Midday Mingle: Collection Complications

The next Midday Mingle is on the horizon!  

Join us on Monday, April 20 at 1:00 PM as we talk about troubleshooting collection development:

• Taking flak from patrons about books you’ve weeded?
• Having trouble finding new sources since Baker & Taylor closed?
• Desperate for tips on dealing with difficult, yet popular, collections?

Whatever collection problems you’re dealing with, come share them and we’ll brainstorm solutions together!

Youth Services Section Midday Mingle: Collection Complications

Monday, April 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Zoom link  

You do not have to be a YSS or WLA member to participate. The Midday Mingle is open to all!

Great New Books for Children and Teens in Person

Logo from ccbc.education.wisc.edu

 

IFLS Library System, Northern Waters Library Services, and Wisconsin Valley Library Service invites you to: 

Great New Books for Children and Teens

Presented by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) 

Thursday, April 9 from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Celebration Hall  

235 E Main St, Gilman, WI 54433

 

Register by Sunday, March 29: https://forms.gle/byHRgBQjF7LdTKW66

 

CCBC Librarians Merri Lindgren and Tessa Michaelson Schmidt will discuss this year’s best books for ages birth to 18! Highlighted books will be available for hands-on book examination during lunch.

 

This free event is open to library professionals and educators.

 

9:30 - 10 a.m. Registration & Light Refreshments

10 - 11:30 a.m. Great New Books for Birth - Grade 5 *This morning session is worth 1.5 contact hours.

11:30 - 1 p.m. Book Browsing and Complimentary Lunch

1 - 2:30 p.m. Great New Books for Grades 6 - 12 *This afternoon session is worth 1.5 contact hours.

 

Space is limited! Please register by March 29: https://forms.gle/byHRgBQjF7LdTKW66

Questions? Reach out to Emily Rogers at erogers@wvls.org.

Throw-it Thursday: What the Manga?!

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another collection development column.

We recently separated our manga books from our graphic novels and gave them their own collection. It was not a terribly difficult process (unless your tech services department likes to be difficult, then it might get a little dicey), mostly because the collection is not overly large to begin with.

First, I ran a collection report to see all the books we had in our graphic novel collection. Then I went to the shelf and grabbed the books that were checked in and clearly manga. I took these back to my desk (it’s so much easier when you are the tech services department and you are the one who wants to create the collection!) and re-coded and re-labeled them. We got manga stickers to use instead of graphic novel stickers.

After I finished changing all of the books that were on the shelf, I went through the items on the list that were not on the shelf (checked out, in transit, lost, etc.) and placed holds on all of the items I knew were manga or thought might be manga. As they come back, I am re-labeling them and sticking them in their new section if that is where they belong.

Our new manga collection is small but beautiful!

The graphic novel section is now smaller, but it is easier to find things!

Throw-It Thursdays: Relabeling the Holidays

 Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another collection development - and weeding - column.

Do you have a Holiday section in your library? Are the Holiday books all listed under just “Holiday – Author Name”? How do you find the books you want for each season or holiday? When I started working at my current library, there was already a Holiday Section in the picture books. But it was chaos. Everything had the same generic green holiday sticker on it and was under the authors last name. It made things very difficult to find, especially for lesser known holidays.

A few years after I started, when I was settled in and comfortable with making changes, I talked to our children’s librarian and we started a fix to this issue. We bought specific holiday stickers for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July (just a flag), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We put these stickers over the Holiday sticker that was already on the item. Instead of putting them all back in alphabetical order, we put all of each of the specific Holidays with their own sticker on separate shelves.

After picture of the reorganized green holiday stickers next to the rest of the holiday books.

There are still a few shelves with the generic holiday sticker, but it made it much easier for us to identify and pull books for displays and teachers, and the kids love it because they can find what they want more quickly too. After almost 10 years, we decided the specific holiday stickers were no longer enough. Our generic green Holiday sticker shelves were getting stuffed, and we still had trouble finding all of the lesser-known holiday books for a specific holiday when we wanted or needed them.

Earlier this month, I pulled all of these books and did a weed based on condition, usage, et cetera. We discarded a lot of old and crusty books. To reorganize these items, we re-labeled them with the name of the holiday and the first initial of the author. So Groundhog Day books are all together under Groundhog, all of the Diwali books are together under Diwali, Hanukkah under Hanukkah, and so on. It is now so much neater and more organized, and specific holidays are a breeze to find!

Closer view of one of the newly re-organized shelves.

Introducing: The Genius Files

Photo from playaway.com

Kate Davis, YSS Board Member and Programming Consultant for the Prairie Lakes Library System has introduced a new new email blast for her library system called The Genius Files. She shared the first one with us, which included information about Playaway's WhaZoodles. 

Genius Files #1

Our first Genius Files idea share comes from Sara Grabarec and Sara Swanson at Graham Public Library in Union Grove. They purchased several of Playaway's newest kid product, WhaZoodle.

"WhaZoodle offers a learning approach that engages children through stories, activities, physical movement, interactive games, guided meditation, and immersive nature soundscapes. This holistic, screen-free experience fosters learning and development in a uniquely fun and engaging way". (Description from Playaway's website.)

WhaZoodle does not require Wi-Fi, downloading, or extra pieces. It's sturdy and about the size of a hockey puck.

Here's the Playaway link for more information, but if you have any direct questions or are looking for cataloging how-to's, feel free to reach out to Sara G.

Throw-It Thursday - B&T Shutting Down - What Do I Do Now?

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another weeding tips - and collection development - column.

Are you a Baker & Taylor user who is still confounded and scrambling to figure out where to go from here?

Depending on what you order and how your library does things, you might be looking for your own vendor(s) to replace B&T. I have received so many e-mails from publishers, library and system staff members, and other vendors that it is making my head swim.

So I’ve compiled a list of vendors, their website, and what types of items they sell to help me figure out what I want to look at. Instead of doing a post about weeding this month, I thought I would share my list with you all. If you are still looking for alternatives, you can maybe find something that will work for you. Good luck!

Vendor	Website	Types of Items
Amazon	https://www.amazon.com/ab/library?ref_=b2b_mcs_borg_library_0625	all types
Apple Books	https://applebks.com/	children's and teens
Barnes & Noble	https://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/bn-educators	all types
Bookazine	https://www.bookazine.com/libraries/	children's, teens, adult
Brodart	https://brodart.com/books	children's, teens, adult
Center Point	https://www.centerpointlargeprint.com/	large print
Follett Content	https://www.follettcontent.com/	children's and teens
Ingram	https://www.ingramcontent.com/libraries	children's, teens, adult
Junior Library Guild	https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/	children's and teens
Lectorum	https://lectorum.com/about-us/	children's and teens
Libraria	https://www.libraria.com/	children's and teens
Local Bookstores	varies	all types
Mackin	https://www.mackin.com/	children's and teens
Maris and Associates	https://www.mariseducation.com/	children's and teens
Micromarketing	https://micromarketing.org/about/	media
Mid-America Books	https://midamericabooks.com/	children's and teens
Midwest Tape	https://www.midwesttape.com/	media
Penworthy	https://penworthy.com/	library bound children's
Thorndike	https://www.gale.com/thorndike	large print

*Updated 10/21/2025 to include the following notes: 

• Note: some links may require an account.  
• A couple more vendors to note that all do children’s and teen materials (thank you to whoever commented!): 
• Gumdrop books (Gumdrop Books) 
• The Book farm (Book Farm LLC > Home) 
• Bound to Stay Bound (Bound to Stay Bound Books - Linking Libraries to Children's Books) 

Throw-It Thursday - The Philosophy of Weeding

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another weeding tips - and collection development - column.

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. 

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:

• www.fivebooks.com
• www.oinggoodtogether.org
• www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org

IFLS Self-Censorship Webinar

IFLS is presenting this webinar in October:

Collection Management Confidence:  Confronting Self-Censorship

Friday October 3, 1-2 pm

REGISTER HERE

The surge of book challenges in recent years has amplified conversations about library policies and procedures.  Intellectual freedom issues have been the focus of staff trainings, discussed in public meetings, and debated in the news media.  With all the big talk about book bans, there’s a quieter dialog happening about library staff self-censorship:  the conscious, subconscious, and even self-conscious choices about purchasing, displaying and doing programming with certain titles.  This judgement-free webinar will define self-censorship and explore ways to manage fear, bias, and tension as a public librarian today.

Presenters:  Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Director, Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Teresa Schmidt, Public Library Administration Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

 

This session will provide 1 contact hour for public library director certification.  The session will be recorded, captioned, and available for 1 year to Wisconsin library workers who request it, and the recording will automatically be sent to all who register.

American Manga Awards Nominees and Winners

Photo by Katie Alford

Manga exploded in popularity in the U.S. over the last 10 years.  While already on an upward trend, demand skyrocketed during COVID.  It's a juggernaut for our Teen collection's circulation statistics, with most of our Manga titles circulating within the last 6 months. That particular section tends to only get weeded due to condition a ordered quickly.

I plan to write about building Manga collections, advocating for it, and how to stay up to date on new manga titles in a later blog post but for now I want to shout out the American Manga Awards.

The second annual awards announced their winner last Thursday (determined by votes from professionals working in an editorial capacity with North American manga publishers). The pertinent ones for Teen collections were:

• Best New Manga: The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All, Volume 1, by Sumiko Arai
 (Yen Press) (Rated T, 13+)
• Best Continuing Manga Series: The Apothecary Diaries, Volumes 12 - 13, by Hyuganatsu, with art by Nekokurage (Square Enix Manga & Books) (Rated T, 13+)
• Best New Edition of Classic Manga: Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, Volumes 1-2, by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba (Kodansha) (Rated OT, 16+)
• also won for Best Lettering

The Manga Librarian, Ashley Hawkins, wrote a great round up of the nominees with links to reviews for most of the titles. The reviews come from SLJ, Booklist, Manga in the Middle, Anime News Network, and the Manga Librarian herself. I found it incredibly helpful to have all the titles and links in one place.

To the entire round up, stop here. [American Manga Awards: Nominee Review Round Up! Ashley Hawkins. Manga Librarian blog. August 17, 2025.]

Throw-It Thursday - But I Hate Weeding

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another weeding tips - and collection development - column.

Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay

Have you ever done a weeding project and afterwards had a patron complain that you got rid of too many books? Or do you just feel soooooo guilty every time you cull a pile of books from your library collection? 

If you absolutely hate large scale weeding projects, I recommend making weeding a part of your regular daily or weekly routine. According to the authors of “Making a Collection Count,” weeding a little at a time makes it less noticeable (p. 88). 

It can be easier to manage too. You could have a list that you take out once or twice a week and just go through a shelf at a time. Hibner and Kelly also note that you can visibly see a books condition, find duplicate items, and see available shelf space by regularly walking around and looking at your collections (p.89). 

Whenever I need a break from staring at my computer, I get up and take a walk through a section of the library, keeping an eye out for anything that looks like it’s in rough shape. I will sometimes find duplicate items this way too. It’s an easy way to go through items while also getting a little bit of a break. 

Happy weeding!

Down with Dewey?

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I attended a session at WLA in Green Bay in November of last year about the Whitefish Bay's Book Seek classification system for their nonfiction collection presented by Valerie Morris. The gist of the session was the multitude of reasons that the Dewey Decimal System needs to go! This session inspired me to change how our children's nonfiction collection is classified (a work in progress). And, after doing more research into the negative side of the Dewey Decimal System, and its creator, I'm firmly on team Ditch Dewey! 

School Library Journal published an article in 2019 titled The Trouble with Dewey, which stated, "Dewey is in many ways an outdated mess. Racist and sexist, it classifies 'women's work' separately from jobs, and African American culture separately from American culture." And, those are only two examples of the problematic nature of continuing to use a system created by a biased creator over 150 years ago.

Is your library still using the Dewey Decimal System?

You can read the School Library Journal Article here: [The Trouble with Dewey. Marrocolla, Elisabeth. School Library Journal. 10/01/2019. https://www.slj.com/story/The-Trouble-with-Dewey-libraries]

For those of you interested in diving further into Dewey himself, I recommend: 

Racism in the Dewey Decimal System from Book Riot

ALA Votes to Strip Melvil Dewey's Name from its Top Honor from Publisher's Weekly

Move Over, Melvil! Momentum Grows to Eliminate Bias and Racims in the 145-year-old Dewey Decimal System from School Library Journal.

Throw It Thursday - Use Your Shelves

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another weeding tips - and collection development - column. 

Are you always trying to come up with ideas to liven up your bookshelves and make them more enticing for patrons? Have you weeded everything to the max and still worry about getting circs? Do you have a little bit of extra space somewhere, anywhere? Make your collections more appealing by adding some interest to your shelves!

This could be as easy as displaying one or two books face out on each shelf. Or you could get creative. With a few cheap tricks, you could renovate some of your shelves and make them pop! A little bit of paint and decoupaging can go a long way. Check out the articles below each picture for some inspiration and use your shelves!

https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/Merchandising-Your-Collection

https://dontyoushushme.com/2022/02/28/embracing-dynamic-shelving/

https://www.openingthebooktraining.com/en-ca/courses/public-library-training/merchandising-library-shelves/

Throw-It Thursday - Buy that Book! Usage Stats to Help Collection Development

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library, is back with another weeding tips - and collection development - column. 

Image by Jan from Pixabay

Have you ever used inter-library loan statistics to help your collection development? Items that you are continually borrowing from other libraries (whether they are a part of your system or you are using WISCAT to source them from around the state and surrounding states) are a good indicator of what genres/subjects your patrons are interested in. 

I like to take a look at the holds counter multiple times a week just to get an idea of what people are checking out. If there are a lot of similar titles for multiple people, I try to order some more similar titles if we don’t already have them.

I am also responsible for Inter-Library loans from outside of our library system. These requests are also great at helping me determine some popular items to get for patrons. 

Paying attention to what is being requested from other libraries can also help you find items in your collection that are outdated but got missed in prior weeding.