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How to Feed and Weed Your Collection | Weeding
Guidelines
Things
We've Dug Up While Weeding
| Reader Comments
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| How
to Feed and Weed Your Collection |
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| What
is collection development?
As
you weed your collection, you will also want to purchase
new, up-to-date, more relevant items. Collection development
refers to an ongoing plan not only to weed, but to locate,
select, acquire, organize, access or otherwise make available
the resources your students and your teachers need.
The
responsibility is yours. . .
You
must accept the responsibility for maintaining your media
collection. You are the professional responsible for selecting
the best materials to add to your collection as well as
for weeding. SUNLINK is just another of the many tools that
are available for you to use in the process of collection
development. SUNLINK is a union database of K-12 library
media items, not a list of recommended titles. Use standard
collection development criteria (accuracy, appeal, appropriateness,
currency, relevance, format, need, curriculum, etc.) in
making a final decision to add or delete an item to your
collection.
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| How
SUNLINK Can Help |
While
there are some unique needs for curriculum materials in
every school, there are generally trends and issues which
are of statewide or even national interest. By
using SUNLINK, you can see what others in the state have
purchased. If you have an occasional need for an item, you
can borrow it through SUNLINK's interlibrary loan system.
If you are a SUNLINK school and need to add materials to
your collection, however, you can call, fax, or email the
media specialist at the school listed in the holdings to
get more details. And, if you are a SUNLINK school, you
can also borrow the material to review it yourself or with
your teachers.
How
SUNLINK can help with weeding. . .
- If
your media center is automated, print a list of all titles
in the targeted subject area. Include dates of publication
to assist in identifying out-of-date titles.
- If
your media center is not automated, check the appropriate
Dewey ranges in your card catalog.
- If
you are a SUNLINK school, search SUNLINK (http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/)
by keywords in the "quick search" box, limiting
the search to your school. Use the "pub date"
boxes on the search screen to further limit your keyword
search to a specific date range, such as titles published
prior to 1980. (Do this by leaving the first date box
empty and key in ë1980í in the second box.) Scan the resulting
title listing to identify possible weeding targets.
- After
evaluating the obvious weeding targets from your listing
by comparing the title content with the publication dates
(such as Modern leaders in Africa, published in 1978),
review the subject area by visiting your shelving areas
in the suggested Dewey ranges in Weed of the Month for
that topic. Apply general and specific weeding criteria
to all those titles on the shelves to find any that should
be weeded.
- As
a SUNLINK school, you can also use the SUNLINK "Age
of Collection" (http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/publications/appendix.html)
feature to provide additional support for your weeding
activities by comparing your overall collection age with
others in your district or the state averages. Use this
"Age of Collection" information along with the
specific criteria on the Weed of the Month topics to counter
any criticism from staff or administration as to why you
are discarding books.
- Remember
that the K-12 school library media collection is supposed
to support the current curriculum, and is not an archival
collection.
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| What
to discard. . . |
Look
for items (print and non-print) that are not current and
that include information that is out-of-date, inaccurate,
or misleading. Any title that implies currency (Today, Modern,
etc.) should be examined critically. This decision should
be based on the content of the item, not the cost or good
physical condition. Books with appropriate and accurate
content but in bad physical condition should be repaired
or weeded.
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| Weeding
Guides |
LM_Netters
also have recommended the following sites for more information
about weeding policies and procedures:
Weeding
the Library Media Center Collections - State of Iowa
Department of Education
The
Importance of a Weeding Policy - Collection Development
Training for Arizona Public Libraries
Guidelines
for Weeding Library Materials - Alachua District, Florida
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