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 fiction sections is way easier than dealing
with non-fiction categories (at least, I think so!). In my library, our youth
librarian weeds children’s fiction (juvenile chapter books) based on a variety
of categories. If an item has not circ’ed in over 3 years, it’s time to say
goodbye! If a book is in particularly poor or crusty condition, sayonara! We
even have duplicates of books that are no longer popular. Time to pick the one
in the worst shape and Throw-It in the discards! We even find books that have
outdated ideas/views that we are shocked are still on our shelves! Chuck those
in the discard pile too!
There are a few exceptions to this general 3-year-no-circ rule, of course. One being if the item has a new movie or TV series on the horizon. Then we will hang on to them in preparation for a resurgence in popularity. Another reason we might keep a book that hasn’t circ’ed in that time frame is if it a book that is still taught in local schools. Our parochial schools in particular, tend to use the public library often for extra copies when they don’t have enough copies of their own. The other main exception is if the book is considered a classic. Because some classics are hard to find in children's formats, we tend to hang on to them unless they are beyond repair.
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These first two books are in like new condition, but weren’t circulating. The second set are obviously old, worn and frumpy. Time to throw them into the discard pile!
Don’t forget, if you are debating the worth of keeping
something in your collection, it's probably time to let it go! Happy weeding!
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