[aisle] Advice on Weeding an ancient collection.....

[Kristi Pierce]

I had this same thing, but with an average age much older than the 90s.
First, thing I did was a Titlewise.  Then, I hit the areas where the
information would be the worst out of date: Technology, Science, Careers,
Heath.  Then, the maps and atlas.  I also did biographies.  I really didn't
want kids thinking that Jimmy Carter was the current president.  After
that, I just went through and took out what looked horrid, ratty, tatty,
and old.  I also ditched anything, (except for 400s and 810s) that had not
been checked out in the last few years.  I was kind to the 400s and 800s,
as many of the old fables and poetry and classics will last decades.

My circulation went up after that, simply because the kids were not
distracted by ugly and/or old books.  It was constant progress, because
like you, I didn't want to completely raid the entire collection at once.
However, for a few years, my nonfiction went down to two long stacks
instead of almost 4.  It was worth it.  It made collection development much
easier, plus the kids wanted nonfiction much more.  Also, and think of it
this way, you would never want to give a kid a book that isn't good
information.

Just for a laugh, one of the books I weeded actually stated, "WHEN we get
to the moon, it will be in a SPACE CAPSULE."  Yes, WHEN.  This book,
published in the 50s, was still here in the 2000's.  It was a
fantastic discovery.  LOL

Good luck and just keep weeding!  :)

Kristi Pierce

On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 2:00 PM Dawn Scuderi via AISLE <
aisle at list.railslibraries.info> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> So my nonfiction collection is super old... like Titlewave says the
> average age of 500 and 600 is 1994.
>
> I really need to weed it but it is going to mean removing 90% of the
> collection.  I won a grant for books (THANKS LBSS!!) and will be getting
> about 75 new titles, but they are just going to be lost in this mess if I
> don't remove the old stuff.
>
> My question is this:  Do I pick a year like 2000 and remove everything
> earlier than that (about 1/2) or should I just scrap it all?  The previous
> librarian had bought 11 science books in the last 10 years....
>
> This is not the only Dewey section that has to be weeded.. the whole
> collection is terrible.  I am just starting with Science and Technology.
>
> Any help would be awesome,
>
> Dawn
> MAILMAN_MIMEDEFANG
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-- 
Kristi L.S. Pierce
Certified Library Media Spec.
Certified Educational Technology Spec.
Marion Junior High School
1609 West Main Street
Marion, IL  62959
(618) 997-1317 ext. 229
ksmith at marionunit2.org
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