Weed out of books

[Inderjit Kaur]

What is the process of weed out books ?

[Inderjit Kaur]

Thanks mam.

[Jayshree Dave]

Weeding the collection is an essential task in the library because it ensures patrons will have access to the most useful and demanded materials. In a well-weeded library patrons are able to browse the stacks and make fortuitous discoveries. Conversely, a rarely weeded collection leaves useful books camouflaged by musty, out-of-date books.

1. Plan the Process         Before a single book is pulled or subscription cancelled, the staff needs to decide on all the policies and procedures of weeding. Prioritize sections to be weeded. Identify any staff members who have advanced knowledge of a field of study and have them weed within their fields. Create a time line for the weeding process and set goals for each participating staff member. Determine the criteria for discards. Many libraries go by the mnemonically derived "MUSTY" systems that encourages the weeding of books that contain "Misleading" or out-of-date information, are "Ugly" or damaged, may be "Superseded" by other books, have "Trivial" scholarly merit or are irrelevant for "Your" patrons.
2. START Pulling Books             Weed the stacks in small sections roughly the size of half a bookshelf. Pull the most obvious discards first, such as damaged and moldy books. Then pull books that are probable discards based on their publication dates. If a book need to be replaced with a new copy or updated version, tape a note to it.
3. Back of House work         Once the books are off the shelves, decide what will be definitely discarded. Not all the books pulled will be scrapped. Check the circulation statistics on materials so popular books aren't discarded and unpopular books aren't kept. Send damaged but useful books to Collection Development to be replaced. When in doubt over a book, ask for other librarians' opinions.
4. Dispose of Materials        Before throwing materials in the garbage, consider if they can be sold, donated or recycled, but do not be afraid to trash books.
5. Maintenance    Weeding is not a one-time activity; an effective collection is weeded continually. Regularly weed small sections to keep the collection fresh and avoid another wide-scale weeding

[Inderjit Kaur]

Thank U.

[Mrs.K Kavita Rao]

Criteria for Weeding. 

CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding.  This method has been time tested and is considered so valuable that many libraries simply refer to the CREW method as their criteria for weeding in their collection development policies.  however, that these criteria are for smaller libraries that normally do not have a heavy research emphasis.  Academic libraries and specialized libraries would use very different criteria than those mentioned here.

The CREW method gives six general criteria for considering weeding an item from the library's collection.  These have been summed up with the acronym MUSTIE

                     M=     Misleading--factually inaccurate
                      U=      Ugly--worn beyond mending or rebinding
                      S=       Superceded--by a new edition of by a much better book on the subject
                      T=       Trivial--of no discernible literary or scientific merit
                      I=        Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library's community
                      E=       Elsewhere--the material is easily obtainable from another library

For more details visit the following link

ref:http://lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course4/05criteria.htm

visit the following resource link to view the Weeding Manual fulltext free online:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf

[Inderjit Kaur]

Thanks mam for very descriptive answer.

[Dr. Badan Barman]

I think you should change the title of the forum post to

What is the process to weed out books?

[Mohammad Yaseen]

Mr. Badan,
I agree with your comments. the sentence is vague. Its doesn't

[Inderjit Kaur]

Thanks for ur comments.

 

[Inderjit Kaur]

Thanks for correction sir.