Throw-It Thursday - The Five W’s of Weeding, Part 1: Why

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library and YSS board member, starts a five-part series on weeding. Stay tuned for the next few months as she shares insights on the Five W's of Weeding

The most frequent question I get from patrons when I am weeding is why? So that is where we will start this new mini-series of posts about weeding. My boss was cleaning out some old file cabinets a while ago and came across a couple of old pamphlets about weeding. Knowing I write blog posts occasionally about weeding, he passed them on to me. In one titled, Weeding the Library: Suggestions for the Guidance of Librarians of Small Libraries (from 1949!), they talk about the who, what, when, where, and why’s of weeding. While some of this information is very outdated (I mean, they provide a list of resources from the 20’s through 40s!), some of the reasoning is still very similar to today. This is the inspiration for my next few posts.

The cover of the 1949 pamphlet, “Weeding the Library.”

So, WHY should we weed? Weeding the Library states, “In small libraries where shelf room and storage space are limited the need for keeping only a usable, up-to-date collection of books presents an important problem. It is not enough that a library meets standards of efficiency in the total number of books and volumes added each year. The book collection should represent quality as well as quantity.” Quality is something we always strive for, but there are always things that get outdated or worn out. By weeding, we can work to better maintain a quality collection that appeals to our patrons. 

Another pamphlet, titled Weeding the Collection adds to the idea of why by telling us why we avoid weeding in the first place. Factors include, lack of perceived time, cost of work time and withdrawing cataloging cards (which is much easier in this day and age!), the idea of making a mistake, how to dispose of discarded materials, and a librarian view that “the book is ‘sacred’ and should be kept regardless of content or condition.” One or all of these might be true for you or whoever does weeding at your library, but it is important to remember that that a collection that is easily accessible, visible, and attractive will help patrons find things or interest to them. 

Sources of interest:

“Weeding the Library: Suggestions for the Guidance of Librarians of Small Libraries.” Wisconsin Free Library Commission; Madison, 1949. 

“Weeding the Collection.” Division for Library Services, Bureau of Public and Cooperative Library Services, 1977.

Please stop here for the rest of this series (links go live as they are published monthly):

The Five W's of Weeding, Part 2 - Where and When

The Five W's of Weeding, Part 3 - Who

The Five W's of Weeding, Part 4 - What

The Five W's of Weeding, Part 5 - How