Collection Management for Libraries

A major factor of weeding a collection is what to do with books after they are removed from circulation. This website is dedicated to keeping books out of landfills. To do this they reuse, resell, or recycle books. Libraries can discard books through this company and they will find a place for the books. Collection bins can be placed near a library to routinely dropped off books for collection or can be collected at no cost to the library. This is a great resource for libraries to use to help manage discarded material. The website is easy to use and has information about their program and company readily available. Books can also be purchased directly from the website, if you are looking to buy books. The “How This Works” page has a great infographic describing the process that the company uses to reuse, resell or recycle to keep books out of landfills and help the environment. Overall this is a good website to pass along discarded material. https://www.discoverbooks.com

The Central Washington University deselection page provides a clearly identified strategy for deselecting books in the collection. The beginning section is called Collection Life Cycle here they list what happens to books from being chosen for the library, placed in the collection, and finally deselection or weeding of a title. This information is helpful to demonstrate that all books will go through this process eventually even if they are reshelved in the end. The process that is described, although for an academic library, works for any library. The concise language and numbered points make this page a good go to site for reference. There is a ten-point General Deselection Criteria section followed by a six-point Deselection Guidelines. These sixteen points are clearly defined for what and how items are deselected. Among the topics covered in the General Deselection Criteria section are relevance, usage, value, condition among others. Number eight deals with lost and paid

This website is by the State Library of Iowa and gives a short explanation of collection management, and why it is important to both libraries and library patrons. It outlines the conditions that a book should be weeded, such as age, condition, or how long it has been since the book has been checked out. It also outlines the CREW method of weeding, giving an outside link to a more in-depth explanation of the CREW method. The last part of the page focuses on the disposal method that the State Library of Iowa uses, this part is written with slightly more jargon that the first part of the page, though is still fairly readable to an average person. It notes places where the library is or is not allowed to donate their books, for example, the library cannot donate public library books to private organizations even if they are non-profits, and that all discarded books must be sold even if "for a nominal fee". This is an interesting resource and would be more helpful for libr

This website is specifically geared to school libraries, with a few different tabs about the weeding process, with basic explanations of what weeding is, and why it needs to be done. The "What is Weeding" section gives a short explanation of what weeding is, along with two documents full explaining the process along with a short video about weeding. I found this helpful as it allows a few different resources to make sure it is fully explained. The "why" section is a bit shorter, offering just a few bullet points on why weeding is important.  Along with this the "Who" and "When" sections are also short, with a few bullet points explaining the bare bones of these areas of weeding. The "How" section is very detailed, with several links going off with further detail about different aspects of weeding. There is a handy flowchart explaining how one would go about weeding, and two different collection policies to show how other libraries d

This website is done by the American Libraries Magazine and talks on the importance of weeding for libraries. It starts by speaking on different "weeding horror stories" of patrons seeing library staff throwing books into a dumpster and being outraged, or rare books being thrown out accidentally. Instances like this can give weeding a bad name, and make it harder for both library staff to weed, and patrons to accept the weeding of materials. The website goes on to explain how to avoid these pitfalls, such as making sure to communicate clearly with library patrons about weeding, and exactly what it is, and why it is needed in libraries, and how it helps the library continue to run well and continue serving the community well. One example they give is from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where they have a page on their website dedicated to weeding, explaining why it is needed, and encouraging patrons to email or speak to a library staff member in person if they have co

New England Libraries Interview questions for weeding: Interview with Sally 1. Who is responsible for weeding the collection and how is the collection divided? Adult collection, Non-Fiction and Reference – Head of Reference and Technical Services Adult collection, Fiction and Audio Visual – Assistant Director/Head of Circulation YA collection – Assistant Director/Head of Circulation Children’s collection – Assistant Director/Head of Circulation Follow up: Is there anyone who assists in bring books to your attention for consideration? The collection is divided to assign staff to bring to items their supervisor’s attention for consideration. 2. Is there a set schedule for weeding? One afternoon a week is dedicated to look at material pulled for consideration. This works well and is a continual process.   3. Do you have a method that you use, like CREW? No, we do not use a specific method. 4. What is your criteria for weeding? Material is weeded b

New England Libraries Interview questions for weeding: Interview with Sylvie 1. Who is responsible for weeding the collection and how is the collection divided?   Adult collection – Adult Services/reference librarian YA collection – YA Librarian Children’s collection – Children’s librarian Video games – YA Librarian These are the major divisions. There are a few smaller collections that certain staff members who have an interest or expertise in that help the development and weeding. Follow up: Is there anyone who assists in bring books to your attention for consideration? Anyone on staff can recommend a book or item for weeding based on condition, content or other reasons. 2. Is there a set schedule for weeding? We have just developed a weeding schedule and have started implementation. The entire collection is covered over a 12-month period. 3. Do you have a method that you use, like CREW? We have adapted CREW to our collection. So, this is loosely