I think a librarian's retention policy must be subjective. At our library, I look first at books' physical condition. Books with water damage, irreparable wear or tears are weeded or sent to the genizah, as appropriate. This part is objective.
With books in good condition, I use my judgment, taking into account each book's relative importance, as well as circulation history. Books which I will not consider for weeding, despite low circulation would include, for example, Herzl's Altneuland, Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, other timeless classics, religious texts, and a number of scholarly works of exegesis. Otherwise, I note a) years after copyright, b) number of times circulated, and c) the most recent date circulated. Regards, Melinda Herman Melinda Herman Librarian Beth El Synagogue Center 1324 North Avenue New Rochelle, NY 10804 (914) 235-2700, ext. 227 --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
