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Below are some of the replies that I got about weeding and developing a
new collection. Hopefully, this will help some of you who asked for a reply.

Off the top of my head I'd say the first thing would need to be your
science collection.  I have had the same type of situation (without any
extra funds to supplement my normal budget) and have asked each department
to come in, go through the shelves and mark things - I gave them a sheet
with suggestions for them...I can't recall what all the areas were, but
will look for it at home this evening and write you tomorrow if I find it.
Something like - what in the world is this??? Maybe this would be useful.
Keep only until something is purchased to replace it.  Keep for another
year or two.  KEEP!
If a teacher is responsible for a very small area, they don't seem to mind
helping. If you can have food in your media center, make a party of it...I
did that in one school and got a great response.  I used the anology of a
garden, weeds and them as the gardeners...gloves, tools, the whole works.
A wheel barrow for them to throw the "weeds" in would be great!  Anyway, I
will try to find the sheet I created and send it to you tomorrow.  Good
luck!!

I would very much recommend that you begin your collection analysis by
sitting down with the district's curriculum.  First and foremost I have
found that a library that supports the curriculum and objects is always
welcome.  I would start with maybe the 500s, or the oldest copyright
section of the nonfiction collection.  Prioritize sections that you know
are heavily used and approximate how many books you would need to
appropriately fill the collection.

 I just finished a research paper on collection mapping.  It seems to be
WONDERFUL to me, but I'm still in grad school (although I taught for 7
years before that).  David Loertscher (San Jose, CA) developed it.  I'll
send you a copy of my paper if you'd like.  It's a LARGE file, so you
might want to look up the research yourself.
 Almost everything you need to know is in the Spring 1985 Drexel Library
Quarterly (vol 29)..... There are three articles in there.  There are also two 
books by
Loertscher.  The latest comes with a disk to help manage what you find:

Loertscher, D.V. (1996). Collection Mapping in the LMC: Building Access in
the World of Technology. Hi Willow Research and Publishing. Castle Rock,
CO: Hi Willow Research and Publishing. A revision of Loertscher's theory
of collection building as schools enter the technology age.
http://www.lmcsource.com/pdfs/CollectionMapping.pdf

Hi, you might try refering to Senior High  School Library Catalog by H.W.
Wilson and see what they show per Dewey classification. You also might
want to see if any of the curriculum areas/textbooks are changing soon and
you might want material for that area. Before you throw out the 30 yr
books totally, you might want to look into selling them on Ebay. I have
heard it is possible to do that and make some $$$ for new purchases.

 George Anne -- just a quick idea for your "orange" bound volumes.  No one
would check them out in our library either, so we had students design and
draw dust jackets for them.  They are colorful and fun, and they put
synopses on the back (a bonus for picture books, which usually don't have
a synopsis!).  Now they are circulating again.

I bet you could work out a system with the artistic students in your
building. If you have time to ask your faculty for suggestions, they may have
requests from their curricular related periodicals, or lists from
conferences; how adequate do your term paper assigners consider the
quality of what they see in bibliographies?

 If you have lots of time, have you considered a collection map? David
Loertscher wrote "Collection mapping  in the LMC" that gives forms, charts,
directions, and a disk comes with it.  A quicker check would be checking a
classified catalog (Wilson's)for your major topics covered in the curriculum.
 Good luck, and happy spending. I would look at what classes came to do research.  
Weed heavy in
those areas. Buy heavy for those areas.

I would just get rid of the old, bad fiction.  Don't worry about replacing
it all at once.  Ask for donations of paperbacks.  Rely on state award
lists and ALA lists.

Show your super. what books you have to use for several of your students
projects.  Look at number of items per student.  I've spent lots of money
on my reference collection, and have not regretted a penny of it.  My
students know to start there.  It gets them started and most of the time
they really don't need a whole book on a single topic.  Be sure that you
have a copier and lots of Internet connections.
list it will take considerable time but start with the best vendors -
Gale, Greenhaven Press, Franklin Watts (good report books).  Don't forget
good collection development tools like Senior High School Library Catalog.
 If he doesn't want an itemized list I would suggest that you use SLJs
annual report of how much things cost.  I think it's archived on their web
site.

It's a very daunting and difficult project.  I am currently in the same
boat and have found that prioritizing specific sections of the collection
annually is the best way to build it up.  If one had to purchase for the
whole collection annually rather than targeting an area - it would take
many, many years to see the benefits.  Above all else, I very much
emphasize the need for your principal to understand that this cannot be
done without an additional infusion of money to the library.  S/He should
not expect that this can be done with the regular library budget.

Some people use Follett, BT and Mackin to help them evaluate their
collections.  Sometimes the companies waive their fees to get a large
book order.

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