Collection Development: Weeding

General Tips

• Weeding should be included in your library’s collection development policy and be considered as part of the library’s collection goals
• Make weeding a part of your collection management routine
  • Determine who among library staff will be responsible for weeding the collection
  • Create a weeding plan (see the CREW’s manual’s 10-step process)
  • Use Decision Center to send you scheduled/automated weeding reports
• Feeling overwhelmed or short on time/staffing? Start here:
  • Circulation: Low use or duplicate copies – use Decision Center weeding reports to identify items fitting these criteria
  • Condition: Browse the stacks to check the condition of materials, and/or use Decision Center weeding reports (high circ or age of collection reports)
• Next steps: Evaluate materials based on the following (see the CREW manual’s Guidelines for Weeding your Collection):
  • Content: Is the information outdated, inaccurate, misleading, or biased?
  • Relevance: Is the material relevant to current needs and interests of the community?

Tools & Resources

• CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries
• Awful Library Books (Weeding Resources)
• Decision Center Reports (see Maintenance > Weeding)
  • See webinar recording: Using Decision Center for Weeding Reports
  • Weeding Reports: Low Circ, High Circ, Age of Collection, Supply and Demand

Articles & Webinars

• Article: “Ditch That Book: The Importance of Weeding in Libraries” (Book Riot)
• Webinar: Weed ‘Em and Reap: Getting Your Collection from Awful to Awesome (Web Junction, 60 minutes)