Here are some of the responses I received to my request for numbers of books
weeded. As I suspected, I'm not alone in having empty shelves. I edited everything
to just include information about numbers for my principal however, I got lots of
great support and reiteration of the purposes of weeding. Thanks to all of you for
your help. Hopefully this will get my principal to take this off my job evaluation
as a negative thing!
I did the same thing. This library hadn't been weeded in around 10 to 15 years
(but oddly they did inventory the year before I got here). I can't give you any
hard numbers or percentages because a large part of our library is not barcoded
(another huge issue for us), but I think in the three years I've been here I've
weeded at least 30% of each of the fiction, reference, and I'm now working on the
800s. I've done some small spot weeding along the way as well. So, tell your
principal that there are others like you out there and we're doing a good thing!
At this time I have weeded out approx 8.2% (1129 items) of my collection this year
and that has only gotten me up to 1960 publishing date.
Last year I became the first professional librarian ever in a K-8 school with a 50
year old library that had been run by volunteers. Yes--I weeded at least 50% of
the collection.
It was full of the books from the 60's (those years of big funding for school
libraries) that said 'someday man will get to the moon'. I repeatedly emphasized
to the principal, superintendent, and parents, that if students couldn't find
materials, even the 'good stuff' wouldn't get used and that the mission of the
school media center was TO SUPPORT THE CURRICULUM. Materials that were out of date
were not supporting the curriculum, nor were materials that were irrelevant to the
courses taught. While no circulation figures were kept by the volunteers, I am
sure it went up.
I'll give you an example of my experiences and what I see in other libraries in my
state. . . I've been a state-level coordinator the last 4 years. My first example
is when I was a school library media specialist employed in a small high school
with approximately 15,000 volumes. It had not been weeded for at least a decade . .
. I did a significant amount of initial weeding . . . it became increasingly
obvious that the 'junk' in the collection made it too difficult to find the more
relevant materials. Additionally, the fiction section took up a lot of shelves, but
was rarely used. . . Eventually, I started in shelf-by-shelf and reduced the
library to 7-8,000 volumes. My experience was both fiction and non-fiction got a
lot more use - and this was in a library that had used the internet since the mid
90s and had at least one computer in every classroom.
As a state level person I know of at least two libraries that recently
weeded as extensively as you. One my predecessor had recommended they weed
out half the collection as part of a state evaluation visit of their overall
school program. I've been involved in follow-up and have seen the positive
impact that made (obviously there was some additional buying along the way
too but not to the extent that it would offset the amount of weeding.
I am also aware of a colleague who took over a library this year and spent
her summer before school opened doing a considerable amount of weeding. . . I've
been in this library both before and after and know that it has been part of the
revitalization of the library program.
Nine years ago when I came to a 23 year old school I found a collection that was
mainly made up of books from other schools around the system that had been closed
and paperbacks from Troll book fairs. REALLY old books. I weeded almost every
biography, most of the non-fiction and all the fiction books that were dirty, had
broken spines etc. Yes, I weeded about 80% of the collection that had been overseen
by a kindly retired teacher who simply checked books out to students two and half
days a week - I was the first real media specialist the school had ever had.
I didn't remove that many in one year, but in the 4 years that I have been here, I
have weeded at least 10% each year (our district funding distribution gives us
credit for up to 5% of the collection that is weeded). My average date of
collection is still not up to state standards.
I was hired following a librarian who was at my school for 30+ years. Little or no
weeding had been done in recent years.
I went through the library collection and discarded very close to 50% of our
collection due to age, condition, outdated information, and/or attractiveness to
students. Initially, my principal was concerned about the loss of so many volumes,
but some of the advantages that we've seen since this project was completed are:
- more room for new books
- easier to locate materials that are of interest
- increased circulation
- increased use of the library by students and teachers
- fewer questions about whether we have any "good books" :)
- better visibility due to changes in furniture because we aren't warehousing so
many outdated materials
Even with this major undertaking, I only managed to move my collection from 36
years old (for the average age) to 28 years old. As we add more new books, that
will change and I'll also be able to remove more of the books whose condition still
is bordering on questionable so that I can improve the quality of the collection.
I am weeding my library drastically because we are moving. We first did a
collection analysis with Follett (Mackin does them too) and got a list of
old copyright books. In non-fiction and the sciences especially, I would
argue that these books contain old, and sometimes inaccurate, information.
I pull the uglies too, because they turn kids off. I'll remove about 20% of
the collection . . .
Please let your Principal know that you are on the right track. I too did this . .
. (I) found that the average non-fiction copyright date was 31 years old. One key
line I used (with the School Board) was that we were educating their children with
books that were on our shelves when at least 3 of the board members graduated over
25-30 years ago . . . By the way my presentation must have worked because they gave
me $100,000 for books to be spent over the next three years. They also took me
from a total annual book budget of $2,000 to about $8,000 per year for a district
of about 500 students.
I weeded between 3,000 and 5,000 books my first year here, and I've removed at
least another thousand in the last two years - my collection is about 13,000 now.
I have removed at over 4000 titles in the last three years (our collection
contained 18,000 titles when I came) and have added new titles every year (due to
an extremely generous budget). When I arrived, our "average" collection age was
1975 (30 years outdated!!). Today our collection age is 1989 (and I'm still
weeding). Our holdings are currently 20,000 even though I've removed titles...the
secret is to add materials as you weed.
The ultimate comment that needs to be made is that quality is better than quantity.
It is much better to have 6 current books on science than 60 outdated books on
science. The materials that you've discarded should have been removed years
ago....you should be commended on your ability to recognize outdated materials,
remove them, and provide better quality information for your students in the
printed formats!
My first job was in a 36 year old library that hasn't been weeded deeply- ever. The
previous librarian (only there 2 years) - another newbie - had weeded over 3000
books. I weeded 2000 the first year, then 1600 the second year. I had the county
curriculum folks come and weed their sections. We went from over 17000 books to
under 11000. But what we had was good and useful and students could see the books.
We have weeded almost 40% of our non fiction and reference books this year. We are
starting to look at fiction and biographies. . . This library hasn't been weeded in
many years. I've already noticed students being less frustrated because the books
are easier to find. Browsing has taken a leap because the shelves are more
attractive, too.
Renee Choe-Winter
Media Specialist
Benton Community MS/HS
________________________________________________________________
Sent via the WebMail system at mail.benton.k12.ia.us
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