Weeding Interview Prep

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 Heroes? To answer that, I went to our textbook, A Crash Course in Collection Development by Wayne Disher to reread Chapter 11. From there I was able to determine what talking points would be important for me to ask questions about for the interview.

(Callie thinks I should be doing other things. Scratching her ears for starters…)

I outlined ten questions for the interviews and look forward to sitting down with Librarians M and P!

Comments

Annotated Bibliography- Data Driven Deselection: Using a Decision Support Tool

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...

Website Review - Field Notes

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...

Website Review - Awful Library Books

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...

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