Throw-it Thursday - Weeding Religion

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.

How do you weed religious books? It can be difficult to decide what stays and what goes in this section, because you don’t want to offend anyone by removing all of the books on a particular religion, yet you also don’t want to keep things that are outdated or no longer circulate. So what do you do?

I have a general rule in this section. It is okay to weed items based on circulation, but if you discard a large number of items, try to find some newer, fresher books to replace them with (as you should do in all sections of the library when weeding-unless you are getting rid of a collection, then by all means, THROW IT ALL in the discard pile!). There is a GIANT exception to this rule. You can weed using circulation stats UNLESS they are sacred religious texts (e.g. the Holy Bible, the Koran, the Torah). These items, I only discard if they are falling apart and beyond repair. These items are always replaced with a new copy.

These items are old and crusty and have not circulated in years. Throw 'em in the discard pile!
Don't forget to look for some new and improved books to replace them with.

The CREW manual states that while religious works seem like they should never become outdated, some can indeed become dated due to the language used. While this is more common in adult materials, we should also be keeping an eye on children’s materials in this collection. 

And if you’ve been slacking (come on, I know I’m not the only one missing some updated materials on certain religions!), CREW: A Weeding Manual for Public Libraries  (pp 64-65) also recommends trying to keep some up-to-date materials “on each religion represented by a church, synagogue, or other assembly in the community or region, as well as something on the well-known modern sects such as Scientology. Include timely and comprehensive information on the six major international religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism.” 

So get out there, check your shelves, and see what you need to throw in the discard pile, and what you need to spruce up in your religion section.

Happy weeding!