Weed ’em and reap: The art of weeding to avoid criticism

Tammy Ross

Allen, M. (2010). Weed ’em and reap: The art of weeding to avoid criticism. Library Media Connection, 28(6), 32-33.

Summary

Although my focus this semester has been on public library collection management, I was interested in reading an article about collection management in schools. In this article, Melissa Allen points out that the library is “the largest classroom in the school providing service to every student and every teacher in all curricular areas” (p. 32). She compares weeding the library collection to weeding a garden. Just as flowers can’t flourish when surrounded by weeds, students can become overwhelmed by outdated information or overcrowding on library shelves. As a result, their ability to efficiently locate quality resources is hindered. Allen reminds the reader that school curriculum is frequently revised; therefore, the library collection should also be in “a continuous state of change” (p. 32). Weeding should not be a project taken on every 10 years; rather, it should be an ongoing process that sees librarians weeding small sections at a time throughout the year. Allen identifies four main reasons for weeding: 1) space constraints, 2) creating an uncluttered library helps patrons find what they’re looking for more easily, 3) patrons want attractive, clean books in good condition, and 4) collections not weeded often can “contain unacceptable stereotypes and misinformation” (p. 32). Allen created the acronym MUSTY as the criteria for weeding:

M: Misleading/inaccurate
U: Ugly or worn beyond mending/rebinding
S: Superseded by newer edition or better book
T: Trivial with no real value
Y: Your collection has no use for this material; it’s irrelevant to the needs of users

Allen urges librarians to examine career materials, computer/technology instruction books, encyclopedias, atlases, and reference books (which become outdated every five years) and any other titles that imply currency but are older than seven years. Any of these items that heavily circulate will need to be replaced (p. 33)

To avoid criticism that sometimes comes when a library throws away what others deem to be “perfectly good books,” Allen provides creative suggestions for what to do with weeded books. After they’ve been deleted from the library’s catalog, they can be cut up and used for class projects; turned into scrapbooks, jewelry boxes or memory books; or donated to organizations that sell donated books for charity or ship them to less fortunate countries.

Evaluation

I liked that this article addresses ways to combat criticism. I am someone who frequently weeds clothes from my wardrobe that I no longer wear or that have become worn or faded. I bag them up to give my mother for the church thrift store, and when she goes through them she sometimes questions why I am giving away a perfectly good sweater or pair of pants. Now I tell her up front that anything in there is worn or no longer fits and she’s less likely to raise an eyebrow. Allen suggests a similar proactive approach in that libraries should publish their mission statement, selection and weeding policies, collection stats (such as average age and number of resources per students), and any other information that can stress the positives of weeding.