It has been a few weeks since I last reflected on my work to do with weeding the collection.
Things have slowed down a bit there, but have been encouraged by what I have managed to do. Time for me has been difficult as I contend with the other challenges of weeding the collection.
I have been impressed generally by the response of colleagues as they select books to be retained or to be disposed of. I have felt quite confident as I communicate about progress. Even as books have been moved into sorting areas before discarding them on OASIS, I have been flexible in letting teachers come to pick what they want. A few books have found their way back onto the shelves which is fine.
The weeding itself is going to take much longer than what I hope for, but I have found some side projects as well that I feel are linked back to this - like following up on overdue books, removing duplicate borrowers and accounting for other unreturned items.
Showing posts with label weeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weeding. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Friday, May 1, 2015
Revisting Weeding in 2015
Back in 2011 as part of my studies, I explored the issue of weeding on it.
Where I am at the moment, one of my short term challenges is to remove items from a collection that has aged significantly, especially the non fiction collection where there appear to be few (if any) contemporary resources available. The shelves are overcrowded and in fact can barely accomodate much more.
I've actually had to create my own weeding policy simply because the library does not have a collection development policy.
What I have done so far, is that I'm focusing on what I want to keep as opposed to what I want to dispose. I have my criteria set up for weeding e.g. poor physical condition and outdated information. I have been placing stickers on shelves as I check items, while placing stickers on the items that are to stay in the collection.
I also have consulted teachers and invited them to inspect the collections to see what they want to keep while explaining to them as to why we "weed" the collection e.g. helping us to decide which resources need to be purchased so that students can have easy access to resources that are contemporary and relevant to learning. I emphaised the positives of doing so because weeding can seen on the surface as "negative". They have been keen so far in their input. There are items no longer relevant to the kids but they are still relevant to teachers.
I even will need to document areas that really need updating, like books on computers and sport.
Where I am at the moment, one of my short term challenges is to remove items from a collection that has aged significantly, especially the non fiction collection where there appear to be few (if any) contemporary resources available. The shelves are overcrowded and in fact can barely accomodate much more.
I've actually had to create my own weeding policy simply because the library does not have a collection development policy.
What I have done so far, is that I'm focusing on what I want to keep as opposed to what I want to dispose. I have my criteria set up for weeding e.g. poor physical condition and outdated information. I have been placing stickers on shelves as I check items, while placing stickers on the items that are to stay in the collection.
I also have consulted teachers and invited them to inspect the collections to see what they want to keep while explaining to them as to why we "weed" the collection e.g. helping us to decide which resources need to be purchased so that students can have easy access to resources that are contemporary and relevant to learning. I emphaised the positives of doing so because weeding can seen on the surface as "negative". They have been keen so far in their input. There are items no longer relevant to the kids but they are still relevant to teachers.
I even will need to document areas that really need updating, like books on computers and sport.
