Gen: Help! Weeding after a Flood

[Jan Birney <stmark6614@YAHOO.COM>]

Dear Good Friends in Library Land,
Well.  I just received my MLS with certification as an
LMS.  I teach computer skills in grades K-8.  Several
weeks ago our school basement, which houses the
cafeteria, offices, several classrooms, library and
computer lab were flooded--severely.  The good news is
that with the help of many volunteers, the EPA (there
were asbestos tiles that had to be removed), and much
hard work, school opened on schedule yesterday.  The
bad news is that, although the computer room was not
heavily damaged (tip: it is a good thing to have the
power outlets high up on a wall, rather than on the
floor), the library was a real mess.  Most of the
materials are salvageable, but we (meaning my
principal and I) realized today that we need to do
some heavy-duty weeding and get it done quickly.
I have never weeded a collection before. I'm not even
the acting librarian, but the gentleman who is in the
position is from the old school and doesn't believe in
throwing ANYTHING out.  The library collection is
pitiful.  Our shelves are stacked tight, but there is
hardly anything at all in the non-fiction collection
that is newer than 1975. The fiction collection isn't
much better but I haven't even looked at that yet.
Many of the books are from the '40s, '50s, and '60s
and are sexist, racist (or at least insensitive to
multicultural issues) or just plain outdated.  I found
myself today pulling just about every book from the
shelves and tossing it into the trash.
I'm so afraid that someone will see the masses of
books that I'm trashing and have a fit!  My principal
told me to go ahead and weed, but A: I'm not really
the librarian, and 2: I don't think she realizes how
much I'm pulling.
I did decide, with my principal's full support, to run
a used book sale next week to raise some seed money
for collection development.  I know, I know, if the
books aren't good enough for the library they really
aren't good enough for anyone else.  (And I know some
of these books will come back later in the year as
donations by some well-meaning parents).  But I will
try to sell only books that are fairly recent (maybe
from the '80s) and not blatantly offensive.
I find that a lot of my weeding is based on my own
personal judgment.  I look at the copyright date, I
thumb through the book, I check the condition and how
often it's been circulated and then I decide on the
spot.  I don't spend a lot of time on each book
because I don't have the luxury of time.  At the same
time this is all going on I'm fending off the
exasperation of the librarian who is trying to be good
natured about this but is dying a thousand deaths,
bless his heart.
I guess I need to know from your collective experience
and expertise--am I doing the right thing?  Am I
missing some important criteria?  Is it ok to decimate
the library collection in a financially strapped
Catholic school on the basis of the standards that I
just learned in library school?  Am I second guessing
myself too much?
Thank you all for your patience with this very long
post.
Anyone need tech help?  I'm really good at that!
Jan Birney, who will probably never get a job as a
real librarian after they see how she's busted the
budget.


=====
Jan Birney, Computer Specialist
Stratford Catholic Regional School System
Stratford, CT 06615
stmark6614@yahoo.com

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