I recently read Crew: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries as recommended by a resource list from NC State Convention and Anne McEowen. This was chock full of information I wished I had used the last time I weeded. We do not weed on a regular basis, maybe we should be. What is your practice in your library?
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We weed once a year, but we also weed as we check books in and shelve them. One should never place a book on the shelf if it is in bad shape, out of date, or out of touch. This way weeding would not take you a very long time because you are always doing it. We have good results with this method.
Like everyone else, we weed on a regular basis, especially when things get too crowded. we are in the process of weeding more diligently as we will be moving to a new library next year. Also, people love to give us their discarded books. One thing we do with them is compare them to the book we already have and see which is in the better condition. If theirs is better, we will discard ours and process theirs and put it on our shelves, I especially replace those books with yellowed pages if we get one that has nice white pages.
Our weeding generally happens when the shelves start to get crowded. I have to be in the mood for it because it is very difficult for me to dispose of "my children". However, when I start to discard, I have no problem making decsions about what stays and what doesn't.
We try to weed once a year usually starting the first of the year until we are satisfied that we have our library stocked with fresh looking books again. Usually every year there will be some, maybe many books that have suffered some abuse and need to be replaced with new materials. Darlene Earnhardt
We weed the adult fiction shelves on a regular basis, so we can have room to keep up with the current items. Circulation doesn't work here, as we are taking off what is NOT being read.
The other areas of the library are reviewed on a rotation. Condition always is a main reason for removing an item. As budget allows, we update items that have been revised, but sometimes we must keep the older copy just to maintain the reference area.
We try to maintain the religious reference areas by replacing as new items are published. If nothing recent has been published, we will keep a quality reference no matter what the c. date. We have seminary students that use these items in-house and never check them out.
I was unaware the children's library at church had weeds. Do we need to ask Derrick for weed-be-gone? Just kidding. What responses did you get. My guess is once a year.
I can really recommend weeding continually, as Rita said, as a part of circulation before the book is reshelved. I'm sorry to say we haven't been diligent in doing this. When we were about halfway through inventory we had a computer paper box full of books to be repaired and that's not all. It is overwhelming. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again.
We keep our church library open each day of Vacation Bible School and spend that time weeding and reading the shelves. Often the parents of the children attending VBS will drop in, and we will get their input on the books we think should be withdrawn. Of course, throughout the year we try to keep our eyes peeled for outdated material and unattractive and tattered books.
Replies
We weed once a year, but we also weed as we check books in and shelve them. One should never place a book on the shelf if it is in bad shape, out of date, or out of touch. This way weeding would not take you a very long time because you are always doing it. We have good results with this method.
Rita Kirkland
First Baptist Church Euless, TX
Like everyone else, we weed on a regular basis, especially when things get too crowded. we are in the process of weeding more diligently as we will be moving to a new library next year. Also, people love to give us their discarded books. One thing we do with them is compare them to the book we already have and see which is in the better condition. If theirs is better, we will discard ours and process theirs and put it on our shelves, I especially replace those books with yellowed pages if we get one that has nice white pages.
The other areas of the library are reviewed on a rotation. Condition always is a main reason for removing an item. As budget allows, we update items that have been revised, but sometimes we must keep the older copy just to maintain the reference area.
We try to maintain the religious reference areas by replacing as new items are published. If nothing recent has been published, we will keep a quality reference no matter what the c. date. We have seminary students that use these items in-house and never check them out.
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