Weed It and Weep Maintaining Your Floating Collection Why must we - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Weed It and Weep

Maintaining Your Floating Collection

Why must we do this??

• To keep our collection in good

condition

• To keep items that people want to read
• - and get rid of the ones they don’t
• To get rid of extras when we have too

many of a particular title (For example, Educated after the author event…)

Why must we do this??

• To keep dated and/or inaccurate information
• ff our shelves
• TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW STUFF!!

BUT WHAT ABOUT...

• More is better!
• I can’t throw anything away!
• If I discard this today I will get a

request for it tomorrow.

• People will think we are wasting material

paid for with tax dollars!

BUT WHAT ABOUT...

• I don’t know how!
• I don’t know where to start!
• I don’t have time!
• I’m just going to get

another copy in my next delivery

General criteria for weeding

• Currency of content (nonfiction)
• Condition
• Multiples
• Bias (unless other points of view

presented)

• Format (VHS anyone?)

General criteria for weeding

• Superseded by new edition
• Circulation records - THIS IS THE MOST

IMPORTANT CRITERIA

But I love this book!!

• Check out the item to yourself!
• Need it for storytime collection?

○ Let us withdraw it and we’ll send it back to your branch

WHAT NOT TO Weed!

• Items of local interest (authors,

topics)

• Classics/award winners
• Perennial favorites
• Part of a popular series
• Materials that support local

school curriculum

WHAT NOT TO Weed!

The Tricky ones

• Last copies
• Rough condition, but circulating like crazy

When will it end?? ...NEver!

What happens to the items I weed?!?

• Reassigned: DC staff might decide to give

the item a second chance at another location.

• Resale: DC staff might decide to send

withdrawn materials to Thrift Books for resale, donation or recycling.

How we do it here at NCRL!

• Condition (Moisture, broken spine, torn

pages or cover)

• Multiple copies
• New editions
• Weed lists, their creation and use
• Reassigns -- why, how, where

Why did we reassign that old book?

• Because there was a suspended hold on it…
• Because it’s circulating well as a last

copy

• Diversity, diversity, diversity
• It’s a classic!
• It’s part of a popular series
• It’s my favorite book

What else…??

• Assessing DVDs and books on CD for

condition

• Endowment purchases
• Publication date or “the age of the book

versus the circulation…”

• What’s the deal with a floating collection?

How can DC stafg help you?

• Generate weed lists for

problem areas in your collection

• Temporarily stop sending you

particular items if that collection/shelving area is full

How can DC stafg help you?

• Send you more items your patrons want, if

you have space

• Work with individual branches to help

troubleshoot specific issues

You can contact us anytime!!

WEED SLIPS

What not to do- How to do it-

Always include your branch and the reason for the weeds on the transit slip!

The Importance of Weed Slips

WEEDING AIDS

• Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding

School Library Collections by Donna J Baumback and Linda L Miller

• The Weeding Handbook: A Shelf-by-Shelf

Guide by Rebecca Vnuk

• The NCRL Wiki
• CREW:A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/pubs/crew/index.html

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

Betsey Stahler - Collection Development Manager 509-663-1117 ext. 149 bstahler@ncrl.org Chris Monsey - Distribution Technician 509-663-1117 ext. 122 cmonsey@ncrl.org Jessica Adams - Supervisor, Wenatchee Public Library 509-662-5021 ext. 234 jadams@ncrl.org