Weeding in the BEHS Library
Cathy Belben, Librarian
Updated April 2003

Definition of Weeding

Weeding (also called de-selection) is the periodic examination of the library’s collection of books and non-print material in order to determine which materials are no longer useful or needed. Weeding is NOT the removal of materials due to objections from patrons, staff, students, or parents. Any objection to library materials must follow the school board policy.

Purpose of Weeding

“Systematic weeding is not an irresponsible disposal of public property, but a public service which is often the first, most needed act in increasing library use.”   American Library Association

Weeding the library collection is essential in o
1.      Keep materials up-to-date and accurate.
2.      Remove damaged items.
3.      Make the usable, needed materials more accessible.
4.      Increase circulation of materials—when older materials are removed, newer materials circulate more.
5.      Make room for new materials and eliminate the illusion that the library has a larger collection.
6.      To revisit the entire collection and re-acquaint oneself with items available, find cataloging errors and omissions, and to occasionally change cataloguing to increase usage of certain materials.

Responsibility for Weeding

  1. The school librarian is responsible for weeding/de-selection of materials.
  2. Students or other staff members (library assistant(s), teachers, etc) who think a book should be weeded must present the book to the librarian, who will decide whether the book should be weeded, and if so, whether or not a new copy will be purchased.
  3. The librarian will follow the guidelines below for weeding materials.
  4. Weeding, though an important task, is completed only periodically when time is available.

Criteria for Determining When a Book Should Be Weeded:

Books are weeded from the collection when:

  1. They are in extremely poor physical condition and cannot be repaired. Problems can include:
    1. Brittle, yellowed, or torn pages or covers
    2. faded colors
    3. water or smoke damage
    4. bad smell
  2. There are duplicate or multiple copies AND those copies are not circulating frequently enough to justify retaining them AND/OR
  3. The older version of the book has been replaced by a newer version which contains more accurate and/or additional information AND/OR
  4.  The book contains information that has been corrected since the book was published AND/OR
  5. The book contains time sensitive information that is no longer accurate (such as books about careers which contain information and wages or education); AND/OR
  6. The book is circulating so infrequently as to no longer be justifiably retained AND/OR
  7. The book no longer complements the curriculum.
  8. The book has a poor format and has, or will be, replaced by higher quality material. Poor format can include:
    1. Small print
    2. Poor quality photos or illustrations
  9. The book has poor content, which can include:
    1. Out of date subject matter
    2. Mediocre writing
    3. Inaccurate information
    4. Trivial subject matter or approach
    5. Repetitious series
    6. Not on standard lists and/or defended by specialist in field
  10. Ephemera—this is a catch-all category that includes materials that are trendy and may be fashionable and in high demand at the time of purchase, but later fall out of use (money-making books, certain self-help or inspirational books, and books about TV shows or current fads/or fashions may be included in this category).

Cautions:

bulletGenerally, a book must meet more than one of these criteria before being weeded.
bulletDuplicate copies of a book do not automatically require weeding—often, duplicates are needed to satisfy a particular demand.
bulletOlder books are not automatically weeded.  Older books are often retained because they are the only book available on the topic, they are a rare or out-of-print book, or they are heavily used and despite being old, are factually accurate.

Steps in the Weeding Process

  1. The librarian determines the criteria for de-selecting books and determines which area of the collection will be weeded.
  1. De-selected materials are pulled from the shelves.
  1. The library assistant creates a list of all books that have been weeded (either by typing a list or by checking them out and printing a list of the check-outs).
  1. The list of weeded books is given to the librarian, who:
    1. distributes copies to teachers who may be interested in the books for their classroom.
    2. files a dated list of the de-selected materials
    3. orders replacement copies as needed
  1. The library assistant removes the books from the catalogue. Caution:  because some books being removed are duplicates, care must be taken not to remove both copies of the book if one is being kept in the collection.
  1. Books are physically “de-processed” as follows:
    1. Books are checked to see if any items are inside (money, photos, etc.)
    2. All barcodes are removed and discarded.
    3. All security stickers are removed and discarded.
    4. The check-out card pocket is removed.
    5. The “WITHDRAWN” stamp is stamped over all other stamps on the inside and outside of the book.
    6. The book is then given to a teacher who has requested it, placed in the library book sale collection, or discarded.

Bibliography

Buckingham, Betty. “Weeding the library media center collection.”

 http://www.iema-ia.org/IEMA209.htm  Online. World Wide Web. 15 April 2003.

Alachua District of Florida. http://www.sbac.edu/%7Emedia/guid_weeding.html