When Weeding Goes Bad
Last weekend, there were several posts on a fave listserv about a library director in Illinois who was believed to have discarded thousands of books based on copyright date alone. After reading the original post on Smile Politely, many CA colleagues pointed out that, since we didn’t don’t know all the details, we shouldn’t be rushing to any judgments about the weeding practices of another library.
According a follow-up story, the Library Director admitted that out of the 30,000 nonfiction books that had been suddenly removed from the shelves, only a portion were to be discarded. The rest were to be re-tagged and re-shelved. “Farrell [president of the Urbana Free Library’s Board of Trustees] said there was a clear communication breakdown that occurred that she hopes is addressed by this whole situation.”
When I read the original story, I sort of freaked out because for a short time, I worked with a Library Manager who underwent some sort of Get-Rid-Of-It-Syndrome. She actually admitted to staff that she intended to “cut the library’s collection by half.” She didn’t say why she wanted to do this. And, because my library system did not have a COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY in place for her to follow (and still doesn’t), she set upon discarding material like she was a criminal burning evidence before the cops arrived at the crime scene.
In addition to books, CDs, DVDs, she also threw away equipment, like copiers, shelves, storage equipment, and more. She even took the liberty of going through my desk drawers and throwing away whatever she could get her hands on in there, including a beloved tiara, which I would wear for Prince & Princess Storytimes! Dang, I miss that thing :-{
Why write about this now? I wanted to point out that librarians who don’t follow policies, or, as in the case of Illinois, who don’t APPEAR to follow policies, make all librarians look bad. The modern misperception held by too many people is that libraries can run themselves. Pro Librarians can’t afford looking bad right now!
As mentioned in a previous post, Collection Development Policies ensure that materials purchased with taxes are handled with due diligence and care! Librarians must have on in place and USE it!
I remember when I first started as an elementary librarian in 2005, and I was weeding books based on appearance. I got rid of a signed and personalized copy of The Cay, and have regretted it ever since.
Weeding is an art that librarians must take seriously!
Before I retired last year, some parts of my collection development policy was revised each year. It was revised becaue as librarians, we must keep abreast of changes within the profession. Our collection development policy must always include a well-developed weeding policy. In some instances, the age of the book does not matter. For example, if your patrons are focused on research, old data is used to compare new data on a specific subject. I am sure that most, if not all of us, has come across a book or books in our collection that may be considered rare, first editions, etc.
Your collection should complement patrons’ interests and needs in all subject areas; research, pleasure reading, or basic informational reading. In many instances, in literature of other projects, works of literature can be used to compare one author’ work with that of another author.
All materials in a library is important. In some places, the new should be mixed with the new. I believe in innovation and change, but, hesitate when it comes to weeding. At two of the schools that I worked, I actually found a few books that were definitely archival.
Weeding is an interesting topic. My advise, BE AWARE WHEN YOU WEED!! THINK BEFORE YOU THROW AWAY ITEMS.
Idella Washington
Retired School Library Media Specialist
Great advice, Idella! And I’m thrilled to hear that you made sure your collection development policy was updated on a regular basis. I know for a fact that my library system’s policy dates back to 1979, which explains how so many of a branch’s materials were able to be discarded willy-nilly at the hand of a single library manager. The only reason I know that a collection development policy exists at all is because I hunted the document down as part of an assignment for library school, and I had a connection with the person that created it. Yikes, huh?