| Why
Weed 9-11?
To
provide information about September 11, 2001 for your students,
you may have purchased some materials that were rushed to
publication to fill that nationwide demand.  Some
of those titles were great, some were not. Some of your
titles may be worn out by the initial demand and are due
for replacement. Two years after the event is a good time
to review this section. Weed, add, and replace so you have
a solid collection on this topic of continuing interest.
Suggested
Dewey Numbers to Check:
Look
in the 973.9s for titles on this topic classed according
to the time period of the attacks. Also look in the 974s
for titles that approach the subject according to the area
(New York, Pennsylvania, or Washington D.C.) attacked. The
reference section probably won’t have any titles but
the AV collection should also be checked.
Specific
Criteria for Weeding:
Criteria
for weeding this section includes evaluating titles according
to content, tone, and sensitivity.
Examine
the content of your titles by looking for signs of information
padding, poor photos or repeated photos within the same
title, and careless editing.  Be
especially aware that some series created for the topic
tend to be more prone to have been rushed to publication
and certain titles within the series have not held up to
critical review.
As
for tone and sensitivity, while the national emotion and
impact of the event should be honestly represented, be careful
not to keep titles that play on that emotion with an overly
dramatic and/or fatalistic approach. Your students need
information, not a sense of panic, fear, or helplessness.
The photos and text of titles should also clearly represent
the facts of the event, but not unduly contribute to negative
stereotyping of ethnic or religious groups as a whole.
Finally,
some very recent titles on terrorism in your collection
can be considered dated if that content was finalized before
9-11, even if their publication release date was 2001 or
later.
Consider
Weeding Titles Like These:
- 9.11.01
: terrorists attack the U.S., 2002. Grades 5-8.
- America
under attack, September 11, 2001 (Lucent Terrorism Library
Series), 2001. Grades 7-up.
- Attack
on America : the day the Twin Towers collapsed (American
Disasters Series), 2002. Grades 5-9.
- The
attacks on the World Trade Center, February 26, 1993, and
September 11, 2001 (Terrorist Attacks Series), 2002. Grades
4-7.
- Helping
hands : a city and a nation lend their support at Ground
Zero (United We Stand Series), 2002. Grades 5-7. ISBN 0791069591
- September
11, 2001 : a simple account for children, 2002. Grades K-2.
- Terrorism
(Understanding Issues Series), 2002. Grades 3-5.
- Terrorism
: a world of shadows (Series) [videorecording], 2001. Grades
9-up.
- Terrorism
in America (Headliner Series), 2003. Grades 5-8.
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