Throw-it Thursday: The History of It All

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library is back with her monthly column and has some great advice on making sure your collections are updated.

This week celebrates three U.S. historical events – Bill of Rights Day (Dec. 15), Boston Tea Party Day (Dec. 16), and the Wright Brothers’ First Flight Anniversary. You can find historical events on any day of the year if you look hard enough. Everything in the past is history to somebody. Let’s take a look at our history books and decide which ones to keep and which one are going to become victims of Throw-It Thursday!

History can be a touchy subject. You don’t want to keep books on your shelves taking up valuable space if no one uses them, but at the same time, you want to keep a little bit of something about certain events so that it’s available if/when a patron needs to do some research. It’s a fine balance and there is no right or wrong solution. Unless you decide to just keep everything. That is the wrong solution. Because nobody like to go into the stacks and have to dig through books piled up sideways on top of the rows to find what they are looking for (I’ve been there, it’s not fun). If you have that many books, you need to throw some in the Friends book sale (or whatever you do with them at your library)!

Generally, history is one of those few categories where you might hold onto something that has not circ’ed in 5 years or longer. If it is the only available resource on a subject and has great information, you might decide to hang on to it. Keep in mind though, you work in a public library. You are not required to hang onto things just because they might house important information. Other items you may decide to keep include rare items that could be considered valuable, even if they have library markings on them. But again, as a public library, what is your purpose for doing so? It is not our house and preserve a book just because it might be valuable. If it is not used, throw-it out! Give it to the Friends group and tell them it might be worth investigating the value of it. Maybe they want to start selling some of the more valuable items on eBay to make a bit more money than they would get from a Friends book sale.

My general rule for history books is that if we have a lot of books on the subject, I stick to the 5 years no circ rule. There are a few subjects that I can think of where we only have a few general books and there is no newer information out there. These I will hang onto until they have not circ’ed for 10 years. After 10 years of no circ’s, then I really have to think about whether or not it is worth keeping them. I will then look and see if there is any new information on the subject. If not, I evaluate the value of keeping the non-circulating item. More often than not, it is probably on its way out the door.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay