[LM_NET] TARGET and VENT: Weeding issues and "sentimental value"

[Meagan Newberry <oldberry@GMAIL.COM>]

I'm sure this sort of confrontation is old hat to many of you, and I
want to pull on your wisdom if you will offer it!
I am in the middle of a major weeding operation and apparently
overlooked some extremely valuable books. Some older teachers found
them and instead of simply telling me that they were valuable, they
took them all to "protect them" (they thought I was throwing them
away...i wasn't...i just needed an accurate count to automate) and
then went to the administration. The administration confronted me this
morning and told me to stop weeding until we can decide what to do
with these valuable books.
So, besides me being angry with these older teachers not coming
straight to me about the problem (I will go to them today to stop this
jr. high behavior)...what should I do?
We have valuable first edition signed fly fishing books, a 1911
encyclopedia, and other old "DO NOT TOUCH" books of unknown value. I
have one main opinion and that is to sell them to try to improve our
terribly old and currently unusable collection. My administration
wants to showcase them "to show kids that books can gain value over
time". Huh? Can't I just go on eBay to show them that?
 I stated that I think a school library should be dymanic, new, and
changing, and if we have books that the kids can't use, then they are
useless to us, especially if they can bring in MUCH needed money to
our little district to buy new books.
We are not a museum. We're a public K12 school that desperately needs
a useable library and I'm working hard to try to make that happen. I
didn't meet any weeding resistance until now, and I'm extremely
frustrated. Any advice? On top of this the administration is going to
have me try to defend my rationale in front of the whole staff, and
then they said we would go with the consensus. I said I don't think
that is going to work because the rest of the staff knows little to
nothing about the role of a school library. They are NEVER in here,
and the only time they were in here was to go though the older books
I'd set aside. What a way to start my Friday.


-- 
Meagan Newberry, Librarian
West Yellowstone School
West Yellowstone, MT
oldberry@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
 3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
 * LM_NET Wiki: http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------