Week 3

Reference Materials - Weeding

This week we read about selecting and maintaining your library collection and while I don't have a problem with selecting materials I do have a problem with wedding. Selection is the easy part, the fun part. Staff give ideas and suggestions. I have my own ideas and from looking at the collection and listening to what is going on in the literature world. Students also put in suggestions.

Weeding on the other hand is different. So hard to throw out books, especially when we spend so much money on them. Trying to find suggestions and guidelines has been helpful for me this year as this is a job that will be started after I'm done with coaching the basketball team.

In reading Riedling, Chapter 2 page 21, gives some suggestions to this. She gave some useful suggestions that I commented on during this week of our class discussion. The part that stuck out with me on this was the 5 year rule. If that was the case there would hardly be any books on the shelves in the library. I can understand things like computer books change so fast (therefore maybe not buy them) but other topics such as pioneer life in BC won't change much and a student in grade 4 will still get the same info if the book is 4 years old or 9 years old. Perhaps Riedling is setting the 5 years as a rough bench mark and then you can adjust from there.

Once I posted that comment, Tammy also agreed with the 5 years being too quick noting that science textbooks don't even get replaced that quickly. However, Tammy talked about buying online encyclopedias which I thought was a great idea. I have a blog for my library and I am trying to create it into a place with book reviews and an online source for my students to visit and because of her comment I started searching and I added a few of them to my school blog.

In reading through the comments from the class online it seems as though many are in the same spot as me. A beginner weeder and with some time and practice it will become easier. We all had the same comments about lack of funds to weed that often which is a big concern for many of us. One of the online papers I selected for assignment #1 part 1 was also about weeding and it gave a number of ideas to help support me when I begin.

Anne, you also gave us some useful pointers in a message on Feb 2 about weeding and I responded with commenting on how I have heard very similar pointers from others in the industry. It is good to hear it from a school side, a work side, and a professional side. Most of these people are saying the same thing which is good and will be helpful when I start weeding this year.