The idea of trashing books has been on my mind lately. I know, a librarian is supposed to love books and treasure them until the pages turn to dust, right? I definitely value books, however when space is a premium, I value the quality over the quantity of books any day.
As the school year winds down, most school libraries are restocking the shelves with volumes that may have been in constant circulation since August. But what sits on the shelf beside those books? I perused the shelves of a school library recently and noticed a few "classics" that I would definitely consider pulling including a book about the "New & Updated FBI" published in 1970, several novels that were read by the great-grandparents of today's student (and I'm not talking "A Tale of Two Cities"). Pertinent areas to weed often would include computer, sciences, geography & history.
Weeding is not just for the benefit of shelf space and keeping current. It is good for library marketing. While I was in this library, I overheard a parent comment that the school must not need his Book Fair purchases since they have so many books. Full shelves give an impression of collection completeness. While I would never advocate a clean sweep, there could be a methodical approach of pulling using publication date, subject matter, circulation history, and advice from the curriculum coordinator for subject matter. Then a plan for collection development could be drawn up based on actual - quantified - need.
Some of the weeding articles that I've read are in the "resources" tab above or linked here:
Weeding - how and why to get rid of books and media in the collection
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