and torn books will not be an issue. However ensuring that the content in the collection is current and relevant. Ebooks still take up space, even though it is not physically on a library shelf, it is there sitting on a server and on our catalogue. Having out-of-date books with misleading information damages our library’s reputation.
Currently, we subscribe to the Wheelers’ consortium so we have very little power to weed, except for the titles that we purchase in addition to the consortium. However where we do have the power to weed, we must be evaluating each item according to the criteria to ensure that the digital collection does not contain items that are irrelevant or factually inaccurate.
Remembering what not to weed is also really important. I can imagine myself getting a little ruthless in my mission to create a vibrant collection, but just as I have made mistakes in acquisitions (sigh), it is important to remember not to weed resources containing local history and authors, well known artists, annuals and yearbooks, and books that are out-of-print but still useful.
References:
Baumbach, D.J., & Miller, L.L. (2006). Weeding criteria by topic and Dewey number. In Less is more: A practical guide to weeding school library collections, (pp. 24-167).
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
Larson, J. (2012). CREWing children’s materials. In CREW: a weeding manual for modern libraries, (pp. 33-36), Austin, TX: Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Larson, J. (2012) Addendum on ebooks
McKenzie, D. (2013, November 2). Weeding inspired creativity. http://librarygrits.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/weeding-inspired-creativity.html
Vnuk, R. (2015). The weeding handbook : A shelf-by-shelf guide