The Need for a Weeding Policy In a School Library Media Center Stephanie Wohl FRIT 7132 Spring 2009

The Need for a Weeding Policy

A school library media center is essential in supporting the classroom curriculum, as well as encouraging recreational reading for all school staff and students. Because of the importance of school media centers, it is equally important to properly maintain the library collection. Attention must continually be given to the collection to maintain the quality of your media center. To do this the library media center must have a weeding or deselecting policy in place. Weeding serves many purposes. When you maintain your collection through weeding, you utilize the space of your library media center to better accommodate your faculty and students needs. The appearance of your collection is one of a well-stocked library, well cared for and looked after. A library media center that is cluttered gives the appearance of disorganization. Weeding allows for better access to quality resources. According to Doug Johnson, Small, but high quality collections are infinitely better. And this is why. Continuous, thoughtful weeding: Rids your collection of racist, sexist, and just plain inaccurate materials. Makes the good stuff easier to find and more appealing. Sends the message that the library may not be adequately funded. (Johnson, Sep/Oct. 2003). Before weeding can begin in your media center, some steps, or a carefully formulated plan must be in place. The first thing as the teacher librarian or media specialist, you will want to evaluate your collection for weeding targets. One of the most obvious would be those items that are out of date, misleading, or inaccurate. These titles

may include words that imply currency like, Modern, Today, etc. How modern are these items? Were they modern in 1950? If so, it is time for them to be removed. Another obvious target would be badly worn or excessively dirty and ragged books. If the physical condition of a book is beyond repair, the book should be weeded. Rebinding is an expensive option, and one that should be used with careful thought. The rebinding is usually a cloth cover, so while it is not cost efficient, nor is it attractive. Books considered for rebinding would be expensive reference books, and books that are expected to stay in the collection. Some other targets to look for would be if the book has been checked out within the last five years. Are pages with crucial information missing, such as an index, or an appendix? Is the media/book age appropriate for your students? Does it contain biased or prejudiced stereotypes? Is it a duplicate that is not in heavy demand? All of these things need to be considered when you begin the process of weeding your collection. When in doubt, you may find it easier to follow the acronym: MUSTIE. The M stands for misleading, inaccurate; the U stands for ugly, ragged; the S stands for superseded, duplicates, newer editions (Almanacs, Dictionaries); the T stands for trivial, inappropriate; the I stands for irrelevant, your collections have no merit, inaccurate; the E stands for elsewhere. Some items not considered for the weeding process would be local authors and local history, special work from visiting authors/illustrators, and out of print books. Volumes of sets and series should not be weeded. As you begin the weeding process, and the steps are in place, you may come upon some obstacles. One of the biggest obstacles might be your own fear, even as the LMS.

We have always learned, and taught others, that books are special. Treat them with care. Weeding seems like you are throwing them away. As you do your search through your LMC, you will see the need, and understand why it is necessary, to weed your garden of books and create space. Others may not. It will be your job to teach them. Another obstacle will be time. It is hard to find time, with all that the LMS has to do, to take time to weed. Weeding is, and should be a continual process. Information Power states, Evaluated and updated regularly, the collections exhibit accepted and innovative learning theories, effective teaching practices and materials, and current scholarship in the subject areas. (90) SUNLINK Weed of the Month is a great online resource with tips on evaluating, discarding, and maintaining your collection. Bibb County does not have a specific weeding/deselecting policy. According to Code IFBD 160-4-4-.01 in Bibb County Board of Education Policy Manual there is a Material Resources section that provides standards pertaining to the Media Services Department. These standards are in accordance with SACS CASI Accreditation Standards for Quality Schools. The standard states, The school operates a library media center that: Maintains a comprehensive materials collection consisting of current media, books, reference sources, and periodicals in print and electronic formats that support student learning, the curriculum, and the instructional program; and provides a balanced collection of a minimum of 10 books per student (11). Bibb County needs a weeding/deselecting policy with a clear purpose. The goals should be clearly developed and stated in a way that when read by others, weeding is not something to be feared, but understood. The policy should cover who, why, when, what, and how often the weeding process should occur. By keeping the collection relevant to the curriculum, and the

material easily accessible through weeding, we are creating a media program that is conducive to learning. According to Information Power, The effective school library media program begins in an inviting, attractive school library media center that extends this welcoming climate to all the programs services and activities throughout the school. This warm and friendly atmosphere invites students and others to learn (88). It is our job as the school library media specialist to create a warm and friendly atmosphere.

References

American Association of School Librarians. (1998). Information Power: Building Partnerships to Learning. (88). Chicago and London: American Library Association.

Bibb County Board of Education Policy Manual. Media Services. Retrieved from http://www.bibb.k12.ga.us/images/media_policies.pdf

Johnson, D. (2003). Weed! Head for the Edge. American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/weed.html

Sunlink. Florida public schools consortium. Sunlink Weed of the Month Club. www.sunlink.ucf.edu/weed/