The Weeding Handbook
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
"No! We cant rid of that!" Vnuk, author of the popular "Weeding Tips" column on Booklist Online, is here to show you that yes, you can. A library is an ever-changing organism; when done the right way, weeding helps a library thrive by focusing its resources on those parts of the collection that are the most useful to its users. Her handbook takes the guesswork out of this delicate but necessary process, giving public and school library staff the knowledge and the confidence to effectively weed any collection, of any size. Going through the proverbial stacks shelf by shelf, Vnuk: Explains why weeding is important for a healthy library, demonstrating that a vibrant collection leads to robust circulation, which in turn affects library budgets; Walks readers through a librarys shelves by Dewey area, with recommended weeding criteria and call-outs in each area for the different considerations of large collections and smaller collections; Features a chapter addressing reference, media, magazines and newspapers, e-books, and other special materials; Shows how a solid collection development plan uses weeding as an ongoing process, making it less stressful and more productive; Offers guidance for determining how to delegate responsibility for weeding, plus pointers for getting experienced staff on board; Gives advice for educating the community about the process, how to head off PR disasters, and what to do with weeded materials; Includes a dozen sample collection development plans, easily adaptable to suit a librarys individual needs. Filled with field-tested, no nonsense strategies, this handbook will enable libraries to bloom by maintaining a collection that users actually use. - Publisher.
Reviews with the most likes.
I'm heading into a much-needed weeding project at my library, and this book was really helpful in many different ways in how to tackle things. Not only does it go section-by-section and talks about topics you may need, what can stay, what can be weeded, etc., but it also includes several helpful tips for the things around weeding projects that you might not think of. Messaging for the masses, getting your staff on-board, interviews with actual librarians at actual libraries about their weeding projects, some (full) example collection development plans with annotations to consider, it's quite comprehensive. One of my favorite things I pulled from here was a sample weeding schedule, which breaks down a collection by month, and gives you target areas to review/weed each month. Obviously it needs to be tailored to your specific collection, but it's a handy jumping off point for a large project like mine.
It does try to state absolutes in a field where, as we all know, nothing is absolute, but if you're able to read critically and understand that things may be different in your specific collection and how to apply the knowledge, there's a lot of good here.
