Re: NPR broadcast re weeding PA school libraries

[Jan Birney <stmark6614@YAHOO.COM>]

I heard the NPR story about weeding the collections of
school libraries and I did wonder why the weeding
isn't being carried out by professional librarians. My
guess is that the project is so comprehensive that it
will take many person-hours to complete. Some of the
library collections sound older than when God was a
boy, so I would imagine the weeding project will take
a long time. Training non-professionals to weed is one
way to manage such a huge project.
Should non-professionals be entrusted to do a task
that has traditionally been carried out by certified
librarians? That depends. Library media specialists
spend time and money earning their credentials. They
know their collections and are trained to appreciate
those materials that are worth keeping and those that
should be discarded. Professional librarians
understand the importance of judging books for
accuracy, currency, and condition and are less likely
to weed books based upon personal bias, subjective
content, or category.
But perhaps training non-professionals to recognize
weed-worthy materials will demonstrate the
(apparently) dreadful state of the library collections
in  Pennsylvania schools.  Perhaps the cry of, "How
can they throw away BOOKS?" will be stifled when some
of these volunteers begin to see that books are not
magical talismen that are inherently useful, but are
only useful when they are  repositories of useful,
current knowledge and thought. They will see that
inaccurate information, outdated and stereotypical
portrayals, and mold-ridden, torn books do more harm
than good.
It was stated in the NPR piece that older students
laugh at misinformation that they recognize in some of
the books they read ("Someday a man may visit the
moon" "Men are doctors, girls are nurses"), but that
younger students don't always have the critical
thinking skills to discern misinformation ("If it's in
a book, it must be true!").  I got the impression that
the weeding project would be undertaken seriously,
with strict attention to professional weeding
criteria, and with supervision of non-professionals.
At the very least, I think the NPR story focused some
much-needed attention on the importance of current,
accurate, and usable materials in school libraries.
Jan Birney

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

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