Well, not the Grim Reaper...just the library weeding Reaper. A post over at What Adrienne Thinks About That got me thinking about the importance of this little celebrated work ritual in librarianship. I don't know if the gardener in me or the librarian in me had the greater influence on my feelings about weeding. I do know that the process and the results are the same. You clear the dross and give air and light to the healthy stuff that keeps your gardens, yards and circulation growing and healthy.The biggest stumbling block I've seen with people who are shy to weed collections seems to be fear of making a poor decision. What if I toss something and someone asks for it the next day (shared collections within systems and interlibrary loan will save you in this MOST unlikely event)? How can I set myself up as an expert and critic and make these decisions (you work with the collections every day and see what goes and what stays)? What if I make a mistake and through ignorance pull a classic (many books, websites, blogs and wikis help you navigate through those shoals and nothing works better to restore a classic's magnetic pull for a reader than a newer edition with an updated cover)? But I know our customers will get angry with me (no, they won't - they will notice, however, that it is easier to find materials now that there is more room on the shelves to let the remaining collections strut their stuff).
Weed for wear and keeping the collection up-to-date, yes. But weed deeply to grow the collection as well. If you don't have the heart to pull a book or series of books, keep them for a year and monitor their use. Keep your eyes out, if they are non-fiction titles, for books just out or coming out soon covering the same subject areas. Reserve some of your budget to buy newer copies of books back in print or with updated covers -it makes the weeding less painful.
Remember, a weeded book is not really gone forever. It often finds a new place in a loving home. But most of all...be brave, don't fear. You can do it!
Photo: FLickrcc "The Smell of Old Books"http://www.flickr.com/photos/78755281@N00/375980619
I'm so glad I found your site through the Comment Challenge. I guess I've never really thought about the inter-workings of my local library. But if it were my choice, I know I'd be unsure as well.
ReplyDeleteBooks can mean so much to people, I'd hate to take something away that they might enjoy. But thinking about them finding new homes is a great way to think about it. My son and I were so excited with the pile of books we got at our library's sale!
If libraires had endless room (think of my dream library as a never-ending mobius strip of room ), books could stay forever and ever...but if we want to make room for the new as well as keep the best, some things have to go to their next life in homes all across the country just like yours!
ReplyDeleteI found your site through the Comment Challenge too--and I love your idea of keeping a book for a year and monitoring its use if you aren't sure about it. Just today I ordered a book from Amazon that has come out in a new edition in paperback but I remembered the hardcover from decades ago and found it used for a fraction of the price--Things Maps Don't Tell Us. So I advise you if you have that one, don't weed it! If you stick it out on a shelf I think someone will pick it up and love it as much as I do. Meg Lippert (StorySleuths)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping. It's definitely a balancing act between keeping a book and letting it go. And we all have our list of gems that have disintegrated into tissue paper after much gluing, taping and spit to keep it going that finally were sent off to Library-Valhalla as we sang their heroic praises. Long out of print, we sleuth til we can find another precious copy to share with our community!
ReplyDeleteWeeding is a concept that is useful to apply to most areas of our life.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting expression: weeding a book!(I found you via the Comment Challenge.)
ReplyDeleteYep, that's what we call it in the library bidness!
ReplyDeleteI love weeding books. It's like losing weight but much faster. My current library is not even 3 years old, so not much weeding yet.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm the champion weeder... but my grandchildren's school library loves me...I gave over 500 books to the school this year. Very good tax write off and a great home for those books that I like but don't love enough to keep forever. One reason it was so many, I had a LARGE collection of horse books for the kids at the barn, my son owns a boarding stable, but we need another tack room and the area where I kept the books was voted on the spot. I didn't have room for all those books and now the girls at Underwood School has a large collection of several new horse series.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know they LOVE you for it. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteHi--thanks for stopping by my blog :)
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of weeding, so thank you for this post! The library where I work will be moving into a new building in a few years, and since I took on my current position, I have been weeding like there is no tomorrow. As you say, it is amazing how much more stuff circulates when people can actually browse through shelves rather than wrestle with them to remove a cramped book from its grips! To me, having enough space on a shelf for the books to fall over and call for straightening, is a good thing.
Thank you so much for this post! I'm a terrible weeder in my home life, but I'm getting to be a pretty good one in my library life!
ReplyDeleteI have such a visceral reaction to thinking of books as weeds! I don't think I could ever weed books from a collection. As proven by the books taking over my house, LOL! But good advice. Yes. Just not sure I've got it in me. :)
ReplyDeleteYes I know what you mean but with literally thousands of kids and teen books published annually and libraries buying many many of them, not all books can stay on the shelves. The fire codes would be broken!
ReplyDelete