LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Gideon Mizell
199 James Street
Summerville, SC 29483
(803) 871-9684
T400253@univscvm.csd.scarolina.edu
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Following responses concern Weeding Problems
and obsolete Movie Screen uses :
--
From: "Linda N. Jewett" <ljewett@eis.calstate.edu>
...Here's what I do to justify removing.
Go thru your non-fiction by Dewey. From 000-999.
On paper, under each Dewey major group, list vertically
years from 1945-1994.
Check the copyright date of each book and put a slash next to
that year. So, under 600s you would list vertically the years.
When you come across a real entertaining title such as "Let's go
to Rhodesia, 1953" write it down.
Then, with this data go to your supervisor and show them the
data you have collected as well as some of the books.
--
Diane Claus-Smith
...Also, be sure to look at circulation history if available.
Those books which have not been checked out AND are old may well
be unattractive to kids. They are pretty good judges of what
they want to read.
--
From: Linda Sue York <lsyork@tenet.edu>
If teachers get their hands on them, they will get mixed up with
the library books and turned back in to you at the end of the
year.
If you are worried about somebody finding the on a trash can
outside the school, you might carry out a few at a time marked
discard and put them in the trash somewhere. Not at a businees
dumpster who might call the press if the found them.
This happened locally.
If your district has a written policy, follow it to be on the
safe side.
--
From: Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@tenet.edu>
...I suggest that you stamp yours discarded, box them up when no
one is looking, and find some missionary to take them! We have
a missionary friend who takes some to Mexico in the hinterlands
so people can practice English. She also sends books to some
Pacific islands where people are begging for books.
--
From: pbennett@sun.cc.westga.edu (Priscilla Bennett)
...You can box 'em up and hide them, until you see how little
they are used or until the roof comes down -- sort of a half way
measure.
--
From: JIM_GRASELA <JGRASELA@umassd.edu>
The only safe way to weed the collection is to have a collection
development policy in place; a document which gives you, the
librarian, the authority to do so.
The only items for immediate weeding, which I would attempt,
would be those geographical and scientific items which because
of age, now give wrong or misleading information.
--
From: Maureen Olsen <molsen@esu3.esu3.k12.ne.us>
INVOLVE your teachers, dept. heads if you have them, and
administration. You can't be expected to evaluate every subject
area without their input.
Also, if you can put together some statistics about circulation
of these old materials, that can help people understand.
I presented to my principal the fact that most libraries
circulate 10% of their collection and we were only circulating
3%. That seemed to impress her.
After I weeded, the students had an easier time locating
materials since the shelves were not so crammed; that helped our
circulation stats. as well.
--
From: <R7MEDIA@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU>
...sometimes empty looking shelves encourage groups to donate
money.
One successful project I have used is a birthday book club. I
encourage parents to give a book to the Media Center in honor of
their child's birthday. Actually, I choose the books in advance
and let the kids come in and choose the one they wish to donate.
I got about 80 new books this way last year.
--
From: Allison Wheeler <wheeler@aldus.NorthNet.org>
...do a curriculum map and create a statistical chart of the
datedness of each of the Dewey areas of your collection.
100's = 24% 1990 or newer
30% 1980-1989
45% 1970-1979
etc.
Do it for each hundred, and also for fiction areas.
Create a great graphic representation of how OLD the stuff is,
then start talking about it to your administrator, faculty,
Board of Education, etc.
Professionally, it is correct to weed ALL of the materials that
are older than 15 years old, haven't circulated in 3 years of
more, have incorrect information etc.
Perhaps getting a good guide to weeding and sharing it with your
administrator would help.
--
From: "Liz L. Hildreth" <lhildre@eis.calstate.edu>
...Less is more. Better quality than dated material...
--
From: "Carol Adams" <ADAMSC@pvlink.k12.ar.us>
...My advice is to wait a year before doing anything major. You
may find out that those books cannot be replaced with anything
because of budgeting...
--
From: Carolynne Lathrop <udclathr@lcac1.loras.edu>
...I would begin, though, by writing up a weeding policy in
which you set up guidelines.
For example, you could weed out science books over 15 years old,
but keep all folk tales and poetry.
Weed out most books that are in poor condition, but keep Newbery
and Caldecott winners until you can replace them.
Do teachers ever use old books to show what attitudes were
current at the time of writing? If so, you may want to keep some
that seem dated to you.
--
From: "Gail K. Dickinson" <ny001001@mail.nyser.net>
Well, speaking as a district supervisor, I would more likely
tell you to haul a dump truck up to the back door and start
tossing. In reality, since this is your first job, and you
might like to keep it at least beyond the fourth day, my advice
is this:
Do not ask for permission to weed; that is your
professional responsibility. Instead, INFORM your principal of
the condition of the library and your intentions and ask what is
the normal method of disposing of weeded books.
If, by chance, he/she has a problem with weeding, I'm
sure they will let you know. However, if you are told not to
weed, I would certainly hope that over the next several years
you have an EXTREMELY high loss rate. (durn kids!). After all,
if they turn up missing in inventory, it's not really weeding,
is it? --
--
From: lcook@pen.k12.va.us (Linda H. Cook)
Have no qualms about discarding the 50s and 60s books.
You might consider giving some of the titles to shelters or
offering free directly to students.
Or you may consider just recycling them for paper.
--
From: "Alice R. Seaver" <aseaver@umd5.umd.edu>
...I have also been the teacher specialist in this county and
one of my many responsibilities was the new media specialists.
The two things that got new media specialists is the most
trouble are making major changes in the collection (weeding) and
not providing good instruction. I would make them disappear
over a period of time.
I would also try raising funds to replace them -- book fairs,
hitting the PTA, hitting the central office (or wherever you get
your funds from), getting local business to adopt the media
center (only with the principal's blessing),....
--
From: Cheryl Stevens <chsteven@mailbox.syr.edu>
Many of your teachers will have been using these books in their
lessons and might appreciate the chance to own them to
supplement their classroom libraries. I got all my discards
together, and after properly marking them, had a giveaway (first
come-first served.)
--
From: Neva Katherine Royall <nkroyall@tenet.edu>
...Check on a paper recycling program and see if you can get $
for your stuff.
Then hit the board with the urgent need for an emergency
book budget. Aim high!
--
From: "Carolyn M. Nickerson" <cnickers@ops.esu19.k12.ne.us>
I would weed the badly torn, the inaccurate, the cultural and
gender biased. It is certainly in the best interest of the
children to weed on just those criteria.
--
From: MARYALICE@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU
In addition to heavy duty weeding, try a copyright assessment.
It's very easy to collect data, such as the copyright date on
every 20th item of what ever interval you decide. Collect the
dates, average, determine a mean or whatever and then graph the
results. It really is effective.
--
From: Mark Gordon <mgordon@cruzio.com>
One solution might be to keep the books, but to write a brief
note and place it in the pocket of each book explaining what you
object to about the book and asking readers to add their
opinion. That way otherwise objectionable material might have
the redeeming quality of encouraging a reader to think about the
content.
--
From: Pamela H Clausen <pclausen@tenet.edu>
...I have also known of librarians who have a library book
birthday club. On the child's birthday, the family donates a
book in honor of the child. A book plate is then placed in the
front. It's a neat idea...maybe I'll try it in another year.
--
From: Patricia A Rosemary <prosemar@chopin.udel.edu>
Teachers may back you up when they are aware of the copyright
dates. Document reasons for weeding.
--
From: Carole Carpenter <chcrpntr@strauss.udel.edu>
...be extremely quiet about book disposal. My professor always
told us to use black magic marker on every possible identifying
mark in the book, then tear out the title page, then rip the
book in half, pull off the covers, box the trash and sneak out
behind the local Acme at midnight on Saturday and slip it into
their dumpster.
She promised that if we did all this we would only get about ten
back from people saying, "You won't believe what I found in the
trash! One of your books!"
--
From: kahaske@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu (Kay Haske)
================= Begin forwarded message =================
From: UFGF61A@prodigy.com (MR RICHARD R SHOOK)
My basic rule is to weed 1% of my book collection annually,
using "It hasn't been checked out in 10 years; IT'S GONE!" rule.
That works very well for us. I also do other weeding--5 years
old for college & career materials etc.
--
From: CAROLAN@ids.net
When I weed now I put all the weeded matter in what I call the
brown bag collection. Brown paper grocery bags which are taped
shut and go straight to the dumpster...less is truly more in a
library.
--
From: Sandra Ann Williams <sandywil@tenet.edu>
You're in luck! Your plea for assistance and support has fallen
on the ears of "The Weeding Queen" of Plano, Texas. I inherited
an older library three years ago. Now, I'm a weedin' fool.
The kids here weren't checking out those old, yellowed books
anyway, so I threw out the first batch.
The next to go were the ones that had obsolete material.
Then came the ones that smelled and looked bad. It sure wasn't
hard for me.
It was time consuming, though. Best of luck and happy weeding.
Oh, a weeding we will go, oh, a weeding we will go...
Maybe we could start a support group...
--
From: Friends Academy <falib@transit.nyser.net>
...Also, our local newspaper (Newsday) had a HUGE article today
about one local public library that put thousands of records in
the dumpster. Taxpayers are up in arms. Offer the books to all
before you dump.
NEVER DUMP in your own dumpster - I drive books that absolutely
no one will take to a few towns away.
Try public library book sales, hospitals and your local Rotary
club.
--
From: BarbBkr@aol.com
There is a basis called UGLY for tossing books, but I can't
remember what it all stands for. I will e-mail a friend and see
if I can come up with it. It sure is a help when doing things
like this. Good Luck...
--
From: Deborah Chaney <chaney@tenet.edu>
The last thing you will ever want to do is to provide your
students with misinformation. They will long remember you
(badly) for that as they came to you for help and you gave them
outdated materials. Better to have nothing on the shelf than to
check out incorrect information to them.
In the case of easy/fiction-you are again on the right track.
Experiment. Take some of those non-movers and put them on a more
accessible shelf. Or put them in a display. See if they move. If
they do, keep them. If not, do as you are now planning.
-------------------------------------------------
-- Messages Concerning Movie Projector Screens --
From: dan@info.hwwilson.com
...for the problem of the old books returning to the
library. Ask the teachers to put their names on the inside
cover of the books that they took. Then you will know who to
return them to.
Second, the film projectors and screens. If you have the
storage space, you might want to retain one or two of the
projectors and screens. You never know when they'll come in
handy. I have seen very interesting homemade films with
bleached film and magic markers.
The screens can be used for other projections. A screen with a
projection of the sun on it is the best (and safest) way to
watch an eclipse.
--
From: Neva Katherine Royall <nkroyall@tenet.edu>
My teachers use screens for their overhead projectors. If they
are floor models, you can have the maintenance dept. convert
them to wall mounts.
Projectors....do you have a technology or electronics class that
you could "donate" them to for guinea pigging? Or, do you have
a senior citizens group or day cares that might want them? A
last resort might be to have a "yard sale" of all your junk.
Some people will buy anything!
--
From: msttjzx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (Thomas J. Zarrilli)
Are your screens wall mount or tripod? Movie screens can be
used with overhead projector. If you already have screens in
every classroom check with the drama department a lot of
productions use multiple projected images.
--
From: Avis Halberstadt <avish@umd5.umd.edu>
In our county we have a newsletter that comes from our
professional librarian and many times equipment, supplies are
listed that one media specialist does not need but maybe someone
else does...
LM_NET
Archive Home