Weeding for Success
Course
Benefits of Weeding [9:22]
In this lesson, we will discuss the benefits of weeding.
A well-tended collection actually enjoys better use and increased circulation. Simply taking the time to neaten up the shelves and pull out a few shabbies will make the collection a lot more user-friendly. It's easier to locate books that are not crowded on to overflowing shelves and surrounded by ugly books. Again, those who absolutely must have a particular book will look for it by the call number, but crowded shelves do not invite browsing.
The collection as a whole is more appealing when it has been regularly weeded. Circulation actually increases when the books look new and are attractive even if they are not really new. Consider that if you don't want to touch that dirty, dusty, smelly, sticky book, your students don't want to either.
Weeding frees up shelf space, especially in well-established libraries, older libraries where space is tight. It's harder to browse and harder to re-shelf books on crowded shelves. It's also bad for the books, its bindings are stressed and pages may get torn while being shoved into tight spaces. Ideally, your shelves are not packed with items. The general rule of thumb is to use no more than three-quarters of the shelf. You also don't want to use the bottom or top shelf on tall ranges. The bottom shelf may be less problematic in school libraries where children are shorter than adults, but because books on the bottom shelf are out of normal sight lines they are less used. Of course, the bottom shelf is also not a factor for picture-book shelving that will be viewed by children who are sitting on the floor. With shelving that is 78 inches or more in height, the top shelf will be too high for most people especially kids and using them requires that foot stools be available; potentially creating a dangerous situation.
There is a cost for shelf space that could actually be calculated. If you're running out of space and have to add shelving that's going to cost a lot. Adding shelving also means that you have to rearrange furniture and other shelving to accommodate the new radius; adding expense, even if you have the room to adjust. Usually, once a collection has been built and is stable, you're trying to keep it at a constant level. Even that idea that the collection remains at the same level is changing with the shift to electronic resources where physical materials in the library may be decreasing. So unless you are facing a huge increase of student population or have added on to the building to increase the library's physical size, it is unlikely that you need to increase the total size of your collection.
There are also labor costs for staff or volunteers to shift materials in order to fit in more stuff. As you weed and materials are shifted and spread out a bit, circulation of the moved items will often increase. In fact, one of the tricks to help a worthy book circulate so that you don't have to weed it is to move it to eye level; either through shifting or as displayed books on the end of the shelf. Compare this to a grocery store where the highest-priced items or the items that the store is promoting are placed at eye level and in the end of row displays.
Having outdated material can also be detrimental to your library's reputation. Teachers, students and parents expect the library to provide reliable, credible, accurate information. Students writing papers will be discouraged and possibly outraged if the materials they've checked out have outdated, bad or even erroneous information. One of my favorite examples is: Asbestos, the Magic Mineral; published in 1941 by Harper Collins. When I was working with a smaller public library's collection, I practically had to steal this book to get them to give it up. Thankfully, a recent check shows that only a few university libraries and a couple of very large public libraries still have the book. And it appears to be in a special collection for historical books.
Weeding allows you to save the time of the patron by making it easier for students to find what they are seeking. As you weed, consider your library's mission. Most school and public libraries have materials to support the curriculum, lifelong learning and leisure reading. We are not warehouses, depositories or archives. Of course, some large public libraries like Chicago Public may have archives and retain outdated material for historical purposes. But school libraries and most public libraries do not need books for scholarly research of that nature. Remember Ranganathan's law of library science? If the shelves are full of ragged books with outdated information, the patron has to sift through a lot of stuff to find what they want. I call this the boutique theory of librarianship. Think about the difference of shopping at T.J. Maxx with racks full of dresses and shopping at a small boutique. At T.J. Maxx there may very well be hidden gems, nice items for a really good price in there but I have to sort through the shelves and look for those things. And I'm worn out before I find that hidden gem. At the boutique, they have few dresses; they come in multiple sizes with maybe a few color variations. It's easy to find a lot more than I can afford. Most patrons want a small, well-curated collection that makes it fast and easy to find what they want. Patrons want the good stuff, which is why they also like to browse on the shelving carts to see what other patrons have just returned.
Other benefits of weeding include making it easier for you to be aware of selection needs. You have a continuous check on books and materials that need to be replaced or updated. You have better knowledge of what is in the collection and constant feedback on its strengths and weaknesses. Because you are examining specific areas of the collection and looking what it is and isn't there and what is and isn't circulating, you are aware of gaps that need to be filled. You are also creating collection that is refreshed and relevant as much of the time as it's humanly possible.
While we know that weeding is a beneficial and necessary part of collection development and library management, be prepared to get questions about what you are doing. You want to avoid a public relations catastrophe. Librarians have been front page news for burning books or throwing away perfectly good materials simply because the weeding process was kept a secret and the benefits and need for weeding were not shared with the community.
Know your library's policy. You will hear policy mentioned several times during this course. What does the collection development policy say about how materials enter and exit the collection? What does it say you can do with discarded materials? If you don't have a collection development policy or it doesn't mention weeding, this is a priority for you to rectify immediately. The policy usually stipulates that the person responsible for selecting materials or at the very least the person who knows the collection best is the one responsible for weeding. This avoids situations where an aide or a volunteer discards materials she thinks are no longer needed. It also means that if it's your first day on the job in your library, you don't start immediately weeding heavily. You need to know the collection. Get staff and faculty on board. Talk about the process you'll follow. Your boss should not be surprised to learn that you discard library materials. Teachers, faculty, parents and others need to understand that books don't last forever. They get this concept with other supplies and materials. They need to also understand it with books. The library should not be expected to retain musty, deteriorating books any more than the athletic department would keep torn or frayed uniforms or deflated footballs.
Make it routine. Avoid huge weeding projects where it may appear that the collection has been decimated. Nothing stirs up emotions like seeing a dumpster full of books being thrown away. If a major weeding project is unavoidable, such as before moving the library to a new location or after a natural disaster, be ready to explain what is happening. At each step of the process, you must use professional judgment. Just as you don't automatically add every new book to the collection, you don't automatically weed. The careful culling of books is painstaking work. In many cases, you will anguish over decisions, but you can do it and you can do it well.
Weeding the library collection offers potentially immediate and significant benefits for students and patrons. These benefits range from easier browsing on uncrowded shelves to maintaining a positive, reliable reputation for the library. In order to conduct weeding as a routine part of collection development, it is important to know the library's (or school's) policies for weeding, including who can weed and the appropriate steps for discarding materials.
In this exercise, you will examine current weeding policies and practices in your library setting. Refer to your collection development policy as you proceed.
1. First, respond to the questions posed by Larson:
- What does your school library collection development policy say about how materials enter and exit the collection? Note that this may be covered in a district policy pertaining to textbooks.
- What does the policy say must be done with discarded materials?
- Who can conduct the weeding process?
2. Next, consider possible data sources for guiding your weeding. Pertinent data might include usage and circulation statistics, acquisition data, grade level curriculum, current student interests and teacher preferences, physical condition of books, and data describing the current number of materials and available space in your library.
- What information do you have?
- What data can you perhaps access or know about, but need more information in order to use effectively?
- What data is missing from your toolbox?
In this step, you're considering the array of data sources that you have or know about and the data you need to obtain. It's likely that you would focus in on a particular area or topic in the collection to conduct the weeding. (In other words, you wouldn't gather descriptions of physical conditions of books in the entire library all at once!) An article that may offer additional considerations is "Management Matters. Ann Plans to Restore Order to Collection" by Mary Keeling.
3. Finally, reflect on your professional/personal beliefs and current practices of weeding. Here are some possible questions to consider:
- How familiar are you with weeding guidelines and best practices?
- What aspects of this process are your strengths and which are areas to learn more?
- How would you describe your confidence or comfort in weeding?
- How often, if at all, do you weed your collection? What's an area that you anticipate requires weeding "today?"
- What obstacles do you foresee in weeding?
- What benefits of weeding are most appealing to you?
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Weeding for Success: Consider Weeding Practices & Policies at Your Library." School Library Connection, September 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1964550?learningModuleId=1964556&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2128217
Additional Resources
About the Author
Jeanette Larson is a semi-retired librarian and adjunct professor at Texas Woman's University. She earned her MLS from the University of Southern California. Larson is the author of several books for librarians, including CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries, Children's Services Today: A Practical Guide for Librarians, The Public Library Policy Writer, and El día de los niños/El día de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community through Día, as well as a book for children, Hummingbirds: Facts and Folklore from the Americas.
Known as a ruthless weeder, Larson recently culled her personal library prior to moving to a smaller home in Rockport, TX.
MLA Citation
Larson, Jeanette. "Weeding for Success. Benefits of Weeding [9:22]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, September 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1964550?learningModuleId=1964556&topicCenterId=2247902.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1964550?learningModuleId=1964556&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 1964550