Re: [LM_NET] Weeding FICTION in an automated world

[Lisa Hunt <lisa3moon@YAHOO.COM>]

I wanted to reply to the whole list because I was struck by Robert's comment that 
Easy is not as difficult for him to weed.  My collection is 25 years old and I have 
finally weeded my entire collection.  It only took me 2 years!  I have to giggle 
though at the emotional feelings I experienced during weeding.  
Easy was the last section that we weeded.  It was the most difficult for us because 
we felt emotionally attached to many sentimental favorites that just don't appeal 
to students anymore.  I felt guilt when I saw how many Fiction books I discarded.  
However, I am blessed to have AR for all Fiction.  I truly must discard the old, 
worn, multiple copies and old-fashioned books.  Right now I have over 25 boxes 
ready to be taken away, and that is just from the 2nd year of weeding.
We used guidelines from trusted resources to determine timeliness and age 
appropriateness for our books, as well as the visible condition.  That was the 
first round.  Then, the books thus proposed for weeding were taken to the computer 
and scanned to determine the circ stats.  My database has circ stats for the past 8 
years, and so any books with a circ or 1 or 2 were weeded.   Books with circs of 5, 
10 and 20+ went into piles that I evaluated according to our curriculum, other 
books in the collection, and ability to replace.  Honestly most of the books that 
we initially pulled were weeded if they had circulated less than 10 times.  
This experience has "thinnned" the shelves, youthened the collection, and really 
impressed patrons AND my principal with the overall appearance of the library.  It 
all looks really better.  I really KNOW what I have now, and I already have verbal 
commitments from PTA and my principal to provide funds to fill in those areas of 
need that have been identified.
I have learned so much from my weeding experience.  I still feel a pang when I see 
those boxes of things sitting in the corner, but then again more than twice that 
much is sitting in the cafeteria.  The boxes in the cafeteria came from the 
classrooms as teachers discarded the old textbook materials.  Schools discard old 
textbooks materials every year, and this is only the 2nd weeding that I've done in 
my 12 years here (the first weed was a "baby" weed 4 years ago.)  This exercise was 
not easy, but very much worth the time it took me.  

 
Lisa Hunt, NBCT 2005
School Library Media Specialist
Apple Creek Elementary
Moore, OK
lisa3moon@yahoo.com 



----- Original Message ----
From: Robert <rajoyce59@VERIZON.NET>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 9:32:14 PM
Subject: Weeding FICTION in an automated world

This might sound like a ridiculous question,but I will ask it.  Given the 
fact that in pre-automated era we relied on the circulation card to weed 
fiction in addition to other criteria, what are some procedures and ideas to 
weed FIC tion with an automated  library?  I have a four year old  opening 
day collection with Athena 9.3 as the automation program.  I do not know all 
of the ins/outs..bells/whistles of Athena, so there may be a feature that 
will do this for me. If there is I will welcome the details , steps,  and 
where the feature is located in the program

Most of my fiction books are A.R. but I am getting very tight on shelf space 
...the FIC fiction that is....Easy is getting there also. Weeding easy for 
me is much easier. The FIC is another ballgame.

How are others weeding fiction in the automation age??!  Is the task 
subjective?

Thank you for your replies.

Robert Joyce
School Librarian/Library Media Specialist
Virginia--Pittsylvania Co
rajoyce59@verizon.net 

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