One year I weeded at least 60 boxes of books. I've had other similar
years.
Happy weeding and good luck with the admin. and the BOE!!
----------------
I, too, inherited a collection that had never been weeded. I got rid of a LOT
of stuff by checking the history - if it hadn't been checked out in 5 years, out
it went. Also got rid of most non-fiction over 7 years old. Fortunately, I
have a great budget so was able to replace a large part of what I threw out.
Total age of the collection will always be kept down by fiction, but if you can
up your non-fiction to within 5 years you'll be doing great. My generalities
have gone from 1994 to 2001, Science from '94 to 2002. Next project is to get
rid of lots of the paperbacks...
----------------------
The state of Missouri has state standards for libraries that dictate that the age
of certain areas of the collection be no older than 12 years, with no older than
five years for reference books. All professional books should also be no older
than 12 years. See the website for more info
http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/standards/lmcstand.htm
There are also tables for recommended collection size dependent upon the number of
students and teachers in the school. Hope this helps!
------------------------
LOL What's wrong with a 30 year-old collection? Ask them if they would like to
use a 30 year-old computer? Ask them about changes world politics? Do they
think it is ok to refer to Russia as the USSR? Or better yet, if they would like
to have a doctor who only had access to 30 year-old medical texts doing surgery
on them or prescribing treatments. That should help put things in perspective.
---------------------------
What's wrong with a 30 year old collection? Nothing...if you're talking about
poetry books, drama, and classical fiction except that you're missing out on a lot
of good material from more recent authors; however, would they find a book on space
technology from that period to be very helpful? Books on various diseases and
health-related issues? Books on countries/geography? Could students use such a
collection to research current social topics like teenage parenthood, stem cell
research, cloning ethics, hate crimes, terrorist activities, agricultural
pesticides and environmental issues?
---------------------------
Since taking over this collection a little over 10 years ago, I have weeded several
hundred titles annually. In the beginning, there were lots of duplicate titles of
ancient fiction because schools were combined to make our middle school and we
inherited all those age-level books. I've taken out all 3rd copies and many 2nd
copies except for current popular titles. Even so, my collection still has the
majority of titles that are 10 years old or more. I have made it my personal
policy not to purchase materials that are more than 2 years old unless there's a
compelling reason, but because book budgets are never adequate, it's taking a LONG
time to bring up the average age of our collection!
Any medical books that don't contain information about current ailments
and medical issues are garbage. Many of the older books don't talk
about AIDS, or EBOLA or West Nile Virus or current birth control methods
or . . .
If your want to write a speech about current issues, it helps if the
books address current issues. Any book written long ago, for a short
example, about adoption and finding birth parents (big issue) will not
talk about current laws and Internet searches.
Do they think a book on getting into college, or the ASFAB or SAT / ACT
test preparation that is 10 years old is going to contain correct
information?
Books on computers and technology are obsolete the day they are
published but anything older than 3 years is ancient.
Because we live in the information age, things change daily. We need to
have the books and print sources to support the kids research and need
for information that is real.
The collection needs to reflect the society that we live in.
--------------------------------
Is your school accredited? We have SAC, and they say we have to have a
certain age of collection, a certain number of books, magazines, number
of staff, etc. to be an accredited high school. It's a big deal here.
I checked it out and look here for standards in your state:
http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pubs/high_schools_on_the_move.html
-------------------------------------
I have weeded and weeded and weeded and have seen my average copyright go from 1985
to 1988 (I started with 33,000 books and we are down to 29,000+). I am bound and
determined to get it to at least 1990 before I retire! Two things will help
you....start by finding your oldest books (we started with anything in the 60's and
before) and do all that you can to purchase lots and lots and lots of books with
2000+ copyright dates.Good luck!
------------------------
As you can see, I am not in HS. But here are some of my reasons for
updating a library.
Fiction:
1. Although some of the classics may have older dates, most pleasure
reading books should not be over 15-20 years. Books get aged, and there
are many new books that will entice students to read. Stats say that HS
is the age where students fall away from reading for pleasure.
2. If you do a heavy weed for books that have not been checked out in
5-8 years, will you have enough materials to meet state standards for
books/students.
Nonfiction:
http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/weed/ Good source with reasons for weeding
each section.
1. Curriculum needs change. Need to update to meet
school/district/state standards.
2. Need books that are multicultural and diverse.
3. Need books that are at appropriate reading levels. Many of the books
purchased years ago, are at an adult reading level, with heavy dense
text. Need to have books appropriate for ALL reading levels.
4. Need books that are not teaching outdated information. Rarely will
books over 30 years have accurate information. Use Pluto, Computers,
Science as an example.
5. If you heavily weed outdated books/ nonchecked out books in last 5
years, will you have enough books left on the shelves to meet standards?
Then talk about having a 5 year plan to rotate through the collection to
keep it updated from that point on.
---------------------
Our state standards look hard at the areas of social studies and science in
age of collection, and that is where I would concentrate my money if
limited. Countries change, science has had dramatic changes, electronics
change (just think of the jump in technology in the past 35 years) and you
need a viable collection to keep up with the current issues, especially in
those Dewey ranges. Students can't do research when the data is outdated.
A collection needs to be constantly weeded to keep the collection current
and valuable. While some 30 year old books are fine (classics, literature,
etc.) a 30 year old book on space would be useless.
Except for our fiction collection, which is about 15 years old on average,
the rest of our collection has an average age of about 10 years. Follett
will do a collection analysis for free, that's where we had ours done. They
will also give guidelines for the age of certain areas in a collection, for
instance technology needs to be replaced sooner than fairy tales and poetry.
The info provided may be a good starting point.
------------------
One of the best excuses for weeding I ever heard was from Barbara Ann
Porte, The children's consultant at Nassau Library System, NY State
back in the late 70's, who said something to the effect of- books on
countries absolutely need to be up to date. If we have books about the
US from the 60's, people in other countries would think we still had Jim
Crow laws....
I inherited a collection in the early 90's that still had books saying
that 'someday men will walk on the moon'....
--------------------------
I work in a (relatively) small school, student population <600. When I
started here, 3 years ago, the collection size was <3000 volumes & the
age was 1976. Because it was such a small collection I couldn't do a lot
of weeding. I have doubled the size and now our collection age is 1989.
Still not wonderful, but it's getting there...
I'm still cleaning up a data base that includes old encyclopedias, etc.,
that were taken off the shelves, but not withdrawn from the collection.
When I get that done this winter, it should further help the collection
age.
As far as supporting data, search the archives under "weeding" to find
good information.
------------------------------
Here in Texas, we have state standards for school libraries. We use these to
aim for an exemplary library rating. Perhaps your state has the same sort of
thing set up? Hope this helps.
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/schlibsurvey/index.html
Susan Speranza,
Library Media Specialist
Bellows Falls Union High School
Bellows Falls, VT 05101
(802) 463-3944 x 210
Castleriggpekes@adelphia.net
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