Throw-It Thursdays - Who Even IS That?

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.

Weeding Old Biographies

Have you ever looked through your biography section and said, “Man some of these are ancient!” Some people have a tough time getting rid of biographies because they want to make sure their patrons have access to information on anyone they think might be important. If you always think like that, your shelves will be overflowing! You have to throw some of them into the discard pile! Here are a few ideas to help you on your weeding way:

·       Weed anything that has not circ’ed in 5 years or longer (exceptions might be made for local figures, or other important figures like a series on the presidents)

·       Get rid of items that are falling apart and are not worth repairing (unless you have a REALLY good reason for keeping them, in which case they should be put into repair and not be put back on the shelf until they have been mended-and no, sentimental value does not count!)

·       Really, any kids' books that look old and crusty should definitely go. You can replace them with newer books on the subjects, or not replace them at all, but kids don’t usually check out books that aren’t visually appealing.

·       If you have a lot on one person, you can weed them a little more vigorously (do you really need 20 biographies on Aaron Rodgers?)

·       If your most recent biography on a particular person is decades old, you might want to think about getting an updated biography on the subject, or even throwing it in the discard pile if it a not a well-known figure. The CREW Method states: “Replace biographies of people of ongoing interest with newer titles, at least once a decade, as interpretation of their lives and public perception of their impact will change over time.”

·       Be ruthless with pop culture figures-once interest lessens in a person/group, throw those books in the discard pile!

Theses books were hanging out in our biography section. Some of them are old and crusty,
others are people no one knows or cares about anymore. And of course, we had a ton
of Aaron Rogers books, so we got rid of the two oldest bios.

And one more tidbit about collective biographies, from the Crew method, “Collective biographies usually focus on people from similar disciplines, racial, ethnic, or cultural groups, or geographic areas. Watch for outdated interests and collections that feature gender or race bias

 

 

 

Sources

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf