[Libs-Or] Weeding Insights

[Elena Gleason]

Hi Eryn,

Here's my two cents as someone with significant experience weeding small 
public library collections:

If you create a plan to weed a little at a time over the course of the 
school year, things will be much less overwhelming. My advice would be 
to break down your nonfiction collection into sections to go through 
monthly that will cover your whole collection in one year's time (or two 
years if one isn't doable for you). If your collection and/or budget are 
in real rough shape, you may need to do a "triage" round of weeding 
where you weed and replace the worst of the worst before going through 
everything again with stricter weeding criteria. If you do your weeding 
on a monthly basis, this will hopefully mean you can replace things 
gradually in the normal course of your ordering and not find your budget 
/too/ strained with a giant list of replacements that all need ordering 
at once.

I love Vnuk's /Weeding Handbook/ myself, but some of her recommendations 
regarding currency are unrealistic for smaller libraries with limited 
budgets, especially those that haven't been weeded in a long while. The 
same goes for CREW. As you go through your collection, you'll develop a 
sense for what "dated" means for a particular subject at your particular 
library. Don't push yourself too hard to conform to guidelines that were 
developed for larger, better-funded libraries. Just do what you can with 
what you have, and prioritize the areas where currency is of the utmost 
importance and where use is heaviest.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you 
have any more specific questions.

Elena Gleason
Acquisitions Librarian
Coos Bay Public Library
525 Anderson Ave.
Coos Bay, OR 97420
541-269-1101 x225
coosbaylibrary.org

On 3/8/2017 2:33 PM, Eryn McKee wrote:
> Hello- I'm looking for some insights, suggestions, etc... on weeding 
> my library collection.  I've done fairly well with the fiction section 
> but when it comes to the non-fiction and the reference section, I'm 
> overwhelmed.  This is my 17th year here and in that time there has 
> been some weeding done here and there, mostly at the end of the school 
> year when I read the shelves but nothing consistent.   Due to budget 
> cuts at this point I am the only library staff.  Our non-fiction and 
> reference are woefully outdated.  A lot of the books are older than my 
> high school students.  If I went through and pulled everything that 
> shouldn't still be on the shelves, I wouldn't be left with a whole lot!
>
> I have read the following books on weeding:
>
> Less is More: A practical Guide to Weeding School Library Collections
>
> The Weeding Handbook: A Shelf by Shelf Guild
>
> Both were very helpful but I just don't know where to start!  I want 
> to pull all these horribly outdated books off the shelf but I need to 
> be able to update the collection as well but that is easier said than 
> done.  Books are not cheap and my budget is only so much each year.  
> I'm thinking maybe I could apply for a grant or ask my PSO for money 
> to help buy more books.
>
> Any thoughts, insights, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated, 
> especially if you have experience updating a really outdated collection.
>
> Thanks so much!
>
> Eryn
>
> -- 
>
> Eryn McKee
>
> Librarian -MLS
>
> (Classified)
>
> Tigard High School
>
> Co-Vice President- OSEA Chapter 51
>
> (503)431-5451 <tel:%28503%29431-5451>
>
>
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