Assignment+4

I work for SD #36 (Surrey), in British Columbia. Through my time in the Teacher-Librarianship program, I have discovered that Surrey, of all the districts in the province, provides the Teacher-Librarians with one of the most comprehensive library policy documents. The // Teacher-Librarian Handbook // (2007) was written by a committee formed by the school district to provide a compilation of best practices to the Teacher-Librarians in the district. The handbook is not prescriptive and is able to be adapted based on the needs of the learning community and the preference of the individual Teacher-Librarian. The district supports weeding and backs Teacher-Librarians in using qualitative and quantitative data to make individual weeding decisions. The district states that “ Systematic weeding is not an irresponsible disposal of school property; rather, it is a necessary service that enhances the credibility and usability of the school library. An occasional mistake is far less serious than the cumulative effect of a weed cluttered collection” (Surrey School District, 2007, p.12).  In addition to this support statement, the district supplies weeding guidelines based on each hundreds section of the Dewey Decimal System. For the 900 section, which is where my focus lies for this assignment, the district does not give a publication time frame for weeding (i.e. 5 years or 10 years) but instead states that “weeding depends on use, demand and upon accuracy of fact and fairness of interpretation” (Surrey School District, 2007, p.14). The district generally recommends using the acronym “MUSTIE” (Surrey School District, 2007, p. 12) to help guide weeding decisions.  **M **isleading and/or factually inaccurate: **U **gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding): **S **uperseded by a new edition or a better source; **T **rivial (of no discernable literary or scientific merit); **I **rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community; **E **lsewhere (the material may be easily borrowed from another source). <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">Bishop (2007, p. 121) does not use this acronym, but lists many of the same criteria that my district uses. One additional criterion that my district does not mention but Bishop does is to remove duplicate copies that are no longer in high circulation. I think this is usually more applicable to the fiction section over the non-fiction section, because fiction books tend to gain and lose popularity very quickly, but it is still an important criterion of which to take note. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> I had already found out as much as I could about my collection through the collection evaluation project and had used my circulation system to generate many reports that identified all the areas of the 930 section that needed to be reviewed for weeding. To find books that I felt should be weeded, I first browsed through the section and found books that were really ugly or worn beyond repair. I then looked for books that were incorrect or factually inaccurate. I looked for books that were of popular content without providing information that helped meet curriculum outcomes. I also looked for books that had been released in a newer edition. All of the books in this section of my library had low circulation, so I could not rely on that when choosing which books to weed. I needed to remove the worst resources in order to make exploration of the remaining resources for inviting for library patrons. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">The books I decided to weed were: <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> ** Great men of science (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1979 ** Call Number  ** Author: Holmes, Edward, fl. 1969- ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 509 HOL T 4866421 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: 75-9964 /AC ** Reason:  ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">U **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding), **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community. The book was published in 1979 and looked its age in quality of images, language used, and the yellowed pages. No student would have willingly picked up this book. ** Pyramid (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1975 ** Call Number  ** Author: Macaulay, David. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 726 MAC T 4875094 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> ** Reason:  ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">U **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding), **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community. The book was all in black and white. It smelled like an old book. The pictures were not inviting or exciting. No student would have willingly picked up this book. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> ** Ancient Egypt (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1990 ** Call Number  ** Author: Harris, Geraldine. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 932 HAR T 3602913 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: 98-74919 ** Reason:  ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">U **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding). While this book was newerthan many in this section, it is still old. The cover was worn and dirty and a few pages had tears. It was also a duplicate record, with another edition in better condition. ** Ancient Greece (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1999 ** Call Number  ** Author: Nicholson, Robert. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 938 NIC T 4866262 $10.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded ISBN: 0-600-57383-4 ** Reason:  ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">U **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding). This book was relatively new, as far as this section is concerned, but the pages were stuck together with juice or food. ** Ancient World (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1992 ** Call Number  ** Author: Corbishley, Mike. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 930 COR T 3601805 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: 93-4297 /AC ** Reason:  ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">U **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">gly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding). The back cover was missing! The binding had suffered because of this trauma and pages were coming loose. ** The curse of Tutankhamen (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1994 ** Call Number  ** Author: Eschle, Lou, 1940- ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 932.014 ESC T 3602959 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: 86-13115 /AC **  Reason:   ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">T **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rivial (of no discernable literary or scientific merit). This book talked about the curse as if it was real. It gave no evidence, but rather talked anecdotally about the curse and about the deaths of everyone who had any involvement with the tomb. ** Digging to the past : excavations in ancient lands (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1986 ** Call Number  ** Author: Hackwell, W. John. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 930.1 HAC T 3601349 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: cn 88-95395 **  Reason:   ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community. The pictures were lacking colour and the pages were worn. The students would not have been interested in this resource. ** Early humans. (1 Removed) ** Published: 1989 ** Call Number Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 930.1 MER T 4875970 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available – Weeded ** Reason:  ** **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">S **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">uperseded by a new edition or a better source. We have a newer edition of this book in the library as well. With poor circulation, it is just taking up needed shelf space. ** The Greeks (1 Removed)  ** Published: 1977 ** Call Number  ** Author: Crosher, Judith. ** Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 938 CRO T 3602390 $10.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available -- Weeded LCCN: 80-22955 /AC **  Reason:   ****<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community, **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">rrelevant to the needs and interests of your community. The book was old and looked its age. The images were inadequate, the language was too hard for the students and the pages/covers were worn. ** Let's discover people of long ago. (1 Removed) ** Published: 1981 ** Call Number Barcode Price Acquired Removed By  ** 930 RAI T 3902703 $25.00 5/26/2007 metson_a Was Available – Weeded ** Reason:  ** **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond,Bold','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">S **<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">uperseded by a new edition or a better source. We have other books that better address the topic. This book was easy to read, but geared towards a primary audience whereas it is grade seven students who would need this resource. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">To remove the books from my circulation system, I searched for each copy using the barcode. I scanned the barcode into the copy search, and then clicked on the title for detailed records. I then clicked the delete button and tracked the deletion as being weeded. Once this process had been repeated for all ten books, I used a black sharpie to cross out the barcode on the front of the book. I then stamped the front page with a “discard” stamp. The district gives me three choices when deciding how to remove an item from the school library – give to a classroom teacher for use, recycle, or send to a district swap meet. The swap meet is for books of good educational value that just are not needed in my library. We are encouraged to be very selective about what we send to swap meet. I chose to recycle these books. I put them in a cardboard box, along with fiction books I recently weeded, and asked the office staff to put in a transport order for the box. The district resource centre takes care of recycling the books for me. Bishop (2007, p.124) recommends donating the resources to non-profit organizations. This is not an option in my district. If the books are not good enough for our students, it is viewed that they are not good enough for any students. **  Reflection:   ** <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I approached this project with excitement. While many Teacher-Librarians are fearful of weeding (Bishop, 2007, p. 124), I find the process exhilarating. I recently finished weeding my entire fiction section and was excited to embark on another weeding challenge. I firmly believe that a half-empty shelf is better than a completely full shelf. It helps with re-shelving books (there is always room), it helps encourage the PAC to provide funding (the library looks like it needs books), and it makes the collection more inviting for users to browse (only relevant, up-to-date materials to look through). As I knew my collection did not receive many circulations from my collection evaluation, I chose to head straight to the stacks to find potential items to discard. I made sure to touch every item I weeded, as publication dates do not tell if the book is damaged, needed, or desirable. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">I was surprised by some of my weeding choices, when compared to the quantitative data. I expected to keep most of the resources from the 1990s because so many older resources existed in the library, but I quickly found out that the newer items, while more desired, were also significantly more beat up. These were the books that were dirty, ripped, and sticky. As a teacher, it is disgusting to handle dirty material as you never know where the dirt is from. Older material is less repulsive. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 13pt;">Pulling the books off the shelf is the easiest part for me. Weeding is time consuming, so I find I do a lot of it while I am re-shelving. One of the most valuable things I was told at the beginning of this year was that weeding is a continuous process, not a project. If you weed as you go, it is a manageable task that can be accomplished. If you attempt to weed, expecting to get it done in one shot, you will run out of time. My district does not give release time to weed, and as I cover prep for most of my library time, any additional work (such as weeding, selecting materials, cataloguing and processing, etc.) are done after school, when I am not being paid. This is discouraging, but is also an incentive to work at weeding in small manageable chucks. As such, the only thing I would do differently next time is weed as I go in addition to weeding small sections at a time.
 * __ Weeding __ **
 * References: **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Bishop, K. (2007). // The collection program in schools: Concepts, practices, and information sources. //Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">School District No. 36 (Surrey). (2007). //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teacher-Librarian Handbook. // Retrieved from []