Weeding

**Weeding ****//It does not matter how many books you may have, but whether they are good or not.//** -Epistolae Morale Lucius Annaeus Seneca  Weeding (de-selection of materials) is an important part of maintaining an **accessible, reliable, readable**, **relevant** and **current** collection. Obsolete information is not conducive to student learning and materials that are beyond repair should be replaced. Weeding is an //**ONGOING PROCESS**// and is just as important as selecting new resources! If you've inherited a library with materials on average dating from 1964, you may have some work ahead of you but even if your collection serves as a model for others, your job will always include keeping your collection current and relevant to the learners in your school.


 * Why weed? **
 * Provide a quality collection of resources for staff and students[[image:nurse1.jpg width="192" height="222" align="right"]]
 * Have an up to date collection with attractive and inviting shelves
 *  Maintain a reputation for reliability
 *  Dispel any illusion of a well stocked collection if this isn't the case
 *  To locate materials in need of repair
 * Reflect changes in curriculum that may revise the focus of the collection

**What do I remove? **

1. Materials to be stored until needed (quality resources that are not being taught) 2. Materials to be sent to another school media center for younger or older students (good quality but not relevant to your students) 3. Materials in need of repair or replacement (rebind, repair, or replace) 4. Materials to be discarded (old, worn out, outdated)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Special Considerations

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;">Local materials for historical purposes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;"> Seek out the advice of subject teachers and students
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;"> Weed all types of resources, not just books
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;"> If in doubt, check district holdings...if yours is the only copy, it should probably be discarded
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;">"Useless to one is useless to all" (Woolls) If materials are old, oudated or in poor condition, they should be destroyed (recycled!) NOT sent to other libraries/classrooms

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Resources
Here is a document from the HWDSB that explains weeding in "easy to understand" terms <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 121%;">: ** []<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 121%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 146.41%;">

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 146.41%;">A weeding brochure that outlines the M.U.S.T.Y criteria for de-selecting materials (from the California Department of Education) **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 121%;"> [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 145.2%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Weed It! For An Attractive and Useful Collection ** [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Weeding Library Collections: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for Library Collection Evaluation ** []
 * An interesting article from the //Library Media Connection// that explains the "how to" of weeding.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">CREW: A Weeding Manual For Modern Libraries **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;">**Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding School Library Collections** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">by Donna J. Baumbach and Linda L. Miller, ALA, 2006. []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 144%;">**Scales, P. (2009). When Weeding Is Wrong. //School Library Journal//, //55//(11), 18. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.** Abstract: The article provides information related to censorship and banned books in a question and answer format. The books mentioned are "The Giver," "The Chocolate War," "Monster," and "Looking for Alaska." Books mentioned in a complaint against a public library which supplies a link to a Web site for gay teens include "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Deal With It." The organization Parents Against Bad Books in Schools is mentioned.