Collection Management for Libraries

Rix, W. (2009). Reference Collections and Staff: Retaining Relevance. Reference Librarian , 50(3), 302–305. https://doi-org.proxy-clarion.klnpa.org/10.1080/02763870902947109 Wright Rix, a Reference Librarian for Santa Monica Public Library, describes the advantages and reasoning for downsizing a print Reference collection. As information is sought online more and more changing a library’s focus to digitized media not only helps to provide quick online answers for patrons, a reduction in the print collection allows for expansion from other more popular sections such as audio visual and other print selections. Summary Rix provides an overview of what reducing a print collection means. Over time patrons are more likely to seek information online and are less likely to seek information in the reference area or even spend much time sitting down for research. By selecting electronic resources and digitizing historical records and other such material the floor space in the libra...

Jacob, Merle (2001) Weeding the fiction collection: or Should I dump Peyton Place?, Reference & User Services Quarterly, 40(3), 234-239. Choosing which books to weed can be difficult especially in the fiction section as there is no set guidelines or criteria. Merle Jacob, in a speech first given at an ALA conference, presents the challenges and steps most useful for weeding a fiction collection. This article provides a shorten version of the speech outline methods and reasoning for how to make the best choices for your library collection. Summary When choosing books for weeding in the fiction area the most important thing to know is your community. Who they are and what they want to read. Jacob suggests using circulation information and interlibrary loan requests. These two areas will tell how often an item is circulated and what patrons are requesting to read. Another important point is that a book sitting on a shelf is taking up valuable space that could be used for...

Calvert, Philip (2018) No more late night dumpster runs – recycle and upcycle unwanted library books, Public Library Quarterly , 37(2), 222-228. DOI:10.1080/01616846.2018.1465789 Philip Calvert, a recent recipient of a Fellowship from the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA), presents a discussion on what libraries do with unwanted books. He specifies unwanted verses weeded to include unwanted donated material in addition to discarded material. Calvert discusses various libraries and programs that include selling and upcycling books rather than simply throwing out books. Summary After deciding what books to remove from circulation librarians then must figure out where to discard those books. Rather than throwing books into a dumpster or recycling bin. A major alternative avenue is to sell books. There are many ways to do this there are companies that will resell books like TradeMe or Better World Books. TradeMe is an online auction site t...

My interview was with Librarian A, a librarian in a very small town. They do not have an official collections policy-online or in person, so I thought it would be interesting to interview a librarian in such a unique position would be interesting. For full disclosure, I have volunteered at the library before and assisted with weeding in their library. This interview was conducted over the phone, as the library itself is located three hours away from where I live currently. I chose Librarian A to speak to due to the unique library that she runs. She is the librarian for a town of about 600 people. The library itself is just a singular room in an already small building that has the courthouse, police station, and DVM, truly a one-stop shop. Once on the phone we chatted about the town and the new things that were happening, a coffee shop had just opened up- the first new business in town in a few years, and there was a new pastor for one of the four churches. Once we got down to busine...

Cully, J. (2015). I Feel the Need, the Need to Weed! : Maintaining an E-book Collection.   Southeaster Librarian ,  63 (1), 2-5. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-clarion.klnpa.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=b6ae90a0-6831-483b-ad9a-0d90b30cb180%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=102913000&db=lls Weeding is a fundamental part of maintaining a library collection, though it is often thought to be a task for the physical collection only, and the electronic collection can be overlooked in the weeding process. However, it is just as important to weed the electronic collection as well as the physical collection. Electronic collections can be easier to maintain, as there are systems that are patron-driven, that is the library only purchases the books after they have been requested by a patron, helping the collection to stay relevant to the community needs. This also helps keep the patrons active in the process of develo...

Arbeeny, P., & Chittenden, L. (2018). An Ugly Weed: Innovative Deselection to Address a Shelf Space Crisis.   Journal Of Library Innovation ,  5 (1). Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-clarion.klnpa.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=f9804ddd-f21b-47d7-a2c4-431993097c2a%40sdc-v-sessmgr04 In 2012 Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado was faced with an interesting problem- one month to weed out 3,000 to 4,000 items from their collection, to make room for more study spaces in their library, as well as freeing much-needed shelf space.  This problem was made harder due to the departure of two staff members right before this project was to begin. The library was now down to four total staff members, making the already daunting prospect even harder. The staff created a fast weeding process, with the whole collection in a spreadsheet, making use of keyword filtering, as well as filtering out books that had not been checked out since 2003, the o...

Boon, B. (2009). Using the CREW Method to Enhance Public and School Library Collections.   Journal Of Access Services ,  6 (3), 324-336. doi: 10.1080/15367960902894179 CREW is a weeding system that was developed by Joseph P Segal in the 1980s. CREW was implemented by different libraries in the 1990s. CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding. It is a process that works to make weeding a continuous and small-scale project in a library rather than a daunting task that is done on occasion. Weeding is a process of removing books and other materials from circulation in the library. There are a few criteria that would make something eligible for weeding, such as being old or damaged, containing incorrect or outdated information, or a material that does not fit the needs of the library patrons. Before a library starts the weeding process the library should have a plan of action for weeding, and a plan to make it a part of the collections policy, as well as p...