Weeding The School Library Collection
A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries By Taghreed Alhaddab
Weeding the school library collection
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A library—any library, whether public, academic, or even personal— needs to undergo regular evaluation and maintenance of its contents if the collection is to remain healthy and valuable.
What is Weeding?
Weeding is the evaluation of the school library's resources with the intention of removing dated, damaged, and rarely used books. Weeding ensures that the school library's collection are useful, attractive, and accessible to the library patrons. Every library's collection is limited by the space available to house it, and collections should change over time to reflect changes in the library's goals
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Dated Content Poor Apperance Unused Materials What to Weed?
There are several criteria that might be used. A method that is often used, the CREW (Continuous Revision, Evaluation, and Weeding) method, bases the decision on the currency of the book, length of time since it was last checked out, and the condition of the book. For example, the currency of a book in the medical section is more critical than a book in the section on identifying reptiles. Length of time since the last checkout is a good predictor for whether or not the book will be checked out again anytime soon.
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How Much Weed?
E
It depends on the library, its collection, and how long it has been since the collection was weeded.
very item in the library's collection is evaluated for retention, replacement or withdrawal at least every three years to determine its usefulness according to the library's collection development policy. Three percent or more of the collection is withdrawn each year*
* In Service to Iowa: Public Library Measures of Quality, 3rd edition.
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A rule of thumb held by many library professionals
About 5% of the collection be weeded every five years. This allows for turnover of the collection every twenty years
Several factors must be considered during the weeding process, before weeding your library, please read Criteria for Weeding in the next page.
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Why Weed? To maintain a current, accurate and useful collection.
To make the best use of space. To improve the appearance, and the appeal of the collection.
To check for materials that need repair or replacement.
To get feedback on the collection's strengths and weaknesses.
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Criteria for Weeding Several factors must be considered during the weeding process. These factors include:
• The library's selected service responses and resultant goals • The needs and demands of the library's community of users • The availability of more suitable material • The ability of the budget to provide funds to purchase more satisfactory items • The relationship of a particular item to others on that subject • Cooperative agreements with other libraries and the ability for patrons to use other libraries in the area • The degree to which the library serves as an archive or local history center • The possible future usefulness of a particular item • The availability of more current information on the Internet • The ability of the library to borrow the item through interlibrary loan
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References Arizona State Library. Weeding. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.azlibrary.gov/cdt/weeding.aspx CREW. A weeding manual for modern libraries. Retrieved December, 11, 2012 from https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/sites/default/files/ public/tslac/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf Images were taken from Google Image
Done for the course EDST 6315 – Technical Processes for School Library Media Center and Technology Center Resources Seton Hall University
For more information about Weeding by subject, please visit: http://www.slideshare.net/ACClibrary/weeding -guidelines-by-subject-2863364#btnNext
Fall 2012
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