Thursday, October 21, 2010
Weeding the Library Collection
I also did the LibraryU course on Weeding. I did find this very informative though somewhat repetetive. I was most interested in the ways they suggested to "Eliminate the Unweedable" - meaning books that have been donated to the library in someone's name or gifted to the Library. I guess we can't assume that the people who donate to our libraries are not going to come back some time and look for their donation. I do agree that this should be something that is put into policy and be shared with the donors when they gift the library. I think the point that they tried to stress the most was to make weeding a policy in your libary and to make it part of your regular procedures, just as much as collection development.
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I, too, took this course and thought it informative as well. I like your point about having a written policy re: donations. It's a nice option to say, "why don't you honor your loved one with a cash gift?" so the library can purchase the titles it truly needs.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the classes that I am hoping to take. From what you have posted it seems to be very informative. The “Pay rent” seems true now that I think of it. One of the things that the staff members I work with weed based on how long has it been since an item was checked out. I will definitely have to take this class.
ReplyDeleteI too took this course. The donations policy is a sensitive issue. So many people want to donate books to honor their loved ones. At my libray, we prefer that patrons give a cash donation and fill out a form indicating what type (genre) of book they would like the library to add to the collection.
ReplyDeleteCirculation records are important to determine when to weed, but there is a lot more to it. I think this course covered a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteThis course was very good. Now I know how important it is to have a written donation policy.
ReplyDeleteMy only issue with this course was that attempting to get a previous donor who objects to their donation being weeded to donate a new item seems like an awkward proposal.
ReplyDelete