Weeding

Ann Richards School

Monday, Feb. 4^th  9am—2pm

Today when I arrived at ARS I could tell Shawn had a lot to do and little time to do it, so I decided to stay out of her hair.  Luckily she had a great project for me.  She needed help weeding out the 100’s, 500’s and 600’s.  They were all somewhat small sections and didn’t take too long to review.  She gave me the passcode to the Follett site and their catalog, and she showed me where the assessment pages were that indicated age.  In each section all the titles that were in excess of 10 years old were identified and marked for review.  Then it was up to the librarian to compare the recommendation with the actual book and make a decision on whether or not the book was still useful.  Since the 500’s and 600’s are science books, it was highly likely that many would be obsolete – no longer containing pertinent or correct information.  As I took to the shelves to touch each book and make a call on its removal, I felt a conflicting sense of responsibility and power.  I didn’t want to remove anything that might otherwise be useful for students, but I didn’t want to leave anything that would reflect poorly on the overall collection.  To guide me Shawn pointed to the State Library and Archives weeding manual: CREW https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html  Shawn also mentioned that she would prefer to remove a book from the library than to have an outdated and under utilized book on the shelf.  She says that she likes for her shelves to appear “empty” that way if students, parents, or administrators think that they need more books in the library, they will be more motivated to find the funding. 

So, I weeded out the sections.  And as I proceeded, I found myself reluctant to take out any large series.  I was also reluctant to take out anything that had relatively stable information—like books on alligators or lions—this information isn’t generally updated all that often.  But I readily removed books on space, planets, micro-science and nano-technology that seemed out of date and incorrect.  It was an awesome power to remove books from the library and when there was a question, I took a look at the shelf to see if there were any other books on this subject that were better, more up to date and in better condition and there usually were better books.  When all was said and done, I ended up with a roller cart full of books for removal.  I think I was a middle of the road weeder.  Not too aggressive—leaving some items on the shelf that were still relevant and useful, but not too passive either and removing items that were past their application.