Weeding the Library: a Garden
Just like in your own back yard, no one likes weeding. But once it is completed, you marvel at how miraculously beautiful your display looks. Removing the "unwanted items makes those left behind stand out." And don't you find yourself using your backyard or front yard that much more after weeding is accomplished? Imagine how that translates to the library. Circulation rises after weeding because there is less to peruse through in order to find that "golden daffodil" hiding amongst the stacks. Chant also goes on to explore how weeding allows for new project spaces (like makerspaces or collaborative work areas) are afforded depending on the amount of weeding completed in the library. The change in the landscape of the library is affected by the collection. Having too many out-dated or unused resources doesn't effectively assist the end user.
Here are some highlights from Chant's article on that ugly word- "weeding":
Slow & Steady: "Taking a few minutes every day to look through the collection and pull titles that don’t belong anymore can save library staff from having to undertake a major project."By incorporating the task into weekly procedures the task therein reduces headaches, anxiety and misunderstanding from constituents and patrons. As you'll read on next, this can be a very important step in reducing the stigma of removing outdated and unused materials for the community served.
Dumpster Dismay: Alameda County's Fremont Library dumped thousands of titles in dumpsters in February of 2015 and the City's news reports went wild because advocate groups should be natural allies, but miscommunication can turn them into enemies. Could you just imagine seeing numerous dumpsters filled with books? It is a wonder this is happening even two years ago when there are so many advocate groups like Library Book Savers of Alameda County, Friends of the Library, Discover Books, and many more.
Necessary Sacrifices: "When a lot of titles need to be weeded at once, communication is key. Being transparent about the decisions being made and the thought process behind them—and getting ahead of the story—can help prevent a library’s otherwise supportive public from becoming upset when a number of books need to go." If the Fremont library had been more consistent with its transparency, it would have built credibility, especially if they utilized the next tool.
Weeding by Numbers: Libraries should use an "integrated library system (ILS) usage report... and turn it into user-friendly weeding and branch distribution reports" but not without standing "spend time in the stacks with the titles. It’s also a great way to get, and stay, familiar with the collection—good, bad, and ugly." Having a well rounded garden takes time and consistency with maintaining the soil and watering the plants. You can't sit idly around and hope the natural weather will provide all the needs of the garden. Knowing your collection is critical. This goes back to the slow and steady tool explored earlier.
Aging Out: "Out-of-date works can be worse than simply embarrassing, however. They can keep information that’s been proven incorrect, or even harmful, in circulation." Think of it this way, that small weed or even purchased plant you sowed last year but never tended to? What do you think became of it now? Most likely it is either brown and rotten or it has overgrown into the other plants and potentially is destroying the garden's use and other vegetation.
Where To: The article mentions a librarian, Hibner who recalled a friend saying weeding is like 'selecting the books for sale.' This intrigued me very much so because it again, takes away the stigma behind removing materials from the library. Instead of the constituents and the patrons looking at the removal of items as a loss to the collection or unjustified. There now becomes a means to an end. And heaven forbid some items don't sell, UPCYCLE them into "creative furniture or works of art for your branch, as well as raw materials for book art crafting programs." This is where I went down the rabbit hole on Pinterest (both images came from searches on Pinterest.com). I personally want the picture below in my bedroom. This is gorgeous! And in a school library the students would see a re-purposing of materials and an esthetic of art that perhaps they created using old books.
Digital Discards: Something I honestly didn't put much thought into was the digital component of a library and the necessity of weeding these materials. Ashley Eklof is quoted for saying that even digital media can be bogged down with the vast amount of digital collections in a large library and accessibility is key.
Collection DNR: Another valuable asset when it comes to ordering new materials for the collections is the life-span of those materials. Being proactive in your planning, similar to a garden, means that space, growth, use, and weeding are all accounted for. This quote stood out in this section of the article: "When ordering material, having an end-of-life plan for it is essential, especially for content like encyclopedia sets and other reference titles that take up lots of shelf space—and, in the age of digital databases, may be out of date by the time they arrive." There is so much care that is involved with weeding and acquisition of collections, it is important to keep these in mind.
On a side note- I could probably dive into a deep rabbit hole researching the comparison of upkeep on a garden and library collection and management. The similarities and analogies are abundant. My favorite part about this entire article would have to be the up-cycling of the weeded materials into other usable items and for craft/art sessions for students or library patrons. I propose a question to anyone who reads this to comment on fantastical art installations they've seen or worked on incorporating used books and any pictures you may have.
Comments
Post a Comment