Deselection Scenario
The necessity of weeding and my experience justifying deselection
Recently, I was approached by the school Principal who had been involved in discussions with some of the Head Teachers (HTs) at the executive meeting. He explained that the HTs were concerned about a perceived lack of resources in the school library that students could use to support learning in their subjects. The staff members were concerned about the number of books that had been weeded and not replaced. Furthermore, these staff mentioned that some of the non-fiction books that were weeded are no longer available to purchase easily and newer materials being published are not of the same educational quality appropriate for the needs of academically selective students at our school, an argument commonly made by powerful faculty stakeholders (Metz & Gray, 2005, p. 273).
After the principal relayed this information to me, I decided to meet with the HTs of the respective subjects to discuss future selection of materials to support students in their subjects and to convey the principles of deselection with them. I was right to communicate with other departments about weeding, however, I made some mistakes along the way (Nero & He, 2020, p.145).
I had brought my laptop with me so that I could easily access the Library’s online management system and I had printed a list of materials already in the collection relevant to the subject. However, I was not prepared adequately for the meeting as I did not have a copy of the school library’s Collection Development Policy (CDP) on hand and it is currently not available online.
I know that deselection is a necessary part of maintaining a library collection and an essential part of a library’s CDP (Saponaro & Evans, 2019, p. 64). Each of the sample policies provided in ETL503 contain a section on deselection and the principles of weeding, including my own school library’s CDP. The policy documents were written by a previous Teacher Librarian (TL) and whilst I have a hard copy of it, I am not as familiar with it as I should have been.
I am familiar with the conceptual principles of deselection. Deselection is the necessary and selective task of removing items from the collection that are unwanted, damaged beyond repair, no longer relevant to the learning and/or interest needs of users, no longer circulating, outdated and/or inaccurate or in formats which are no longer in use (Braxton, 2024).
I relayed these principles to the HTs and explained that weeding is a necessary responsibility of the TL (New South Wales Department of Education [NSW DoE], 2019). Whilst circulation reports were analysed along with the need to meet curriculum and syllabus requirements and maintain adequate space on the shelves, the HTs were still concerned that weeding was a waste of taxpayer money and school resources (Metz & Gray, 2005 p. 273). The protective factor of a good CDP increases the likelihood of successful outcomes against challenges like those just described (Saponaro & Evans, 2019, p. 57).
Moving forward we decided to make the following changes:
- The CDP will be regularly updated (annual aim) and available online for both staff and community viewing (Our Lady of the Assumption, n.d.; Bailey, 2024)
- The ‘Deselection’ section of the CDP will have Fiction, Nonfiction, Digital Resources subsections.
- Deselection criteria will be clearly listed on the CDP and include:
- Items which are mouldy, dirty or damaged beyond repair
- Formats which are no longer supported
- Inaccurate/out-of-date/discriminatory information
- Inappropriate to the needs, abilities and/or interests of students
- Items with significantly low borrowing rates and low interest now and in future
- Duplicates or older editions where the new edition has been purchased
- Outdated syllabus/curriculum materials, e.g. subject no longer taught
- Exceptions to weeding
(This list is not exhaustive and will be elaborated on in the CDP) (Bailey, 2024)
- The TL will consult current syllabuses, curricula and legislation around provision of materials when considering items for weeding
- Non-Fiction items considered for weeding must be shown to the subject HT who will collaboratively make the decision to weed or not. Once weeded, a list will be printed and that HT will sign and date their approval to weed the selected items (Metz & Gray, 2005, p. 275)
- Each Dewey Section will have a timeframe for weeding (Tait, 2016, p. 32; Braxton, 2024).
- 800 resources are not to be weeded except in case of damage, lack of space, inaccuracies or inappropriate content.
- Weeded resources will be available for faculties to obtain and use
- The CDP will state that the final decision for Selection and Deselection of materials is the responsibility of the TL.
A good CDP is one that is collaboratively created, regularly updated and publicly available. By keeping the CDP current, it is not just a dusty old document on a shelf; it is a working document allowing for transparency and it can be easily adhered to as a set of specific guidelines and principles. This is especially important as it allows for consistency and continuity with collection goals, selection focuses and deselection decisions of both previous and future TLs. Thus, the CDP also future proofs the collection as collection development focuses can be maintained through staff changes whilst also protecting the TL and the collection itself.
References
Bailey, K. (2024). Chapel Hill state school library policy and procedures. Chapel Hill State School. https://chapelhillss.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/Library/library-information-and-procedures-2024.pdf
Braxton, B. (2024). Sample collection policy. http://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy/
Metz, P., & Gray, C. (2005). Public relations and library weeding. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(3), 273–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2005.01.005
Nero, M. D., & He, J. (2020). Space reclamation: The cataloging department’s role in weeding projects. In S. Marien (Ed.), Library technical services: adapting to a changing environment (pp. 135-148). Purdue University Press.
New South Wales Department of Education. (2019, October 2). Library. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2005-0221
Our Lady of the Assumption. (n.d.). Library policies. Our Lady of the Assumption Enoggera. https://www.olaenoggera.qld.edu.au/about-us/policies-and-procedures/Pages/Library-Policies.aspx
Saponaro, M. Z., & Evans, G. E. (2019). Collection management basics (7th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.
Tait, C. (2016). Library collection management policy. Windsor High School. https://windsor-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/doe/sws/schools/w/windsor-h/localcontent/whs_library_collectionmanagementpolicy.pdf