We just completed a big weed and my favorite deselected book was _The world war_
copyright 1917! It hadn't circulated since 1969. We found books that hadn't
circulated since the 50s and books taken out by teachers that were students at the
school in the 60s and 70s. Another great one we pulled was called _
Women are here to stay; the durable sex in its infinite variety through half a
century of American life._copyright 1949. I guess it was ahead of it's time since
it showed women doing things outside of the traditional realm of women and how it
was now acceptable for women to be more than housewives. Maybe the author was
inspired by WWII. We couldn't bear to toss it, so it's on the shelf in our office.
***************************
Juliann T. Moskowitz
Library Media Specialist
Norwalk High School
Norwalk, CT 06851
juliann14@hotmail.com
To be involved with books is to live at the heart of light. ~Mary Cantwell, author
(1930-2000)
> Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:01:17 -0800
> From: GlasgowJ@HSD401.ORG
> Subject: Re: TARGET and VENT: Weeding issues and "sentimental value"
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
> Hi folks,
>
> This is just something I do and it has helped as a visual aid when explaining how
>important weeding can be. I keep a small, but "choice" shelf of weeded books that
>I refer to as my "Shelf of Shame". These are things so ridiculously out of date,
>politically incorrect or just plain awful that it illustrated the point better
>than any words I could express. My current favorite is "Modern Archeology Today"
>copyrighted 1930. I removed this from the shelves in 1994 when I was preparing
>for automating -- I got pretty brutal towards the end, but this one was too bad to
>actually send off! I did NOT keep "The Red Man in American" copyrighted 1908 --
>it was so racist it mademe ill!
>
> Joanne Glasgow
> Teacher Librarian
> Evergreen HS Campus
> Seattle, WA
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Jennifer Davidson
> Sent: Fri 2/29/2008 12:13 PM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: [LM_NET] TARGET and VENT: Weeding issues and "sentimental value"
>
>
>
> My predecessor had never weeded anything as far as I could tell. She
> was very well-liked and I was concerned that I would be stepping in it
> if I didn't talk with my principal and staff about what I was going to
> do and why. I found that going over the MUSTY information and talking
> about how hard it is for kids to find the good books when there are so
> many extras helped a lot with the faculty, some of whom would have been
> quite resistant otherwise. We have done such a good job convincing
> teachers of the importance of books that it does take some deprogramming
> and explanation, IMO. It's hard for them to understand that not all
> books are valuable. I had a hard time weeding books that I enjoyed when
> I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, but that weren't attractive to kids
> today.
>
> To the extent possible, we allow the faculty to go through the discarded
> books first, then allow the students to each choose one or two,
> depending on how many are left. The books that aren't suitable to keep
> in the building (seriously outdated nonfic, for example) are boxed up
> and put in storage. This makes a difference in acceptance as well since
> the teachers feel the books are going to a 'good home.'
>
> I also found some very outdated books to use as examples, including an
> old bio of Stephen Foster with the word "d*rkies" in it (not as part of
> song lyrics, which would have been bad enough, but in the text!). My
> principal shared these with the supe and he about came unglued when she
> showed him the Stephen Foster book! For once, fear of being sued worked
> out in a favorable way for librarians! He shared these books with the
> board of ed. as well.
>
> Jenni Davidson
>
> Jenni Davidson
> jdavidson@solomon393.k12.ks.us <mailto:jdavidson@solomon393.k12.ks.us>
> Elementary Librarian/HS Spanish
> Solomon USD 393
> Solomon, KS
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cora V. Huggins [mailto:cvh002@SHSU.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 1:52 PM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: [LM_NET] TARGET and VENT: Weeding issues and "sentimental
> value"
>
>
> >Dear Meagan,
>
> I wish you well in your talks with the staff. You have made valid
> points.
> The library should serve the students and enhance the curriculum. I am
> a
> first year librarian and am working on my MLS degree. Like you, I work
> in
> a small school district with limited funds. Before I took the
> position,
> our library had been served by para-professionals for over a decade.
> This
> year alone, I have weeded over 650 books. I am still not done. (I call
> Wednesdays "Weeding Wednesdays.") Sometimes I feel a pang when I
> discard
> a book, and sometimes I've noticed questionable comments from some of
> the
> faculty. However, the many weeding guidelines (MUSTY), etc. give me
> confidence that I am doing the right thing. A collection must contain
> current information or it will not serve students or teachers.
>
> I hope that your school trusts you to use your professional skills to
> determine what is best for your library. I bet that you will get many
> responses from LM_Net that will help support your cause. Of course, you
> may always rely on ALA documents for help also.
>
> My advice would be to try to maintain positive relationships with your
> co-workers. They probably have good intentions, but do not understand
> the
> importance of your decisions. Your professionalism will help educate
> them.
>
> Good Luck!
>
> Cora Huggins (Librarian)
> Centerville Jr/Sr. High
> Centerville, TX 75833
>
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