----------------------- Message requiring your approval ---------------------- From: Barbara Leff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [ha-Safran]: Weeding the collection
Amy,
In answer to your question, "...I'm wondering whether anyone has seen (or written) articles on weeding Judaic collections," I'm happy to write that there is an AJL publication in progress on the topic of COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT, which, of course, includes weeding. Susan Freiband, a former synagogue librarian, has been working on this for some time, and our goal is to complete and publish it by the summer. I have been collaborating with her and she has given me permission to answer your question with an excerpt from her soon-to-be-published manuscript (SEE BELOW).
Hope this is helpful. If you have further questions, feel free to write me and I'll get the answer for you.
Barbara Barbara Y. Leff [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------
Source: COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT IN SMALLER JUDAICA LIBRARIES: AN INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE. By Dr. Susan Freiband, Professor, Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras; with the Collaboration of Barbara Y. Leff, Library Consultant. To be published by Association of Jewish Libraries in 2004.
VI. WEEDING OF THE LIBRARY COLLECTION
�Weeding� refers to the systematic and planned removal of materials from the collection in order to repair or restore them, to store them in some other location, to donate or exchange them with other libraries, to sell or to otherwise dispose of them. Since most collections are dynamic, in a state of growth, while shelving and storage space is limited, weeding is necessary to make room for new materials, to renew the collection, and make sure that obsolete, unused and physically damaged materials are removed. Weeding is important for the physical maintenance and care of the collection. It is also an important means of insuring that the collection contains those materials which meet the selection criteria established; are relevant, useful and used. (Children, especially, are attracted by color; they tend to avoid a library with unattractive and old children�s books.)
Weeding is time consuming and labor intensive. It presents challenges, because criteria used in weeding may be in conflict. Weeding decisions may not be easy, since different factors need to be taken into account, and counterbalanced. A weeding policy should describe the aims of weeding, the criteria to be used, the procedures and processes involved, the person or persons responsible for weeding, and the options for the disposition of weeded materials.
Criteria. The shelves in the area of the collection to be weeded should be examined directly, identifying possible items for weeding based on previously established criteria. These criteria include: physical condition (missing parts, damaged, general poor condition); publication date (out-of-datedness, obsolescence, especially in nonfiction, if more than ten years old and not a classical Judaica topic consider weeding); value or quality of the content; reliability of the information included (if incorrect, misleading or stereotypic, consider weeding); current demand for the material; relevance to needs and interests of users and to the curriculum (in a school setting); relation of the item to others of the same type (weed older editions when an improved, newer edition exists); number of copies necessary (weed unnecessary duplicates); replacement possibilities, availability in the market; money available for buying better titles or replacements. Past use (circulation record, if not circulated in the past three to five years an item may be considered for weeding) is another criteria. However, in specialized collections such as Judaica, titles often are kept much longer, because teaching topics tend to be cyclical over a period of many years. Judaica books go out-of-print quickly, and cannot be replaced. In general, it is not advisable to weed primary source materials, local materials, out of print items, rare or archival items, or materials mentioned in important bibliographies or guides.
Personnel. If possible, weeding should be a joint effort, involving the librarian, library staff and users. In school settings, faculty or teachers should be involved in reviewing the items identified as candidates for weeding. Since weeding is closely interconnected with collection evaluation, the same working group can handle this aspect of collection development.
Procedures. As with collection evaluation, it is advisable to identify the area or section of the collection to be weeded, not attempt to weed the entire collection. Using established weeding criteria, titles considered candidates for weeding should be separated from the rest of the collection and examined by the weeding committee. For those items being withdrawn from the collection, the bibliographic records need to be searched and removed, and the item stamped �withdrawn� or �discarded'�. Assuming the item is not to be repaired and returned to the collection, a decision needs to be made on how to best dispose of it. Some of the options include using it for exchange, donation, or a book sale. Some libraries have a long-running sale of weeded (and donated) books (usually duplicates, those in good physical condition). This is a good way to promote community relations, and to recycle those items identified as no longer relevant or useful for the collection. Finally, sometimes, as a last resort, an item must be delegated to the trash because it is no longer appropriate or useful to anyone, for any purpose.
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