Weeding+Project

Weeding Project by Melisa Hunter

Introduction

"If students are to become problem solvers, decision-makers and lifelong learners in an information rich environment, they must be provided with resources that are relevant, reliable, accurate, and up-to-date" (Moore, J., (n.d.), p. 1). Keeping this in mind gave me courage, and made my job easier, as I deleted book after book from the sections that I am focusing on for this project. When I took on the position of teacher-librarian in this library, right after the school became a single-track French Immersion school, I was impressed by the large number of books on the shelves. Upon closer examination, I discovered that many of the books were old and in disrepair. Cleaning up these sections of the non-fiction area has gone a long way to making the resources more appealing and easily accessible to the students. This weeding project has proved to be the impetus for me to tackle other areas in the library, and as a result the whole library has a fresher feel to it.

Weeding Report

In total, I weeded 129 books from the 570s, the 580s, and the 590s. The oldest book was published in 1969. My weeding report provided me with information on the following: title, author, ISBN, call number, barcode, price and the year the book was acquired. Our school district moved to a district wide Follett Destiny system in 2006, so the acquisition dates for these older books show up as either 2006 or 2010, when we had an influx of books from the other French Immersion school that amalgamated with ours. The weeding report did not include circulation statistics. I learned, after deleting the books and running the weeding report, that in order to get the circulation statistics I needed to scan all of the books into a resource list and then run a circulation statistics report on the list before deleting the books. However, even with this circulation statistics report, I would have only seen how many times each book had been circulated since it was acquired. The date of the last circulation did not show up in this report. For this information, I would have needed to scan each book separately in copy status under circulation and then go into history. Although it would have been interesting to see the circulation statistics for each of the books that I deleted, I thought that the information was irrelevant for two reasons. First of all, the books were no longer appropriate due to their age and their physical condition. Second of all, non-fiction books relating to the curriculum get a lot of use by teachers and students, even if they are not being signed out, because they are being used for in-class research projects.

Weeding report from school's Follett Destiny system



Weeding Rationale

When I went about my weeding, I referred to the following list of criteria for weeding, found on page 121 in Bishop's text, //The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources.//
 * Poor physical condition
 * Unattractive appearance
 * Poor circulation record
 * Old copyright date, with outdated or inaccurate information
 * Duplicates of titles no longer in demand
 * Subject matter unsuitable for users
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Topics no longer of interest
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Biased or stereotypical portrayals
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Inappropriate reading levels
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">No longer needed because of a change in the curriculum

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Since there were so many old, outdated and tattered books in the sections that I was focusing on, my decisions were easy. I mainly focused on age, physical condition, appearance, and relevancy. These criteria alone had me weed 129 books from the 570s, the 580s, and the 590s. Even though I weeded a large number of books, I would consider this a superficial weed and I think that the next time I take a look at these sections, I will need to look at reading levels, and the presence of important text features that make navigating non-fiction text so much easier for students.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1974
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is unattractive, yellowing and has bent corners
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the illustrations are in black, grey and blue and are unappealing
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the information is not specific enough to our local region or even to Canada




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1988
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">although it is a popular series, a more updated version should be purchased
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is yellowing, is dirty and the corners are worn




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1998 which means it is not //too// old, but:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is scratched, the corners are worn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the binding is falling apart
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the pages are worn with some of the colour wearing off




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1989
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is scratched, the corners are worn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the binding is falling apart
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the pages are dirty and torn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the photos are dated and the illustrations are unattractive




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">first and foremost, the material is irrelevant as the plants and animals of France are not studied in BC //and//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1986
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the format is not "student-friendly" as it is the size of a novel with a lot of text




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1989
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is a popular series with the students, so a newer version should be purchased
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is worn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the binding is falling apart
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the pages are dirty




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1993
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is in relatively good shape but it is starting to look dated
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is missing important text features that help students navigate non-fiction books such as: table of contents, index and glossary
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is a little too general for the curriculum needs: i.e. the information on each animal is not detailed enough and hard to locate within the text




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1986
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the book is about pine trees in France and is thus irrelevant to the BC curriculum
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">it is missing important text features that help students navigate non-fiction books such as: table of contents, index and glossary, bold lettering, captions, diagrams of any sort
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">the cover is worn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">the photos are dated




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book is moldy (notice the black marks)!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it was published in 1986
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the cover is worn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the pages are yellowing
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">there is too much text on each page
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is missing important text features that help students navigate non-fiction texts such as: bold lettering, adequate diagrams




 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">this book was published in 1982
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">it is about forests in Europe and therefore not relevant to the BC curriculum
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">most of the pages are just illustrations with either no text or very little text
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">the illustrations are outdated

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Reflection

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">For me, the weeding process was a very enjoyabl <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">e one. It felt good to remove the old, tattered, unattractive and irrelevant resources from the shelves. Allen says, "Library patrons want attractive, clean books that are in good condition. Shelves crammed with soiled, worn, torn, moldy or unattractive books will send patrons running from the library" (Allen, M., 2010, p. 32). I am not sure that patrons would run from the library, but they would definitely not be enthused about what the library has to offer. In my library we have already seen an increase in the circulation of the books in these sections, that are now on uncrowded shelves,. The newer, more up-to-date, attractive books stand out so much more and now practically jump off of the shelves.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">I found the list of criteria for weeding on page 121 in Bishop's text to be the most comprehensive and the most helpful to me. Although the acronym MUSTY, (Dickinson, G,. 2005, p. 24) is a good memory aid for the weeding process, it isn't comprehensive enough for weeding in the non-fiction sections. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">I only used a few of the criteria in Bishop's list for this assignment, but copyright date was an important one and this was not specifically mentioned in MUSTY.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">When I started the task of evaluating the books to determine which ones were to be weeded I did not have to search through the different sections. The books that I needed to look at, and make decisions about, were already lined up on a trolley. I had pulled all of the French non-fiction books in the sections that I was focusing on for assignment #3 in order to get a clear idea of the age and circulation statistics for these books. This had to be done because of the OD (oeuvre documentaire) prefix that is part of all of the French non-fiction call numbers. While these books were still on the trolley, I was able to go through them and decide which ones needed to be weeded. This was very easy, as one third of the books were old, worn, unattractive or irrelevant. What I did find challenging though, was getting the circulation statistics on the specific books that I had weeded. The next time I weed, I will check the circulation statistics as part of my decision making process when I am looking at a book that might still have some merit in our library collection. I have already done this with a small weed in the fiction section and I was surprised to see that a couple of older unattractive novels had recently been signed out a number of times. I will put the newer editions of these titles on my list for future purchases.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">After I deleted the books that I had decided no longer had any value in my collection, and after running my weeding report, I went through the process of discarding the books in a way that is deemed acceptable in my school and my school district. We do not have any written policies related to the deselection of materials, so I have had to make this up as I go. I crossed out the barcodes and the school name with a black sharpie pen and placed the books on a trolley in the staffroom for the teachers to take if they were interested. Not many of the non-fiction books left that trolley and understandably so, as they were in poor condition. After the books had been on the trolley for a week, I removed them from the staffroom and started putting them into our city recycling bin. I can put in about 30 books at a time since we are not allowed to have more than 20% of the bin be filled with heavy items. So this part of the process can sometimes take a few weeks depending on the number of books that need to be discarded.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The easiest part of this whole project was determining which books to weed. It turned out that I had many old, worn, unattractive, and outdated books in the sections that I was evaluating. It was easy for me to weed the books that were obviously irrelevant, dirty, falling apart or had been published pre-1996. I was pleased to see that after I had removed these 129 books from our collection, there were many other relevant, and attractive books. My collection did not look smaller, but rather looked more appealing and interesting. When I helped students and teachers find books after I had removed these books from the different sections, I noticed that it was easier to find appropriate materials.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The hardest part for me in this process was determining how to discard the weeded books with integrity. I learned much from Dickinson's article //Crying Over Spilled Milk//. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">When Dickinson compares keeping spoiled milk with keeping outdated materials (Dickinson, G., 2005, p.26), I feel like bypassing my detour to the staffroom with my weeded books and just sending them directly to the recycling bin. The table below, from Dickinson's article, sums up this whole analogy very nicely. If the books are not appropriate for the library collection, surely they are not appropriate for the classroom.



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">I have learned much from the evaluation and weeding process of the sections in my library that support the BC Grade 4 Life Science Curriculum of Habitats and Communities. Going into it, I would never have guessed how easy it would be to weed 129 books from these sections. "The American Library Association suggests that 5% of the collection be weeded annually [with] an average life for a book in the collection [being] ... approximately ten years" (Moore, J., n.d., p. 3). I am learning that, in order to maintain a quality collection, weeding needs to take place on an ongoing basis. When I have finished weeding out the obviously old, damaged and irrelevant materials in the rest of the library, I will need to make some harder decisions when looking at whether or not to keep certain resources in the library collection. I have already implemented some of the advice from the readings and am doing some casual weeding when I tidy up my library or look for materials for students and teachers. It is easier to weed throughout the year for a few minutes here and there (Dickinson, G., 2005, 24). When I follow Dickinson's "three-step weeding process" (Dickinson, G., 2005, p.25), weeding is actually quite enjoyable. The next time that I take a critical look at these sections of my library will be when I add new titles and decide which of the older titles can be removed to make room for the newer ones.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Works cited

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Allen J. (2010). Weed 'em and reap: The art of weeding to avoid criticism. //Library Media Connection 28(6)//, 32-33. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Bishop, K. (2007). //The collection program in schools: concepts, practices, and information sources// (4. ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Dickinson, G. (2005). Crying over spilled milk. //Library Media Connection 23(7)//, 24-26. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Moore, J. (n.d.) //Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding.// Retrieved October 15, 2011 from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/libraries/lib_downloads/weeding1/pdf.