Weeding the Collection

I took Weeding the Collection as my second Web Junction course (and I'm noticing now that a few people took this one already, but I had signed up for it weeks ago, plus I still think its a useful skill to learn).

The course begins by stating the reasons why weeding should be done in a library, such as ease of browsing and aesthetics. It then provides the student with online resources that can assist in reading, such as the Texas State Library's CREW (Continuous - Review - Evaluation - Weeding) guide.

It then suggests that the student adopt published weeding guidelines to develop criteria for weeding the collection, such as MUSTIE and judging a weeded item by the number of circulations and its condition. Adopting a weeding schedule and procedures for weeding are also suggested.

The course then spends some time explaining solutions to avoid common weeding pitfalls such as "unweedable" gifts and donations, the fallacy of a recommended collection size, and the fear of admitting a selection error, as well as explaining to patrons and board members who may object to weeding why it needs to be done.

The importance of incorporating weeding into the library's collection management policy is then discussed, as well as tools associated with automated catalogs that can be used to assist in weeding, such as inventory reports and collection age reports.

The course ends by giving several example scenarios of problems associated with weeding and positive solutions for handling them, followed by a short quiz. They were informative but not very difficult.

I found this an interesting and well-explained course on the topic of weeding. As a bonus, throughout the course sample titles of weeded items are provided. Many are quite humorous, dealing with outdated topics such as gender roles of the 1950s, the Soviet Union as America's adversary, and the moon landing as science fiction. All-in-all, I would recommend this course to anyone who needs to know how to weed a library collection, and would consider it a valuable tool for both the novice and the expert.