Throw It Thursday - A Literature Dilemma

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.

One of the sections I have the most difficulty weeding is literature. Poetry and Fictional stories that are placed in the non-fiction section are there for a reason. These titles have been deemed worthy of preserving and are treated as timeless tales that will never/should never be forgotten. So how do we know when it is time to say goodbye?

Part of the answer lies in each library's collection development policies. If you have a clear-cut definition for when to weed items, that’s great. Use it as a guide and let it help you feel good about getting rid of the old dusties no one borrows. However, for those who do not have a well-defined policy about when to throw an item in the discard pile, things can be a bit murky. It becomes a more personal ideology of how you determine the worth of an item for your library and the patron’s you serve.

These shelves in our non-fiction showcase the variety of old tomes that are no longer in print but still have value in our library, as well as newer copies of classic works.

Back to my dilemma-how do I weed the literature in the non-fiction? First, I look at circulation data. If an item has not checked out in the last 5 years, I look at what type of literature it is, whether it has any historical value in our community, and are there other copies in the system that are easily obtainable. If the answers to these questions are all to the detriment of keeping an item, throw-it out! Give it to your Friends group and let them sell it, or you could use them to host a crafting night repurposing old books! I also pull books to examine further based on appearance/condition. If a book looks to be old and frumpy, or in very poor condition, I will check the circulation to see how popular it still is. If it is worth fixing, we will put it in repair. Otherwise, we look into replacing it. But sometimes, you have those gems that are out of print. Then it becomes a game of, is this still important? Can we get it elsewhere? At this point, it really becomes a personal decision for the weeder of why this book should or should not be tossed.

Just remember, we are libraries. Not museums. We are not responsible for preserving each and every book that is in our collections. We have to continue to maintain our collections to provide the best service possible to our patrons. Don’t be afraid to discard something if you feel it is no longer serving its purpose. And the purpose of library materials - to be used.