culling your collection: the fine art of weeding

1

Culling Your

Collection: The Fine Art of Weeding

Keri Cascio

Branch Manager

St. Charles City-County Library District

[email protected]

http://www.youranswerplace.org

Hosted by ALCTS

The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services

Agenda

� About me

� Why weed?

� Understanding CREW (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding)

� Creating your plan

� Policies

� Wrap-up

2

Hosted by ALCTS


Why weed?

� Space

�Limited shelving

� Increased customer use areas

�Closing branches/units

� Time

�User time finding materials

�Staff time finding and shelving materials

Hosted by ALCTS


Why weed?

� Appeal

� “Weeding is merchandising”

� Reputation

�Reliability and currency

3

Hosted by ALCTS


Why weed?

� Collection needs

�Replace or repair damaged items

�Missing or stolen items

� Collection strengths and weaknesses

�Aware of direction for future purchases

�More familiarity with collection as a whole

Hosted by ALCTS


CREW

� Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/

� Continuous

� Review,

� Evaluation, and

� Weeding

4

Hosted by ALCTS


CREW formula

� CREW gives guidelines for currency of subject matter and circulation�General rule for publics: 80% of what has

not circulated in 3 years can be discarded

� Three part formula�Years since latest copyright date

�Maximum permissible time without usage

�MUSTIE

Hosted by ALCTS


MUSTIE

� Misleading

� Ugly

� Superseded

� Trivial

� Irrelevant

� Elsewhere

5

Hosted by ALCTS


Elsewhere

� Interlibrary loan

� Reciprocal borrowing

� Electronic format

� Collaborative collection development

�Consortia

�Multi-site/branch library

Hosted by ALCTS


Nonfiction

� Dewey numbers for public libraries

�Special considerations for subject ranges

� Subject selection areas for academic

libraries

�As academic programs change, materials should evolve

�Work with faculty as needed

6

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample formulas

� 004 (Computers)

�3/X/MUSTIE

� “Works on computers are seldom useful after

three years. Works on hardware and software have an even shorter life span (1-2 years), but may be kept on hand longer if there is strong community demand…”

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample formulas

� 520 (Space and Astronomy)

�5/3/MUSTIE

� “Major changes have occurred, so weed titles

that include Pluto as a planet or that don’t include information on the space station and Mars expeditions. Stargazing books may be retained longer but should be attractive and mention relevant technology.”

7

Hosted by ALCTS


Fiction and biography

� Biography� Look for outdated materials for persons of ongoing

interest, living or dead

� Look for gender and race bias

� Fiction� Circulation

� Series

� Easy reader / JF / YAF� Use MUSTIE factors for J, currency for YA

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample formulas

� F (Fiction)�X/2/MUSTIE

� “For most public libraries, circulation is the primary factor for weeding fiction. Discard works no longer in demand, especially second and third copies of past bestsellers. Retain works that are in demand and/or of high literary merit, but replace worn copies with new editions…”

8

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample formulas

� B or 92 or 920 (Biography)� X/3/MUSTIE

� “Unless the person treated is of permanent interest or importance, such as a U.S. President, discard a biography as soon as demand lessens. Replace biographies of people of ongoing interest with newer titles, at least once a decade, as interpretation of their lives and public perception of their impact will change over time […] Ruthlessly weed ghost written biographies of celebrities and biographies that were published immediately following the person’s death or a major scandal.”

Hosted by ALCTS


Multimedia

� WORST (Worn out, Out of date, Rarely used, Supplied elsewhere, or Trivial or faddish)

� Popularity

� Usage

� Condition

� Available in another format

� Videocassette > DVD > BluRay > Downloadables

9

Hosted by ALCTS


The reference question

� Print or electronic?

� Review usage of standing orders and

subscriptions

� Track in-house use

� Transfer to circulating, or combine

collections

Hosted by ALCTS


What would you do?

� The Lives of Danielle Steel: The Unauthorized Biography of America’s #1 Best-Selling Author, 1994

� It’s a great read – her life

is like one of her novels

� Son committed suicide in 1997

� Out of print

� Still circulating

� Over 1,600 holdings in WorldCat

10

Hosted by ALCTS


Project planning

� Staff time and affected departments� Include faculty or subject specialists as

needed

� Procedures and guidelines�Forms – withdraw, repair, reorder, etc.

�Use of book lists and union catalogs

�Who will settle disagreements?

� Create a realistic timetable

Hosted by ALCTS


Start small

� Take one shelf in a “collection” area

(Dewey, LC, etc.)

� Look at condition of items

� Look for items that have been superseded

� Look at circulation stats of items

� Is it available elsewhere?

11

Hosted by ALCTS


Policies

� Must have policies for de-selection,

weeding, disposal, disposition, etc.

� Stewardship of funding

� Customer/faculty relations issues

� Ties into gift policy

�Bad PR possible when donated items are withdrawn

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample policies – CREW

� “Materials that no longer meet the stated objectives of the library […] will be systematically withdrawn […] Disposal of withdrawn library materials will be at the discretion of the library director.”

� “Gifts are gratefully and willingly accepted as long as no restriction is placed upon their use and disposition.”

12

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample policies – SCCCLD

� “Professionally adequate information management also requires the timely removal of materials from the St. Charles-City County Library District’s collection which have become dated or are for other reasons no longer considered suitable for retention […] The disposition of library materials which have been removed on the basis of accepted professional practices shall be at the discretion of the Director.”

� “The St. Charles City-County Library District accepts material donations with the understanding that any material that the library cannot use may be discarded following accepted practices and established procedures.”

Hosted by ALCTS


Sample policies – IUPU Fort Wayne

� “De-selection of library materials, the process of removing items from the collection, is essential for the maintenance of an active, academically useful library collection. De-selection provides quality control for the collection by elimination of outdated, inaccurate, and worn-out materials. Librarians are responsible for conducting an ongoing de-selection effort in consultation with faculty in their areas of collection responsibility and for maintaining the quality of the collection. The same guidelines used for selection of library materials provide the underlying principles for de-selection.”

13

Hosted by ALCTS


Options for disposal

� Friends of the Library book sales

� ALTAFF resources for online book sales:

http://bit.ly/fAJzQx

� Resellers

� Better World Books http://betterworldbooks.com

� B-Logistics, now Universal Anthanaeum

� ALA Fact Sheet: Book Donation Programs http://bit.ly/apmxwn

Hosted by ALCTS


Weeding humor

� Awful Library Books http://awfullibrarybooks.net/

14

Hosted by ALCTS


Wrap-up

� Make a commitment

� Have short term and long

term plans

� Use professional judgment

� Document your choices

� Update policies and procedures as needed

Hosted by ALCTS


Additional resources

� ALCTS Collection Management and

Development Section (CMDS)

http://bit.ly/8wxNXT

� AcqWeb’s Directory of Collection

Development Policies on the Web

http://www.acqweb.org/cd_policy.html

15

Hosted by ALCTS


Suggested reading

� Czechowski, Leslie, et al. “Letting Go: Closing a Branch Library of the Health Science Library System, University of Pittsburg.” Library Resources & Technical Services, 54:3, p. 153-163.

� Farber, Evan Ira. “Books Not for College Libraries.” Library Journal, August 1997, p. 44-45.

Hosted by ALCTS


Suggested reading

� Lampasone, Lauren. “A Time to Weed.”

Library Journal, May 1, 2008, p. 100.

� Naper, Sarah and Stephanie Wiegand. “’Books of the Hour’ and ‘Books of All

Time’: Booklists in the Evolving Library.”

Library Philosophy and Practice, July

2008.

16

Hosted by ALCTS


Suggested reading

� Sommer, Mark. “Book Weeding, Changes Stir Debate at Central Library.” Buffalo News, January 21, 2011.

� Singer, Carol. “Weeding Gone Wild: Planning and Implementing a Review of the Reference Collection.” Reference and User Services Quarterly, 47:3, 2008, p. 256-264.

Hosted by ALCTS


Questions?

Keri [email protected]

636-447-7323

http://www.youranswerplace.org

culling your collection: the fine art of weeding

Documents