Re: [LM_NET] GEN: pro-WEEDING - particularly reference books

[ann reed <reedref@YAHOO.COM>]

Also ... if the budget goes down the drain... all non-librarians see are shelves 
full of books... the fact that they are out-of-date without relevant information 
will not enter their mind... and that will be their excuse that cutting your budget 
will be just fine and dandy...  you will not be able to convince them otherwise. 
Get those out-of-date books off the shelf... the only good they are doing is giving 
the people who fund you a false sense of security allowing them to cut your budget 
for the materials that make you a timely valid educational resource.
   
   All libraries at all levels suffer from this public or non-library 
administrative funding perception ... look no further than your local paper and the 
often public discussion of funding your public library.  It has only been within 
the last couple of months that one of the main public officials in my home town 
voted not to fund the public library building plan with the reasoning that 
libraries may not be around much longer because of the Internet, therefore we 
should just wait and see what happens before we spend more money on a dying 
institution...  and besides that he stated that ALL the students he knew had their 
own computers and therefore a public library really isn't needed.
   
  Get rid of the perception that you have more relevant materials than you really 
have by weeding now.
   
  

Mary Peterson <MPeterson@CRANBROOK.EDU> wrote:
  Being hesitant about weeding reference collections is why many reference 
collections contain reference titles that are sadly out of date. Although I agree 
that one shouldn't rely entirely on electronic databases, having out-of-date or 
no-longer-useful material in the reference collection takes up room that could be 
used for newer material. It is hard to rid the collection of those "old faithfuls," 
but it should be done.

>>> LM_NET automatic digest system 
1/22/2008 11:52 PM >>>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:55:01 -0600
From: Melissa Davis 
Subject: GEN: WEEDING - particularly reference books

I don't want to be a 'Chicken Little' but, before you do major 
weeding of expensive reference books you might want to reconsider 
your decision. Yes, right now your state or regional organization is 
funding very nice databases. BUT when economic hard times arrive (did 
you hear the news tonight?) that funding may disappear very quickly. 
What will your students use in their research assignments then?

This happened to us in Texas in 2001. Texas schools have only this 
year begun receiving state funded databases again!

So, I would recommend waiting a bit to weed Reference very deeply. 
See what happens over the next year economically.

Melissa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa Davis, phone: 281-689-6343
Librarian, Splendora Junior High fax: 281-689-8445
Library Coordinator, Splendora ISD work: 
mbdavis@splendoraisd.org 
Splendora, Tx 77372 home: mbdavis50@suddenlink.net 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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****** Ann Cober Reed, MLIS
  ****** Retired Maryland High School Librarian 
****** Now a Reference Librarian at The University of Maryland Eastern Shore 
                                                                  Princess Anne, 
Maryland 21853
****** reedref@yahoo.com******

       
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