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| Image from: https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/bhf-book-lists/the-youngest-philosophers |
I was trying to figure out what to write about for this month's weeding post and started thinking about the philosophy section.
How should you weed it? Do these books ever become irrelevant? They are, after all, abstract in nature, asking you to think about things in different ways.
I found this interesting blog post from 2013 about the overall philosophy of weeding: Killing Sir Walter Scott: A Philosophical Exploration of Weeding – In the Library with the Lead Pipe. According to the post, one of the reasons most people find it so difficult to discard items, is because “We infuse objects (in this case, books) with deeper meanings, particularly with identity.” YES! That’s me! Check out the blog for other reasons (and just an overall feeling of, “Yes! I feel that too!”
But now, back to weeding the philosophy books. In Making a Collection Count: A Holistic Approach to Library Collection Management, Hibner and Kelly briefly mention the philosophy section, saying that while most of these books will not become outdated, it is still a good idea to weed them based on circulation (they say anything that hasn’t been checked out in 3 years, but I would stretch it to 5) and your patrons needs.
But now, back to weeding the philosophy books. In Making a Collection Count: A Holistic Approach to Library Collection Management, Hibner and Kelly briefly mention the philosophy section, saying that while most of these books will not become outdated, it is still a good idea to weed them based on circulation (they say anything that hasn’t been checked out in 3 years, but I would stretch it to 5) and your patrons needs.
If you go through your collection and realize you are very low on philosophy books, here is a new article, Philosophy Books Recommended by Philosophers with some great recommendations for adult collections. And for the kids, a slightly older article, The Best Philosophy Books for Kids for 8-13 Year Olds, with some great recommendations.
Happy weeding!
Sources:
Book:
Making a Collection Count: A Holistic Approach to Library Collection Management, 3rd edition. By Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly. 2023.
Websites:
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