[LM_NET] Weeding

[Cheryl Youse <cyouse_cgs@YAHOO.COM>]

I love the idea of having teachers help weed, with the
added benefit of another reason to get them in the
media center.

I have also had students help weed with impressive
results.  Last year I was the first professional
librarian in a K-8 school in Illinois with a 50 year
old library (previously run by volunteers).  They kept
EVERYTHING that came through the doors.  I needed to
weed and weed fast due to a construction project and
two planned moves of the books in and out of the media
center.  I drafted the 5th through 8th grade students.

First, I covered the general Dewey classifications and
then discussed authority, currency, and relevancy with
the students.  We reviewed it all a couple of times,
incuding where to find the copyright, and if the book
was one that fit with our school's curriculum (17th
Century Spanish Furniture books, of which we had an
impressive number, did not fit our goals).

I passed out weeding worksheets and set them loose in
the stacks.  They were all to return with one book
they nominated to weed.  Each student had to stand up
and tell the Dewey number and class of the book,
display the book, and why they felt is should be
weeded from our collection.  I think I only overruled
one choice.

They did a great job culling out some ancient things,
got some laughs, I learned what they really liked, and
they found some 'gems' hidden on the shelves--The
Seventeen Guide to Beauty, copyright 1964 was checked
out for the rest of the year, with a waiting list--
and the hairdos at the dances were retro!  I had
students coming in the rest of the year during study
halls asking for those 'bad book' papers to look for
some bad  books.

The exercise also set off an excellent discussion of
the difference between weeding a collection and
banning books (they remembered September's discussions
during Banned Book Week).





Cheryl Youse, MLS
Media Specialist
Hatherly Elementary School
35201 Davison
Sterling Heights, MI 48310
586-825-2880
cyouse_cgs@yahoo.com



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