Netters:
I would like to share my experience (long, but worth reading)with those who
can't bear to get rid of the "duds" in a way that will really dispose of
them PERMANENTLY:
When I began at my current site last fall, I was unfamiliar with many of
the titles in the collection, although I have worked at similar school
libraries for 13 years prior. As the kindergartners or first graders came
in, I just grabbed all the books from the A author picture book shelf and
spread them out on the tables for them. They loved seeing the pictures on
the covers (rather than a spine they couldn't read anyway)and it helped me
to familiarize myself with what we had available. After check-out, I began
filing in the empty table spots with the B author books, then C author
books, etc.
Over the first several months I began to notice that the same *dud* books
stayed on the tables day after day, until I finally put them back on the
shelves. Yes, they were the older, *blah* books, often in rather good
condition despite their age - not the beloved, well-worn books. I began a
"Discard Box" and started putting these *duds* in it.
One day I began looking through them, and, lo and behold, at least half of
the *duds* were stamped in the back "DISCARDED FROM ____ PUBLIC LIBRARY"
!!! Some well-intentioned but SADLY misguided soul had "beefed up" our
collection with cast-offs from the public library! What had they
accomplished? They had filled up the shelves with *junk* and since the
shelves were full, the library budget was apparently shrunk!
Thankfully, we now have state funding here in California to get our
libraries back on track (I can assure you, my experience is not unique!)and
there will be new books to replace the many *weeds* - but with very few
exceptions, most of my weeds will go into the dumpster! So learn this
lesson well - if you have shelves full of junk, WEED so that it's obvious
you NEED new books! And be sure to discard them in a way that won't enable
them to come back from the dead and haunt someone else's shelves! ;)
Joanne Ladewig, Library Aide (A.K.A. "Library Lady")
Lawrence Elementary, G.G.U.S.D.
Garden Grove, California
shatz1@earthlink.net
---comments are my own and may not reflect those of my employer- - -
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