Stocktaking and Weeding

1. Stocktakingand Weeding Secret library business or essential collection development activities? Renate Beilharz Bulding on essentials! 16 October 2006

2. Secret Library Business • Library is ‘closed’ for stocktaking • No perceivable outcome to the average user • Weeding is rarely done flamboyantly • Weeded items are ‘hidden’ from staff • Lack of understanding of the purpose of these activities

3. Collection Development Policy • Purpose of the collection • Type of material in the collection • Selection criteria and processes • Budgeting policy • Weeding criteria • Stocktaking processes • Dealing with controversial material

4. Purpose of a School Library Collection • Reflect needs of the users • Support and enrich the curriculum • Encourage and develop a love of reading • To be accessible to all users

5. A school library collection needs to be: • Relevant • Accessible • Attractive Stocktaking and weeding are complementary activities necessary for achieving these goals

6. Stocktaking objectives • Ensure that the database reflects the actual collection • Identify errors in cataloguing and processing • Identify areas which have losses • Identify areas of strength and weakness for ongoing collection development

7. Other purposes of stocktake • Each resource is handled at least once a year • Perfect ordering resources • Identify misplaced items • Tidying the shelves • Check links for electronic Resources • Finds the books that haven’t been checked in correctly

8. You want to do what??? • http://www.warriorlibrarian.com/HUMOUR/agony.html

9. Stocktaking – Positive PR • Write a Collection Development Policy, including stocktaking • Talk to the school community about the reasons for stocktaking • Consider alternative ways to stocktake that do not involved closing completely • Involve members of the school community in the process where practical

10. Hints for stress free stocktaking • Read the manual • Check the equipment and clarify the physical processes • Run a trial stocktake of a small collection • Ensure that processes are clearly documented and understood by staff • Decide which collections are to be stocktaken

11. More hints Make a check list of collections and tasks • Take the time to shelf read, this will help when dealing with anomalies • Leave enough time to rectify anolmalies • Be realistic in what you can get done in the time allocated – you don’t have to do all collections each year • Enjoy the task, it can be rewarding

12. After stocktaking • Run all relevant reports and final procedures • Make sure you change the status of missing items • Create a written report for administration and staff • Celebrate another job well done

14. Weeding objectives • To have a collection that is • Current • Relevant • Attractive and presentable • To give an accurate picture of the quality of the collection • To make room for new resources It does not matter how many books you may have, but whether they are good or not. Lucius Annaceus Senecca

15. Weed! Small, but high quality collections are infinitely better. And this is why. Continuous, thoughtful weeding: • Rids your collections of sexist, racist and just plain inaccurate materials. • Makes the good stuff easier to find and more appealing. • Sends the message that the library may not be adequately funded. http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/weed.html

16. Weeding criteria - MUSTIE Misleading – factually inaccurate Ugly – worn beyond mending Superseded – new edition or better information Trivial – no literary or scientific merit Irrelevant – to needs of school Elsewhere – material easily borrowed or available from another source

17. Weeding criteria - Quantative • Borrowing statistics • Usage over a period of time • Date of publication • Item older than a certain date

18. Excuses not to weed • A large collection looks good • I hate throwing things away • If I pulled everything off that should go, I wouldn’t have a collection left • My principal/teachers won’t let me weed • I haven’t the funds to replace discarded items

19. Weed! Poorly weeded collections are not the sign of poor budgets but of poor librarianship. Period. Only two things can happen if library material replacement budgets are inadequate. The collection ages if the librarian does not weed. The collection gets smaller if the librarian does weed. That’s it. http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/weed.html

20. Weed! Whether fortunate or unfortunate, many people regard books as sacred objects and have difficulty throwing them away. An industrial arts teacher at Evelyn’s school glares at me to this day, claiming he hurt his back climbing out of the dumpster into which I had thrown away some “perfectly good books.” What he did not understand and we need to remember is that it is not books that are sacred, but the thoughts, inspiration, and accurate information they contain. http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/weed.html

21. Weeding – positive PR • Including weeding criteria in your Collection Development Policy • Talk to the school community, keep good examples of weeded items to show • Involve relevant staff, using their expertise in specialist areas • Use the opportunity to identify and advertise under utilised resources, and promote newly purchased material

22. Hassle free weeding • Decide on clear, justifiable criteria • Don’t try to weed your whole collection at once – do a little at a time • Get the support of at least one other staff member • Do it in secret under the cover of a dark moon, destroying all evidence as you go

23. Helpful hints • Discard old editions of texts immediately • Be sure to weed AV material • Check online content of sites to ensure relevance and currency • If in doubt about a subject area, weed with teachers

24. After weeding • If unsure about some items, have someone else check them • Remember to delete records from the catalogue • Stamp the items ‘DISCARDED’ or ‘WEEDED’ • Remove any circulation stationary • Keep a record of number of discards

25. Getting rid of an item • Donate it • Recycle it • Sell it • Discard it

26. Fun with weeding • If it isn't clean, it will be thrown away • If it doesn't look good, it will be thrown away • if it can't be managed, it will be thrown away • If it is abused, it will be thrown away • If it can't be identified, it will be thrown away • If it has no use, it will be thrown away • If it needs batteries, it will be thrown away • If it needs bulbs, it will be thrown away • If it needs a manual, it will be thrown away • If it's operation isn't inherently obvious, it will be thrown away • If it was a gift from a faculty member who hasn't been seen since, it will be thrown away • if it was a gift from the principal, keep it. Lamb, Annette and Larry Johnson 2005, Collection maintenance and weeding http://eduscapes.com/sms/weeding.html

27. Future • RFID tags • Shelf reading, shelving, sorting, searching, weeding

28. Resources Baumbach, Donna J. and Linda L.. Miller 2006, Less is more: a practical guide to weeding school library collections, American Library Association, Chicago. Johnson, Doug 2003, Weed! http://www.doug.johnson.com/dougwri/weed.html Lamb, Annette and Larry Johnson 2005, Collection maintenance and weeding http://eduscapes.com/sms/weeding.html Punshon, Marianne (ed.) 2006 Managing for learning: issues for primary school libraries, SLAV, Carlton, Vic. The SLAV website www.slav.schools.net.au has links to many relevant sites related to this topc.