GUIDELINES FOR WEEDING LIBRARY MATERIALS
All media specialists are encouraged to weed their collections every year in order to maintain materials that are still useful and timely.
Weeding is defined as the practice of discarding excess copies, rarely used books, and materials with incorrect information or no longer relevant to the curriculum or needs of students.
Weeding should not be used as a means for withdrawing materials which are of a controversial nature or needing re-evaluation. The county adopted policy for handling the re-evaluation of materials should be followed for controversial material.
General guidelines for weeding are:
1. Last date of circulation If the material has not been in general use during the past three to five years (depending on the type of material).
2. Physical condition - If the condition is badly worn or excessively dirty, the item may be weeded, and a decision concerning replacement should be made.
3. Timeliness - This is one of the most frequent criteria: Reference may be to: (a) out-of-date materials, particularly in the sciences and technology. A rule of thumb is to reconsider almost anything more than three to five years of age, (b) materials no longer in demand, or that no longer support the curriculum or current community needs (c) older editions no longer used, and (d) dated textbooks, where they are part of the collection.
4. Reliability Viewpoints change and must be reflected in the collection.
5. Ephemera Certain subject areas, from inspirational tones to how to make a million dollars, go out of fashion and use. This type of fad literature should be weeded, particularly when it is found that a title no longer circulates, is no longer timely, or the information seems unreliable.
6. Duplicates Where there are duplicates and none seem to be circulating or used, a single copy may be all that is needed. At a later date (one to two years) the single copy should be reconsidered for weeding.
7. Reference works should be given special attention in order that all the above criteria be applicable in all of the special areas. Current information in this area is critical.
