Weeding!

I just received this link from the ARSL listserv today. It is a link to the updated (2008) CREW Manual.

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

Weeding continues to be an "issue" at some small libraries. Keeping the library collection "fresh" and relavant is a professional responsibility! It borders on "unethical" to maintain a collection that is dangerously out-of-date and of no real use to your library customers. And, in PA that should concern you--if you don't meet your customers' needs they can drive as few as 10 miles and visit another public library to get what they need! Yes, really! And, once you "lose" them to another library--chances are they "ain't coming back"!! (Even rural and small libraries need to think QUALITY not quantity!)

Sometimes the problem is "traditional" thinking staff members; sometimes it is board members. Those days have to be over if you want to survive.

The bottom line is, WE WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE BOOKS OUT OF THE LIBRARY!
Unless your library shelves are currently empty, chances are you really need to do some serious weeding.

Here is the challenge: take a look at your circulation statistics for 2008, then do a massive weeding of your collection. Follow CREW and do it right! If you have a circulation system, run a list of all items that have not circulated in the past five years and get busy! Have this project completed by National Library Week (April 12 - 18). (A great week for a booksale!)

At the end of the year, compare your circ post-weeding with last year's figures. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised!