How to Feed and Weed Your Collection | Weeding Guidelines

Things We've Dug Up While Weeding | Reader Comments

Why Weed Physical Fitness?

While May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, January is when most of us pause to consider our physical condition and resolve to "get into shape!" January is a good time to get your fitness titles into shape too. As a bonus, you will be ready with a great display in May!

Suggested Dewey Numbers to Check:

Mainly check the 613.7s (physical fitness) but also the 796.4s (for bodybuilding for fitness) titles. The AV collection and reference should also be checked.

Specific Criteria for Weeding:

As important as the topic of physical fitness is in schools today, the circulation of print titles will be driven mainly by the appeal of the works and not by required reports. Look at the illustrations to see if they are relevant to your students. If they're not, there is no reason to keep them, regardless of content. Check the content of all remaining titles to see if they are up-to-date with current nutritional, diet, and exercise recommendations. Students (and staff) are hearing these messages in the news almost daily, they will want only recent information.

Gender bias should be considered also. For example, working with weights is not just for boys anymore. Itís now considered important for girls as well.

AV items shown by teachers are viewed by students regardless of timeliness. If it is in your AV collection, you can count on some teachers using it in their classes. Don't let a good opportunity for a fitness message be negated by an old and boring format (filmstrips) or by outdated information and/or appearance.

Review all your "celebrity" titles. A personality that you associate with fitness may have a completely different connotation (or none at all) to students. If the celebrity is still active (in the realm of fitness), update his/her titles.

Consider Weeding Titles Like These:

• Better physical fitness for girls, 1964.
• Bodyworks : the kids' guide to food and physical fitness, 1981.
• The boy's book of physical fitness, 1973.
• The complete manual of fitness and well-being, 1988.
• Everybodyís a winner : a kid's guide to new sports and fitness, 1976.
• Exercise : what it is, what it does, 1982.
• Fit for life : Suzy Pruddenís complete program for getting and staying fit for life, 1978.
• Fun to be fit [filmstrip], 1984.
• Jane Fonda's prime time workout [videorecording], 1984.
• Slim Goodbody [filmstrip], 1978.