Years ago our library collections were in good shape if they were balanced, diverse, and current. Now the issues of formats and access have complicated these tenets in some ways and simplified them in others.
The following are suggestions that feel right for our library, and I’d love to hear from you as to decisions you’re making.
AV to weed now:
VHS tapes
Cassette tapes
Filmstrips (Surely we don’t still have these?)
AV to no longer purchase and weed when they are dated or unused:
DVDs
CDs
Print to weed now:
Reference materials older than five years
Books that meet the MUSTY criteria
Print to no longer purchase and to weed when MUSTY:
Most reference materials (Keep one copy of the most-used ready reference)
Nonfiction “report” books
Materials to purchase as funds allow:
Online databases
Access to streaming video
Fiction and nonfiction downloadable ebooks and audiobooks
Fiction and nonfiction print books of high quality (award winners, starred reviews, etc.)
Fiction and nonfiction print books that are in popular demand
Basically, I see our physical collections getting somewhat smaller (but not disappearing) while our digital collections grow. Our virtual collections provide ubiquitous, 24/7 access, which is something we can’t say for our print volumes that sit behind locked library doors nights, weekends, and holidays.
But because not all our students have digital devices, because our libraries have limited numbers of devices, and because some of our patrons prefer print for a variety of reasons, we should continue to provide vibrant print collections for now, at least.
Formats and access will absolutely continue to change rapidly and challenge our notions of traditional collection development. What do you see around the corner for libraries?
Great advice for NOW. Many librarians are so caught up in the possibilities of the future that they lose sight of the things we should be doing now.
ReplyDeleteYes, and it feels like now is about as far ahead as we can predict! Thanks for reading Shelf Consumed and for commenting!
ReplyDeleteLove the blog- a new librarian myself in a Swiss boarding school.
ReplyDeleteCould you clarify your point about "report" non fiction. Thanks.
Glenn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to read Shelf Consumed! By report nonfiction, I mean the type of series nonfiction that is of poor quality and consists of facts that could be easily Googled . These books are not usually interesting enough to for kids to want to read for pleasure and we could get the info just as easily from other sources. Hope this helps!
I've been doing some weeding in my library and I'm having a hard time letting go of some of the Newberry award winners. I keep thinking I should keep them (they're award winners!) but after reading them, they don't have a lot of relevance to kids lives today and I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't understand about half the vocabulary even if they could persevere through the cultural references that they won't have any background knowledge about.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm with you on the reference and the non-fiction. I work in a Montessori school that believes in a lot of research and it's hard to convince the teachers that the kids really SHOULD be doing research on the computer (and yeah, maybe printing it out) and not using the 20 year old encyclopedias.