notes on Culling Your Collection: The Fine Art of Weeding webinar

Something I’ve been asked in almost all of my job interviews is, “What collection development experience do you have?” Unlike reference and instruction, I’ve found collection development experience very hard to come by (other than the copious amount of book reviews I’ve done over the last 3 years, anyway).

So when my supervisor invited the staff to join her in watching a webinar on weeding (something I’ve had no experience with, other than in my own personal collection at home!), I jumped on the opportunity. My notes are below.

Culling Your Collection: The Fine Art of Weeding

ALCTS Webinar

March 23, 2011, 2pm

Keri Cascio, St. Charles (MO) City-County Library

• Why weed?
  • Appeal: “weeding is merchandising”
  • Reputation: reliability and currency of collection
  • Collection needs: replace or repair damaged items
  • Get to know collection
    • Use weeding project as way to learn about collection when you are a new selector for an area
    • Strengths and weaknesses: is no one checking out books on x topic anymore?
• CREW method from Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission
  • General rule for public libraries: 80% of what has not circulated in 3 years can be discarded
  • Academic libraries: look at changes in student base and offered programs
  • 3-part formula
    • # of years since latest copyright date
    • Maximum time allowed since last use
    • MUSTIE
      • Misleading
      • Ugly
      • Superseded: new edition?
      • Trivial: no-longer-popular fads
      • Irrelevant
      • Elsewhere: through ILL, electronic formats, collaborative collection development, etc.
    • Sample formulas:
      • 004 (Dewey) computers: 3 / x / MUSTIE
      • Fiction:
        • Circulation and series
        • x (doesn’t matter) / 2 / MUSTIE
      • Biography:
        • Look for outdated materials for persons of ongoing interest, living or dead
        • Look for gender or race bias
        • x / 3 / MUSTIE
      • Multimedia = WORST
        • Worn out
        • Out of date
        • Rarely used
        • Supplied elsewhere
        • Trivial/faddish
• Get away from keeping things “just in case”
• Project planning
  • Procedures and guidelines
    • Forms: withdraw, repair, re-order
    • Who will settle disagreements?
    • Check comparable collections
    • Need policy for deselection
      • Faculty relations issue
      • Ties into gift policy
      • Could be bad PR if donated books are withdrawn
    • Document your formulas
• Options for disposal
  • Friends book sales
  • Resellers
  • Take one, leave tables
  • Bookmooch!

Presentation slides

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