Our library has a long wall of shelves packed with Christian novels. We are in the Revitalization stage and are letting go of many holdings in order to have more uncluttered shelves with quality materials. Many of these Christian fiction books are sets of series of well-known authors, such as Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers, Dekker, Thoene, etc. However, a large number of these books are older acquisitions, with brown pages. They are not being checked out. Some librarians would say that if these books were promoted, that they would more readily be checked out--.but our patrons tend to come in looking for the newer publications.
Our dilemma is that we need to reduce the number of books in this section. I'm looking for guidelines to help us make decisions on what to purge. Do we simply discard all books which are a certain age--such as, all the books which are 15 years old, or 20 years old--even if they are written by well-known authors? The books just LOOK old and aren't as appealing as a fresh new book. I'm sure we could re-order newer copies, but is it worth spending the money if they aren't being checked out? And, if there was only one patron in a years' time who came in looking for the earliest publications of a certain author, should we "feel bad" that we let those go?
Another question--Is there a way to find out which books are the most popular from a particular author? If there is a book which an author wrote 25 years ago, but it was one of the best from that author, how would we determine that it was a classic in relation to all the other books that author wrote?
Thanks for any direction or input you can give us!
Babs Harris
Replies
Regarding the question of what is TRIZ. It is somewhat complicated, but it is a process. Also similar to asking the right question found in Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1940s) Sometimes the way a question is asked limits what the answers might be. In Triz, using the answers to questions reviels whether or not will they conflict with what is being or trying to be done. There are lots of sites trying to explain it all, but this is one which might help: https://www.6sigma.us/six-sigma-in-focus/triz-inventive-problem-sol...
Given the recommendation, I'll be reading CREW.
But I do wonder many times about weeding. I've been involved in helping startup of new libraries as well as upgrading older collections, and weeding is always a problem and always comes down to the mission of the library; what is best for what we are trying to do? That seems to be THE question to answer your weeding issue.
But just like TRIZ, is it the right question when you ask it. I can think of lots of goals; saving space, getting rid of old books, preservation of something valuable, etc. We all have to think what is the optimum thing for weeding the collection. Sometimes it seems to come down to a forward question, "If I do this, what will be made or work better. If you list all those things that will be better--why not procede?"
Just some thoughts. Hope they fit with what is going on.
Paul
Thx for the h/t, Paul. Your observations are spot on.
A little help, what is TRIZ?
Thank you for your perspective. I have been procrastinating on weeding the Christian novels because I'm afraid to make the wrong choices. But I can clearly see brown pages and tired covers. The "why not procede?" Is a good question.
As a retired public elementary school librarian, I know what I "should" do in such a situation (what I was taught in my certification courses at UNT) b-u-t that wasn't/isn't realistic for handling my church's collection. We have a rather large Christian fiction section contained in a rather tight amount of space, so I had to establish criteria for what to keep and what to weed in order to make room for new titles/authors because the library is most definitely not a museum. I have looked up every title on Amazon and if it doesn't have at least a 4.6 rating, it's weeded unless it's part of a series or it's possibly one of the first titles written by an author that proves to hold shelf space because of how improved s/he's become. I did not choose to even look at ratings for the works of frequently read authors (Kingsbury, Rivers, Karon, Peterson, Hannon...just name a few). If we have a tried & true author that's not actively read for a bit, I move the works by that author to the very bottom shelf of each bookcase and if they go unread for awhile and that space is deemed needed, I then have a difficult decision of purge/keep to make.
As for whether or not to order replacements, I generally opt to spend my budget on new titles but if I have a well-loved title that needs replacing, then I will do so.
As for finding out the most popular books by an author, you can search for the author on Amazon and then sort the titles by popularity or date of publication. Determining which books get to be deemed classics can be a doozy of a chore. I will say that the first book in Jan Karon's Mitford series was written in 1994 and she just wrapped up the series with book #15 this past year, so I would not opt to weed the first one due to age. The popularity of certain series/authors is cyclical and it takes me (and my few volunteers) time to process new books and ready them for circulation, so I don't want to remove a title simply to feel the need to replace it some time later.
One things I've found incredibly helpful in my decision making is the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction group on Facebook. I learn of new-to-me authors, new titles, older titles others deem to be classics, and so much more. I highly recommend it! There are a few other Facebook groups that are helpful from time to time, but the Avids group is extremely so.
Don't hesitate to holler if you have any questions or need clarification on something I've mentioned.
Jeana Voss
Southcrest Librarian
Great thoughts! I appreciate your ideas!
We purged 50% or more of our Christian Fiction a few years back. Now we have room on each shelf for a display book (forward facing books get chosen before spine facing books). Now we are doing another smaller purge. We've pulled the books that haven't checked out in 8+ years and are going to have a "Love it or Lose it" promotion in February. The patrons can check one of these books out and they can give it a thumbs up or thumbs down if it should remain. We have written,
"These poor, sad and unloved books have not been checked out in 8 years. Only you can save them from being removed from our library shelves. Pick one, read it, and rate it a thumbs up or thumbs down on the bookmark inside the book. If you think it should be saved, then your name will be added as a recommendation and one book will be saved for another chance at being checked out. Their fate is in your hands!"
We've never done it before, so we will see how it goes.
I weeded out almost ALL my Christian Fiction...kept Jan Karon and a couple of mystery series..and even then, they are not checked out.. let go of the Bethany series, the Amish series..etc. My congregation JUST isnt reading them..despite promotion. Often we feel WE should keep these books..but..IF not being checked out..just make room for current interesting genres.. By the way, I dont keep ANY yellowed books, books over 20 years old..even less than that. Folks JUST dont check them out.. and.. esp for the nonfiction books.. issues and studies and topics change..and get updated..
I am also looking clear out some books. I'm interested in adding new titles. There are so many choices. How does a person know what to add in, what is coming now? It's a bit more than my volunteer level.
Hi, Barb!
I highly recommend *CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries.* by Jeanette Larson. Search on the title.
Hope this helps! Check back if you have more questions.
Suzanne Crockett
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