Collection Management for Libraries

Feeney, M., Elliott, C., & Jenkins, J. (2015, May 7). Up from the depths: return of the 16 mm film, or how to weed your film collection. Collection Management, 40 (2), 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2015.1009963 A danger of deselection is an assumption that outdated media formats are worthless. Most librarians are familiar with books, but AV materials, especially unused, dusty old film canisters, are out of their purview and comfort zone. Regardless, these items need to be given due consideration and inviting expert faculty for assistance is a good move. There may be one-of-a kind treasure to be found, that even if not within the scope of a library’s collection, could be of great value to another institution. Undertaking a project like this will take up time and resources, but it can be done. Summary: Most AV collections that belong to libraries began to develop around the 1960s with education films, later transitioning to videotapes and DVD...

Waugh, M., Donlin, M., & Braunstein, S. (2015, Jan 14). Next-generation collection management: a case study of quality control and weeding e-books in an academic library. Collection Management, 40 (1), 17-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2014.965864 This paper presents a case study in e-book weeding from Louisiana State University. E-book collection management policies do not exist in over 95% of ARL (Association of Research Libraries) facilities and it is unlikely numbers would be much lower in any library. E-book collections need to be evaluated according to a thoughtfully created policy in order to keep an up to date, useful collection to serve patrons needs. By examining the difficulties and triumphs experienced by other libraries, staff can work to address deficiencies in their facilities.   A major problem will be interacting with vendors since they control collections. It will be important for individual libraries demand better self-service, s...

Ehret Snyder, C. (2013, Dec 20). Data-driven deselection: multiple point data using a decision support tool in an academic library. Collection Management, 39 , 11-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2013.866607 Weeding is a time-consuming and sensitive task for librarians. It is necessary to make space for new material, keep information current and updated, and remove items in poor condition. Librarians have to determine what kind of data is necessary to review in order to justify removing an item from the library’s shelves. Tools exist to help librarians gather multiple points of data to make the process more efficient. The librarians at Olin Library, part of Rollins College in Florida, utilized such a tool (Sustainable Collections Services) to help them update their collection and present the findings in this paper. Summary: Librarians are short on time and weeding is one of the most time-consuming tasks they can take on. Criteria is necessary to make...

Interview With a Librarian - Librarian P As I head up the steps to the University library, the scene is picturesque. Leaves are swirling, there's a chill in the air, it's the perfect sort of day to visit an old library. The steps leading up the building swirl in that grand southern lady fashion reminiscent of Gone With the Wind . I head for the lower door because I see a key card entry on the upper door and I don't have that. Inside things look way more modern. I decide to head upstairs when I see only what looks like students studying in cozy lounge. Upstairs is more bare and less cozy. It looks like a house that is in the process of moving. A woman sees my confused face and asks how she can help me. I tell her that I'm looking for Librarian P. "You must be Jillian." I nod. She happily introduces herself as Librarian P and beckons me down a hallway. We enter her office and she apologizes for the current state as she clears a chair to offer me. The librar...

Interview With a Librarian - Librarian M Disclaimer: As stated in my post about prepping for this interview, I am an employee of my local library system and Librarian M has previously been my direct supervisor and my head of branch on two separate occasions. In June 2016 until her transfer in August of that year, and again in April 2018 up until she moved to Head of Collection Development in July. I walk into the Tech Services Department and stick my head into the first office door. Librarian M beckons me in and I laugh seeing her space heater on the floor. It finally touched below 60 that morning and felt like fall for the first time. “You people and your heaters!” Librarian M laughs back and tells me that she gets cold. I settle into the other chair in the room and open by asking how long has Librarian M been a librarian. She thinks about it and states that she became a public librarian in January 1993. Comparing it to my own age, I surmise that she’s been at it for 26 years....

Field Notes North Dakota State Library's Library Development Team has several posts dedicated to weeding. Many of the posts are wonderful ideas for what to do with the items weeded from the library shelves. The ND State Library team uses the C.R.E.W. method outlined by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, which advocates for weeding continuously throughout the year. As a result, the suggestions feature decorations for the whole year! Imagine taking tattered, old, outdated, unloved books and turning them into something new(ish), useful and loved! (Bibbidi-boppity-boo!) I’m genuinely excited to try some of the Winter themed crafts. I’ve been tasked with leading an adult holiday craft program. Book wreaths will be the main attraction, but Field Notes has some other decorative upcycling ideas I want to incorporate as well! The most recent post was updated in January 2018 and reaffirms not only the reasons for weeding, but gives advice for how to avoid avoiding weed...

Letters to a Young Librarian - Weeding ​ Letters to a Young Librarian is a blog run by New York Librarian Jessica Olin. Currently she is the director of library services at an unnamed community college in Western New York. The blog is meant to act as a practical ‘What They Didn’t Teach you in Library School’ repository. It hopes to meld the theoretical learning of Library School with the day-to-day workings of being a professional librarian. (Who doesn’t love the sound of that?) Ms. Olin discusses weeding in a collection of four posts, the most recent being in 2014. Her view of weeding is much like other libraries and librarians we’ve experienced on this journey. She details her methods for weeding and reminds us that mileage will vary; what works for her may not work for others. Some of the weeding techniques are the usual ones such as age, circulation status, and the ‘employee smell test,’ that ephemeral combination of physical attributes that might render a book unworthy o...

Part of this project is interviewing Librarians about their institution's weeding policies in relation to collection development. I was able to arrange two interviews.One will be with Librarian M, head of collections for my local library system. The other will be with Librarian P, the Library Manager at a local university. I’ll reiterate this at the top of my interview with Librarian M, but for the sake of objectivity and full disclosure: I am an employee of my local library system and have worked under Librarian M before. She was my branch manager when I transferred to S. Branch Library in June 2016, and was the manager of W. library when I transferred back to work on the Reference Department in April 2018. She was the branch manager and directly above my supervisor, the head of reference. We’re cool. We’re friends in Pokemon Go, and she’s a reference on my resume. Once my interviews were scheduled, I had to move on to the next step. What do I ask these super helpful Library ...

O’Neill, J. L. (2016). Weeding with ADDIE: Developing Training for Deselection at an Academic          Library. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 56(2), 108-115. doi:10.31229/osf.io/hym8b California State University Fullerton has been open since 1957. Up until 2014, there had not been a large-scale weeding completed of the materials in Pollak Library. Instructional Design Librarian J. Lindsay O’Neill turned to the design process known as ADDIE to develop a method to train librarians to undergo the task. Summary           Weeding is often a difficult task to perform. Not only is it done less often than most tasks library staff perform, it often comes with the guilt of removing material, the fear of making the wrong call, and the concern from stakeholders about ‘throwing books away.’ Making the task even more difficult is the lack of formal training for librarians on weeding in the field....

Way, D., & Garrison, J. (2013). Developing and Implementing a Disapproval Plan: One University         Library’s Experience. College & Research Libraries News, 74(6), 284-287.         doi:10.5860/crln.74.6.8958 Weeding is a task often left undone for many reasons. Among them are time, a lack of codified rules, and the emotions involved with the general anxiety that comes from having to ‘get rid of’ books and other library materials. Michigan’s Grand Valley State University set out to develop a weeding regimen to facilitate the task. Summary In 2013, Grand Valley State University libraries were comprised of a main library, three branches, and an off-site storage facility. During that year a new library was opened, which required all of the materials in the offsite facility to be moved to a new Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS). Due to previous difficulties weeding such a system, and the pote...

McEwen I. (2103). Separating the Wheat From the Chaff A Guide to Weeding. Teacher Librarian,           volume 39 (4), 33-34.       Teacher librarian Ian McEwen describes the two types of teacher weeders. His discussion of the the two types includes how they handle the arduous and often polarizing task that is weeding. McEwen also discusses the reasons we weed and gives tips for making the process easier. Summary     Ian McEwen is a teacher librarian in Canada. He describes that teacher librarians fall into two types of librarian: Type A weeders are confident and efficient. They don’t second guess their decisions and get rid of material that has run its course without remorse. Type B weeders agonize over their choices, worried that their choices are the wrong ones and often come up with a reason why an item should be saved. McEwen chronicles a conversation with a student whose school library book fell...

Awful Library Books The first thing that catches my attention when I navigate to Awful Library Books is the wonderfully out of date and kitschy covers. (Fran gets me ) It’s 246 pages (as of October 5th) of proof of why libraries need to weed. Many of the items are outside submissions and the whole project is curated by Michigan public librarians Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner. This site is… so much fun. Again, people from all over the country submit images of their books in need of deselection. Some of the titles, such as a copy of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl will require repurchase at the discretion of the branch, and others, such as Easy DOS It! , a book about the no longer relevant DOS computer system, or a tacky as all get out Burt Reynolds book (likely not how he wants to be remembered, RIP), (This?) (Or THIS?) are best never to be seen again. Awful Library Books pokes fun at the idea that libraries are outdated by displaying the items that we get rid of...