LibGuides Home: Collection Management: Weeding Workshop

Weeding in the Garden of Good and Evil

Weeding workshop presentation
Slides from workshops led by Kym Powe and Brad Bullis, 2024
Weeding Slips [pdf]
Sample weeding slips as demonstrated in the presentation - printable pdf format

9-minute video showing how to weed using our weeding slips
Featuring Kym Powe
Recording of February 2024, webinar
Two hours long.
Kym's Inclusive Collections page, with recording of her Diversity Audit webinar
Be sure to check out Kym's webinar about collection Diversity Audits, plus all her other resources about inclusion and diversity in your collections.

If you have weeding links and resources that can be added to this page, please email Kym Powe (kymberlee.powe@ct.gov) with your suggestion.

CREW Manual
A weeding manual for modern libraries

Keep Your Library FRESH
A blog post. The Library Girl's tips for keeping your collection FRESH.

Weeding Policies

School Library Collection Development Policies: South Dakota State Library
A framework and templates to assist in writing a collection development policy, from the South Dakota State Library
Westport Public Library
A very simple, concise policy!
The Ferguson Library
Collection Development Policy
C. H. Booth Library
Collection Development Policy
Enfirld Public Library
Collection Development Policy
Ridgefield Library
Collection Development Policy

Resources by Library/ Collection Type

Public Libraries

Healthnet
UCONN Health Sciences Library
State of CT Judicial Branch Law Library Services
For questions about law books in a collection

School Libraries

Collection Manageemnt and Weeding
Eduscapes
Weeding Your School Library Collection
A video from the National Library of New Zealand

Academic Libraries

Reed Library, SUNY Fredonia
Includes discipline-specific criteria for deselection in LC Call Number range G-JZ
University of New Mexico Libraries in Albuquerque
“Collaboration across an Academic Library to Revive an Orphaned Collection” with lots of info about weeding in the Rs
University of the Fraser Valley Library
“Planning Collections in the UFV Library” with a section on weeding and list of works cited in each section

Children/YA

Inclusive Collections
From the CT State Library
Illinois Library System's YA Blog
Illinois Library Association's (ILA) Young Adult Services Forum (YASF) Newsletter

Fiction (Adult)

Tackling Fiction
by Rebecca Vnuk, Booklist Online, May 2014

Graphic Novels

Good Comics for Kids blog entry
on weeding, from SLJ
Notes from the Field: Weeding Graphic Novels
from Booklist
Teen Librarian Toolbox blog entry
on updating a graphic novel and manga collection, from SLJ

Old/ Rare Books

Your Old Books
lists criteria for determining if a book is valuable
ViaLibri
a meta search engine that checks multiple used book sites
Book Finder

Disposal

Resellers such as: Better World Books
Combo resell/recycle: Baker & Taylor Sustainable Shelves Program
Donate:
- Find an international program that accepts book donations
- Duplicates Exchange Union from ALCTS
- New Haven Reads
- Wonderland Booksavers (CT)
- Darien Book Aid Plan
- American Friends of Kenya (Norwich, CT)
- Read-to-Grow (Branford, CT)
- ReRead Books (Cheshire, CT)
- Operation Paperback
- Book Club Share (national) - good for multi-copy discussion sets
Recycling - http://search.earth911.com/

Online Weeding Courses/ Videos

Niche Academy courses on Weeding and Collection Management
Weeding the Library Collection course from LibraryU hosted by WebJunction
Weeding Course from Alternative Basic Library Education (ABLE)
Weeding Your Library Collection recorded webinar from NCompass Live at the Nebraska Library Commission

Articles/ Blogs/ Resources

Weeding Without Worry, by Rebecca Vnuk in American Libraries, May 2, 2016
I Can’t Believe You’re Throwing Out Books! from librarian Julie Goldberg, May 2011
Books Are Not Sacred Objects, by Rebecca Joines Schinsky on BookRiot, August 20, 2012
Why We Weed: A Quickish Look at Librarians' Seemingly Most Un-Librarian Task from the University of Alabama Salmon Library
Weeding Library Collections: A Selected Annotated Bibliography for Library Collection Evaluation from ALA
Weeding and Deselection Bibliography from OCLC

IMLS

Continuing Education workshops and the professional development collection are funded in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Connecticut State Library.