Weeding a Library Collection

Weeding a library collection means removing the books from the collection that no longer serve a purpose for that specific library.  The non-fiction books especially need to be ‘weeded’ on occasion because they can become quickly outdated.  For example, a book that says ‘someday man will land on the moon’ may be interesting but the information is incorrect and a school library needs to get rid of that book.  A book about the Baltimore Colts is no longer current because the Colts are in Indianapolis now.  A 20 year old book on basketball rules is out of date because the rules have changed (three point shots weren’t allowed back then).  If someone donates a book to a school library on antique furniture and there is no class that would use the book and no one has been interested in the subject (the book hasn’t ever been checked out), then that book should be removed from the school library collection also. 

Weeding is not the same as banning a book. Banning a book means to remove it from the library collection because someone does not agree with or approve of the subject matter. Banning a book means someone ELSE makes a decision about what you are allowed to read. Your parents and teachers can and should help make decisions about what you may read but people who have not met you should not have the right to decide what you are allowed to read. Banning a book from a library is not something librarians like to do but weeding books is a necessary process. If libraries never removed any books from the collection, there would be no room for new books. Having books with incorrect, outdated information in a library is not useful. Keep in mind that some older books (maybe a book about Ancient Rome) are still relevant even if they are old.

Librarians, if you would like to let students help you weed your collection, give them this weeding worksheet to help them choose books to be weeded. Set them loose to search in teams of two and then report on the book they have chosen to remove from the collection and why.

Weeding Tips:

This pamphlet offers general suggestions for weeding a library collection.

And, if you'd like to include students in the process, it makes a great lesson. Students can learn to where to find copyright dates and consider relevance. For example, students Check out the directions and the worksheet here.

Media Specialists, if you need to do a BULK CHECK IN of chromebooks, it's possible in Destiny Resource Manager. Download directions HERE.