WEEDING FOR AUTOMATION

[Wallington High School <whs@instantlink.com>]

  Hi all,
I am in the process of weeding for  automation in a small (600 student)
junior/senior hs.
The budget in this district has not passed for 29 years, which will give
an indication of the attitude toward teachers and education.  This is my
fourth year here and during this time I have tried to improve the
collection by replacing outdated materials with newer more appealing
books.
I began weeding but ran into a problem when the English Department
Chairperson, who says he will retire in 2000 became very upset and vocal
about my removing books from the shelves which he felt were still
adequate.  He went to the principal and the superintendent and called me
"anti-book", etc.  He told me that we would soon not need a librarian
here since "there aren't going to be any books."  The principal and
superintendent decided to have me put all books out for teachers to
peruse before they are recycled.  Also they asked that I have teachers
from each department look at the books in each section to give their
opinions on whether or not these books should be removed.  I asked for
volunteers and got one!

The English Dept. Chair spends a great deal of time in the Library
looking through the books and just kind of watching what is going on
here and what is going to be recycled.  He also tells anyone who will
listen (including teachers, parents, students) that he cannot believe
that so much is going to be thrown away.  I am at the point where I feel
like not weeding at all.  I also feel very upset at having so many
people involved in a process where they just give opinions but do
nothing to help.

I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone could give me on how to deal with
this situation, short of beginning to send out resumes to other schools.

Thanks in advance.

Elisa DeNicholas, LMS
Wallington JR/SR HS, Wallington, NJ  07057
WHS@instantlink.com

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