Issues paper 1

Running Head: Weeding Policy

Revamping the Weeding Policy

Kimberly King

Georgia Southern University

 Issues paper 2

The school media center program is only as good as the policies that are in place to

regulate its use. As stated in New on the Job, “Policies are procedures passed by the school

board” (page 49). It is noteworthy, however, that many school systems do not have efficient

policies to govern the affairs of school media centers in their districts. In reviewing the policies

for the Muscogee County School District, it is more comprehensive than other school districts,

some of which do not have any policies for their media centers. One area of weakness with the

Muscogee county policy is the weeding policy.

The weeding policy included in the epolicy for media programs of the Muscogee county

school district is as follows:

“In order to keep the media center collections organized and updated, materials

that are out-of-date, severely worn or damaged or no longer useful in the school

curriculum program should be continuously and responsibly pulled from the shelves and

consequently withdrawn from the resource collection. In the event specific kinds of

materials are no longer needed as support for an individual school curriculum or there is a

surplus of certain materials in a school library media center due to decreased enrollment,

or if a school is closed, the instructional materials made available for whatever reason

and from whatever source will be reassigned to schools where they can be used by the

same selection process used for new materials” (MCSD, 2002).

This policy is extremely broad and does not provide clear general guidelines as to how and when

weeding should take place. Specifics are not given as to what is “out of date” or “worn.” For

new media specialists, this policy is limited in helping them understand what should and should

not be removed from a media center’s collection. When speaking to the media specialists in my
 Issues paper 3

school, Mrs. McMahon noted that she uses several other references to guide her selections for

weeding because the above mentioned policy does not sufficiently explain to her what to remove

and when to do so (personal communication, February 11, 2009). What can be included to

develop this policy more sufficiently?

The policy for Muscogee County does not address when to weed. Let’s approach this

area of discussion first. Weeding is best done on a continuous basis. Weeding is not a task that

can be done occasionally or every other year. The best weeding jobs can be accomplished at

times when the media center is not busy. However, the weeding should not be limited to just

these occasions. Weeding can actually be done each day on a small scale. This idea is supported

in CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries. As materials are retrieved from patrons,

books can be inspected and determined to be unusable before they are shelved. Books may not

be discarded at this time, but books can be identified and removed from the collection until a

through weeding can be done. Smart weeding tips like this need to be specified in a media center

policy for the novice weeder.

After considering when to weed, it is necessary to address what to weed. This becomes a

sticky subject for some. One sentiment to be noted is expressed by Jennifer Bromann on the

School Library Journal blog. Bromann comments, “There is no denying that weeding can be

tough. But get over the guilt – it’s simply not cost effective…” (Bromann, 2002). Her thoughts

are primarily addressing magazines in the public library, but the concept still applies to other

resources in the school media center. If items are not circulating, then it is a waste of the

program’s money. These items can be removed, and money can be used to purchase items that

will be used more regularly. So, this is the first area of consideration for what to weed. Let go of

poorly circulated items. If there are items that have not moved from the shelf in years, then
 Issues paper 4

perhaps it is time to remove those items from the collection. Again this consideration is not

addressed in the media center program policy, and it is very helpful guidance in starting the

weeding procedure.

A weeding policy also needs to pay attention to content of the materials. A

comprehensive check needs to be done to verify copyright dates and relevance of materials. For

this reason, it would be advantageous to have a teacher evaluation system for weeding books.

This idea is taken from “Weeding Brochure” as a part of the California Department of Education

Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division. By enlisting the aid of teachers,

this will ensure that the media center has appropriate materials that support the curriculum and

that these items are not weeded unnecessarily.

For a more detailed specific approach to weeding, the CREW method is widely known

and used. This method can be found in a pdf format at

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf. It is a system utilized by the Texas

Library System. A few highlights of this method mention creating a checklist for considered

materials. This list includes the date, author, publisher, physical condition, number of copies, and

similar books to identified items. Also, to be considered on this check list is cost to discard,

shelf-time, and relevance to community, or in our case, to school curriculum.

This is just a brief overview of what can be added to a weeding policy. Just as other

aspects of the media program policy are outlined, more can be added to provide a more guided

approach to the weeding policy. The aforementioned items are small areas that can be included

to accomplish this task.

 Issues paper 5

References

Brosmann, J. (2002). Letting Go. School Library Journal. Retrieved April 16, 2009 from

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA225238.html?

q=weeding+collection.

CDE. (2009). Weeding the School Library. Retrieved April 20, 2009 from

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb/documents/weedingbrochure.pdf.

Larson, Jeanette. (2008) CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries. Retrieved

April 23, 2009 from http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf.

Muscogee County School District. (2002). Weeding. Board Policies. Retrieved March 1, 2009

from https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?

PC=IFBC&Sch=4121&S=4121&RevNo=1.12&C=I&Z=P.

Toor, R., & Weisburg, H. (2007). Getting yourself organized. New on the Job a School Library

Media Specialist’s Guide to Success. Chicago: American Library Association.

 Issues paper 6

Administrative Policy Handbook – Policy Evaluation (for available policies)

 Issues paper 7

Policy Strengths to Policy Needed Changes to Policy

Selection Requires a media specialist with
Policy specialized training. Contains
Adoption date: specific evaluation procedures.
3/18/ 2002 Standard evaluation tools, like
reviews, are used for selection.
Guidelines for supplementary
materials is outlined.
Challenged Criticism must be in writing.
Materials Principal and media specialist
Adoption date: from school involved should be on
3/18/2009 committee.Final decision made by
school and community not by
objecting parents and students.
Appeal decisions are made to
school board.
Internet Internet is defined. User
Acceptable Use responsibilities and use privileges
Policy clearly defined. Consequences
Adoption date: resulting from violation defined.
3/18/2009 System responsibility to internet
safety detailed.
Intellectual freedom in selecting needs to be
encouraged more. Emphasis needs to be placed on
not acquiring biased materials.
Specify who will make up the reconsideration
committee as outlined by the ALA:
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/challengesupport/dealing/workbooks
election.cfm#part2
Does not provide clear guidelines for student use of
emails, chatrooms, and other social networking sites.
Policy only mentions that it is they systems
responsibility to protect students from such activities.
Example of suitable inclusions:
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2D2B8535-3691-4207-9740-
051CC5AF7549/20680/3102AcceptableUsePolicyNewYorkCitySchoolLibraries
.pdf

Policy for non- Follows guidelines of School None needed

print materials Library Media Centers.
Adoption date:
3/18/2002
Weeding Addresses removal of dated, worn, Does not specify when weeding should be done. Does
Policy and poorly circulated materials. not define what “worn” and “date” materials should
Adoption date: be removed. Does not mention how to dispose of
3/18/ 2002 removed materials. A more comprehensive policy is
outlined at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb/documents/weedingbrochure.pdf
Copyright Specifies that all employees Does not provide resources to show employees what
issues should adhere to copyright laws. is fair use in education. Links should be provided to
Adoption date: guide employee on what they may not know. Good
3/18/ 2002 example: http://www.orange.k12.nc.us/crhs/faculty/kruse/Copyright%20for
%20teachers.htm

Fines Only addresses lost are damaged Policy should also explain whether or not the fees
materials. should be accessed for overdue materials. Policy
should specify parameters for which collected fees
can be used.
Gift Gifts are accepted on the basis of None needed.
the selection and evaluation
criteria.
Access to Policy developed based on ALA None needed.
Resources Bill of Rights.