Q: How old is your library media collection?
A: Find out by accessing SUNLINK's "Age of Collection" feature!

From the SUNLINK home page click on the "Media Specialists" tab (top, right hand).

Next, click on the "Age of Collection" button.

To locate your school, simply enter your school name code (Example: East Cupcake HS) in the Keyword field, and/or select your district name. You can also view the age of collection for an entire district. The "Age of Collection" feature is a useful collection development tool that gives you a snapshot of your SUNLINK data. Whether your age of collection looks good or bad, it can be used to create a positive public relations outcome for you and your collection. Here are some things the age of collection tool can do for you:

• Find out the number of items in your school media collection with publication dates that are current-10 years old, 10-20 years old, 20-30 years old, or 30 years and older.
• Collection data will display fiction and nonfiction numbers, as well as overall totals (which includes any AV titles). The data will be displayed in pie graphs.
• Compare your collection with other schools in your district, as well as the state average.
• Use the age of collection as a launching pad to begin weeding outdated titles. Use the SUNLINK "Pub Date" field found on the SUNLINK search screen to evaluate obvious items to weed.
• If your collection data looks good and/or you have made substantial progress in the last year, toot your own horn. Print out a copy of your school's numbers in pie graph form, share it with your principal, teachers and parents, and save for your records. Include it in your annual report.
• If your collection needs improvement (and most do!), share the age of collection data with your principal, teachers, and parents to justify increased funding for new items. Target specific areas of the curriculum, show some examples of things that must be weeded-and why-and show some attractive, up-to-date new titles that can replace those "oldie moldies." Use some of the new titles you have purchased, or borrow some from other schools through ILL.

"Poorly weeded collections are not the sign of poor budgets but of poor librarianship. Period." - Johnson, Doug. "Weed." Library Media Connection 22.1 (2003): 130