The Weeding Handbook: A Shelf-by-Shelf Guide

by Rebecca Vnuk

Overview

Filled with field-tested strategies and adaptable collection development policies, this updated handbook will enable libraries to bloom by maintaining a collection that users actually use.

"Manages to be a thorough and informative source on weeding library collections and yet also an easy, engaging read ... Recommended." That rave review from Technicalities sums up the acclaim and appeal of this bestselling resource’s first edition. Now Vnuk has revised and updated her text to keep pace with libraries’ longer-term shifts in collection development and access, such as a growing emphasis on digital collections and managing duplicate physical materials. She demonstrates how weeding helps a library thrive by focusing its resources on those parts of the collection that are the most useful to its users. Walking collections staff through the proverbial stacks shelf by shelf, this book

• includes a new “Tales from the Front” feature, providing real-life case studies of librarians working on weeding projects;
• explains why weeding is important for a healthy library and how it can positively affect library budgets;
• systematically walks readers through a library's shelves, with recommended weeding criteria and call-outs in each area for the different considerations of large collections and smaller collections;
• offers easily adaptable, updated sample development plans which reflect the latest thinking in collection development;
• advises readers on weeding problematic materials, such as those that include racist themes and depictions;
• presents updated and expanded guidance on special considerations for youth collections;
• addresses reference, media, magazines and newspapers, e-books, and other special materials;
• shares guidance for determining how to delegate responsibility for weeding, plus pointers for getting other staff members on board; and
• gives advice for educating the community about the process, how to head off PR disasters, and what to do with weeded materials.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838937174
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	05/11/2022
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	690,971
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Rebecca Vnuk has a high profile in the library community as a librarian, consultant, workshop presenter, speaker, writer, and blogger. She is currently best known as Editor, Reference and Collection Management, at Booklist, and as the co-creator of the popular blog Shelf Renewal. Her most recent library position was as Adult Services Director at the Glen Ellyn (IL) Public Library. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to the field. In 2008, she was Library Journal's Fiction Reviewer of the Year, and in 2010 she received the Public Library Association's Allie Beth Martin Award for excellence in Readers' Advisory and was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker. She is the author of Read On . . . Women's Fiction (2009) and Women's Fiction Authors: A Research Guide (2009), and co-author (with Nanette Donohue) of Women's Fiction: A Guide to Popular Reading Interests (2013). She has spoken at conferences and presented workshops extensively; her panels are among the most popular at ALA Annual and Public Library Association meetings.

Editorial Reviews

"The more I read of the interviews in the new edition, the more I was convinced that including them was a very smart choice. As with the first edition, Vnuk’s original material is still informative and easy to read, well-researched, and presented in a scholarly yet engaging voice. However, by including other librarians’ words and voices, she is able to introduce ideas without requiring a lengthy setup. I enjoyed the exposure to a range of experiences and to different ways of seeing and talking about the work ... [This book] remains informative, engaging, and an excellent resource."
— Technicalities

"The newly included interviews provide humor and real-life solutions to likely challenges ... Public librarians new to this activity will especially appreciate this work."
— Choice

"There is practical and much sought after advice on how to word discussions with the general public, and especially dealing with their challenges. This is a practical tool for the experienced librarian. It provides support that we know what we know and can act as a checklist or refresher when managing different sections of the library collection. It is equally useful for small libraries and large, and for all types of libraries. The text would be valued by library students with a particularly useful appendix featuring eight sample Collection Development Plans."
— Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association

From the Publisher

"I realized an important (and probably quite obvious) parallel between botanical weeding and book weeding – both tasks require knowledge of your subject. As much as you may want to just start hacking away at the endless root base of a dandelion among your prize roses, you need to know what you're dealing with first. And so it goes with books. You need to know your collection, what you want to do with it and the best course of action to take to get there. Rebecca Vnuk gives experienced insight into this often misunderstood and sometimes ill-conceived task ... A lovely, lightweight and well-organized reference book."

Reference Reviews

"Manages to be a thorough and informative source on weeding library collections and yet also an easy, engaging read ... those of us in the intended audience of academic, school, or especially public libraries will be well served. Recommended."

Technicalities

09/15/2015
Weeding, a task that causes even veteran librarians to tremble, has just gotten easier thanks to this handbook. Vnuk, Booklist reference and collection management editor, argues that proper weeding leads to a more accurate, presentable, and usable collection. The author offers suggestions for earning staff and public support for weeding efforts as well as guidance for making use of discarded materials. Drawing heavily on the CREW method (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding), Vnuk's shelf-by-shelf guide to weeding decisions also discusses special collections such as AV (audio/visual), youth materials, periodicals, ebooks, and databases. Vnuk stresses the value of a collection development plan in guiding weeding decisions—in fact, approximately half the book is devoted to sample plans in public and academic libraries. While the work approaches weeding based on Dewey classifications, academic libraries may find inspiration here, especially in the individual blueprints. Librarians already familiar with the CREW method will not gain much from the shelf-by-shelf consideration. However, most of the book extends the weeding conversation beyond the assessment of the Dewey classes. VERDICT Vnuk's clear writing and motivating tone will give confidence to reluctant weeders, resulting in a worthy purchase for all public libraries.—Lydia Olszak, Bosler Memorial Lib., Carlisle, PA

Library Journal