Assignment 3: Weeding the Collection

Currently my school library does not have a library policy nor is there one at the district level. To assist me in the weeding process for this assignment, I have referred to the course reading by Bishop specifically on page 121 of the textbook, where she offers some reasons for weeding, including old age, discolouration, torn, outdated information, inappropriate reading level, poor circulation record etc. As well, I found the chart on page 122 most helpful in guiding me toward a decision relating to weeding a specific book or item from the collection.

I started the weeding project by revisiting the list of books I had created to support the novel study in the previous assignment. A majority of the books on that list were under the 900 collection, so that is the section where I focused my weeding project on. Initially I looked at all the books in that section for the physical condition each was in and noting the ones that were obviously old or torn. I also quickly skimmed through the book’s content. I then focused on the books that were on my list and made notes about them. I took another look at the other books that were not on my list but in the 900 section and made notes about them. After that I chose ten books which I thought should be weeded out of the collection, and checked the history and the circulation statistics for each of the ten in the library system. Since I am not a teacher-librarian, I was not able to remove any books from the collection. The ten books I would hypothetically remove and my reasons for removing them are as follows:

1. (Fic) Shi-shi-etko. Nicola I. Campbell. (2005)
● No circulation statistic, has not been taken out ever
● Inappropriate reading level, k-3 According to a Titlewise report generated for the last assignment, the average reading level at this school is at the 6th grade level. This title is well below that and may be the reason why it was not ever taken out because students may perceive it to be too "young" or "childish."

2. (Non-fiction) Victims of benevolence; the dark legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School. Furniss, Elizabeth. (1995) ● No circulation statistic, has not been taken out ever
● Old copyright date, 21 years old
3. (Non-fiction) The Indian Tribes of British Columbia. Ashwell, Reg. (1977) ● Yellow discolouration,worn out cover, torn cover
● Old copyright date, 39 years old
● Poor circulation, previous year checked out twice
4. (Non-fiction) The Indian Tribes of the Northwest. Ashwell, Reg. (1977)
● Yellow discolouration, old worn out cover
● Old copyright date, 39 years old
● Poor circulation, previous year checked out twice Looking at the history of the titles (# 3 and #4) both teachers and students have checked out these books often in the past. The history records did not show the specific dates these titles were checked out in the most recent years. Even though the circulation records indicated low activity within the most recent years, I would still consider replacing these two titles with updated/newer copies because they had a good circulation activity prior to those. I also like how these books are set up and I think the newer copies would be good resources for students and teachers alike.

5. (Non-fiction) People of the Buffalo: How the Plains Indians Lived. (1976)
● There are four copies of this title. The first copy was checked out twice from 2002-2006 and checked out four times from 2012-2015, the second copy was checked out once in 2005, the third copy was checked out five times from 2002-2008, and the fourth copy was checked out six times from 2002-2006 and checked out once in 2015.
● Old copyright date, it is 40 years old I would consider replacing two copies of this title with current or updated copies. The other two copies I would weed out of the collection. The low circulation statistics does not warrant four copies.
6. (Non-fiction) The North American Indian. Curtis, Edward S. (1997) ● Poor circulation, last checked out in 2008
● Old copyright date, 19 years old
7. (Non-fiction) Blackfeet Indians. Linderman, Frank Bird. (1995) ● Poor circulation, last checked out in 2003
● Old copyright date, 21 years old
8. (Non-fiction) The Plains Indians. Taylor, Colin F. (1994)
● Old copyright date, 22 years old
● Poor circulation, last checked out in 2008 I would consider replacing this title with an updated copy, the history records showed that both staff and students checked this book out several times in years prior to 2008. The book contains good information but is old and some information may be outdated so I think the newer copy will be a good resource for students.

9. (Fiction) Monkey Beach. Eden Robinson. (2000) ● Poor circulation, last checked out in 2009
10. (Non-fiction) Forging the Prairie West. Thompson, John Heard. (1998) Series: Ilustrated History of Canada ● Poor circulation, the history records show that this title has only been checked out twice in previous years, but dates were not specified
● Old copyright date, 18 years old
I also looked at two DVDs, one CD, an atlas, a comic book, and a teaching kit in this subcollection. Both DVDs have no circulation history, one, Sharing the Vision: Perspectives on the Promise of Treaties, is 11 years old; and the other, The National: Stolen Children, is 8 years old. The CD, Our Homes are Bleeding, is 11 years old and has no circulation history. The comic book, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, is 6 years old and has no circulation history. The teaching kits are 5 years old and has only been taken out once in 2015. Of these items, I would not weed any despite their poor circulation record. Maybe these items have not been promoted enough and they are still considered relatively "current" material.

Once the books have been physically removed from the library shelf, the weeded book titles are removed from the automated system; at my school we use Follet. Each book title is scanned and then the title is deleted from the system, making sure that the "track as weeded" box is ticked off. After the titles have been removed from the collection my teacher-librarian would use a marker to put a line through the barcode to make sure that if a book is removed from the weeding cart it does not get mixed back into the general collection. After all the weeded books have been properly removed from the collection, they are then wheeled over to the staff room for staff members to help themselves to any titles they want. When staff members have picked through the weeded titles and whatever is left over, the cart is wheeled back to the library where students get an opportunity to peruse the titles and take whatever they want. Finally, once all the staff and students have picked through the weeded titles, any remaining titles are then forwarded to Afritech, which is an agency that takes old books and donates them African learning communities/institutions.

I found the process of weeding the sub-collection to be a very time consuming process and at times frustrating. I found the decision making process difficult because I really did not have a clear guide or checklist to assist me in deciding whether or not to weed an item as it pertains to my school. If and when I get a teacher-librarian position, I would like to get a group together and write a library policy/handbook for our district. It would greatly benefit all teacher-librarians, especially new teacher-librarians. The easiest part of weeding is when there is a book that is obviously in bad condition or an item that is old and the content is clearly outdated. In those cases the decision to weed is easy. The hardest part of the weeding process is trying to determine if the teachers will need certain books and resources for any future lesson/units they plan to teach. This further illuminated for me the idea that subject teachers and teacher-librarians need to work collaboratively and have ongoing communication about the curriculum. This kind of collaboration not only supports student learning but also is of great assistance to librarians in both maintaining the collection and ensuring it is current and relevant.

The other interesting thing I learned while doing the weeding assignment at my library is that there are a lot of books in the sub-collection that are quite old and have poor circulation history and should be weeded out of the collection. The oldest book I weeded is 40 years old and the average age of the ten books I weeded is 23.9 years old, which is well past the suggested 10-15 years (Bishop, 2007). This lends further support to my observation about the general state of the collection in assignment 2, which was that it is old and needs major weeding and an infusion of new books.


　
　
　
　
Work Cited
Bishop, K. (2007). The collection program in schools: Concepts, practices, and information sources (4th ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.