How can you get non-library trained people to trust in your weeding?

There are two primary contexts in which this might come up:

1. A public or school librarian has to earn the trust of a public official, who may be a bureaucrat or politician but has some power over the library.
2. A patron or patron group wants to know why their favorite titles have been removed and not replaced when replacements are available. ("Is it no longer good enough for you? &c.)

In either case, accusations of censorship, personal prejudice, or bad judgement are likely to come up. Please address these concerns.

1. Alan Thomas II

• public-libraries
• weeding
• school-libraries

Comments

• 1. Alan Thomas II: 4th-highest-rated example question during the Definition phase of this proposal with 21 votes.

Answer by Jeanne Boyarsky

Ideas:

• Statistics. Showing the book wasn't read as frequently as other books.
• Showing an equivalent book was bought or a more recent version.
• Shelf space - showing more space was needed for newer topics. At some point history of the 20th century gets less space. It is still important, but less books over time to make room for current events books.

I'm curious to read what else people post.

Comments

• jdscott50: I would add the condition of the book. It might still circulate, but if it looks terrible it could use a replacement.
• Jeanne Boyarsky: Although if it was replaced by the same book, it wouldn't be something to complain about.

Answer by Deborah Mould

In addition to the above, is the material available through other sources such as Gutenberg, Internet Archive, LibriVox?

No library can collect in every area, so defining these using a well written Collection Policy or Guideline can assist when answering questions about collection areas and define the examples of statistics, condition, relevance, etc.

This type of public document is also a good way of handling accusations of censorship, prejudice, etc. by committing to and referencing things like the freedom from censorship policies relevant to your country's library organisation, eg: http://www.alia.org.au/policies/free.access.html, http://www.ala.org/offices/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement As well as international statements like: http://archive.ifla.org/faife/policy/iflastat/iflastat.htm or http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

A collection policy can also be used to demonstrate that the library knows the rationale behind their purchasing, as well as acknowledge that our collections are complimented by strengths in other libraries.

Comments

Answer by dsalo

Believe it or not, Awful Library Books can be a marvelous tool for making "OMG the library THROWS BOOKS AWAY!!!!one!" people rethink their stance.

Comments

Answer by KatieR

I like to put together a display of books I want to weed (normally old, outdated, or in bad condition) and ask them if they want their kids using these books. Gets the point across most of the time.

Just a side note, if we weed books because we have doubles but they are still in good condition we put those out in a "free to take" bin. Some libraries give them to their friends group for book sales, but the one at my library doesn't want them.

Comments

• Melissa: As an opposite to this display, I put out a selection of the new books purchased. Really shows that when we get rid of the worn out, incorrect, unused materials we have room for new ones!

Answer by Mary Jo Finch

Defending your weeding with a solid collection policy is one side of the coin, but you don't want to end up in a position of defending individual weeding decisions. You will set a pattern that never ends.

On the other side of the coin is building trust in your professionalism - show them you know what you are doing:

• Keep good statistics that show the increase in circulation that happens after weeding and the improvements in the average age of the collection (it is shocking to realize how "old" your collection is when you actually run the numbers).
• Keep numbers on how long you usually own books before they are weeded - if books typically stay on your shelves for 10 years before they are weeded (and on average they generally do when you balance the new bestseller purchases against those popular children's books that never go away), that demonstrates care and good stewardship.
• Compare your library's collection size and circulation numbers to other libraries in the area - either our stats are better than theirs because we do such a professional job of weeding, or our stats are worse than theirs because we have been hindered in our weeding.
• Know your collection's basic circ numbers well enough to be able to discuss them without referring to reports - about how much of your collection is in each area and how well does each area circ?
• Ask your staff to record compliments from the public about how current your collection is and how much people love your selections, and share these at every opportunity. Share stories about book clubs that have adopted your library, how excited certain long-time members were to see this or that new book, and how quickly you were able to respond the the mayor's daughter's book request.

Comments

• 1. Alan Thomas II: I think that first line is perhaps the most important point in this whole Q&A.

Answer by Fisher

I agree that a solid collection development policy is a good place to start, but having a weeding policy is also important. Using the CREW Method, for example, you have a strong, consistent process in place. The act of reviewing & weeding feeds naturally into the act of acquisition (see page 10 of their manual). The weeding is dictated by a number of relevant factors, many of which folks list above: condition, circulation stats, relevancy, availability elsewhere (not just ILL but classics that can be found on Project Gutenberg). Using this method as the basis for your policy, you have strong arguments for not just weeding, but weeding with collection management in mind. So while you won't want to get into the nitty gritty of why each book was weeded, you do have those reasons, both as a whole and for each individual item.

Comments

• 1. Alan Thomas II: Nobody wants to get into the position of defending individual decisions, but having a standard weeding method that can be pointed to certainly helps if it happens (and hopefully shifts the discussion to explaining policy and method rather than justifying an individual decision).
• Jane Nearing: In addition to CREW, we incorporated collection 'currency' goals, by Dewey decades, into our Policy Manual.

Answer by Jeni

Consider involving some of your teachers in selecting books they think don't belong in "their" specialty anymore. For example, I asked a teacher who used a lot of poetry to help weed the poetry and she was much more brutal than i would have been. Younger teachers especially understand the need for an attractive up to date collection.

Comments