4.++Weeding+Project

Introduction:

The 970 section of my library had not been significantly weeded in the last 10 years (perhaps even longer). The current librarian believes that because the books are in the history section, there is less need for weeding. This has resulted in a very haggard and ugly collection. I found it very easy to select books and I know that I am not done with the weeding in this section.

When considering the previous assignments about my community and the collection itself, I paid special attention to First Nations titles. Our First Nations community and students are very important and I was concerned that the condition and types of materials on our library shelves may not be "up to standards" and may even show some disrespect of our peoples.

Because of the lack of weeding of the collection over the last decade, I did not have to really delve into the criteria for weeding. Most of my initial choices were based solely on physical condition. There were so many books that literally fell apart in my hands that it took no time to pull over 50 books from the shelves. I am hoping that this process will require more thought as I work over the next year on weeding more regularly.

For this assignment I considered both the Crew method and MUSTIE when making my decisions. I then took these criteria and simplified them into my own lists:

CREW Guidelines by Dewey Class:  930-999 (History)  10/3/MUSTIE
 * Consider demand, accuracy of facts, and fairness of interpretation when reviewing histories. Carefully review histories of countries where major political and geographical changes have occurred. Discard older histories that don’t reflect the unification of Germany or Vietnam or the break-up of the Soviet Union, for example.
 * Consider discarding personal narratives and war memoirs of World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War in favor of broader histories of these conflicts, unless the author is a local person, or the book is cited in a bibliography as having an outstanding style or insight.
 * Discard dated viewpoints (e.g., the McCarthy Era "World Communist Conspiracy" theory of modern history). Retain books that collect primary documents or include archival photographs unless the reproductions are of poor quality.

__my criteria: __
 * 1. content **
 * 1) accuracy of information
 * 2) sexism
 * 3) other "isms"
 * 4) quality of writing and visual elements
 * 5) duplicate content


 *  2. appearance **
 * 1) dirty
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">smelly
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">dated cover
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">dated images
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">torn or ragged beyond reasonable repair
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">small print or poor quality images
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">scratched CD's or DVD's
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">yellowed or brittle pages


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> 3. use/circulation **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">not just based on circulation because items may be used in the library
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">duplicate copies
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">format no longer used - videos will need to move on soon
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">material that is no longer important - subjects no longer offered/taught, not relevant
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">no checked out in 2-5 years


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> 4. other **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">publication date
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">author - for fiction - is the author still widely read?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">is there "lots" of other information on the subject
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">are there multiple copies of the book

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%; text-align: left;">Weeding Reports:

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%; text-align: left;">Weeding Rationale: 1. __National Geographic on Indians of the Americas: A Color-illustrated Record__, 1955, National Geographic Society
 * This was my favourite find of this assignment. All of the colour illustrations portray first peoples in very stereotypical ways and they always look angry and aggressive. In the one photo below, the men are playing lacrosse but look like they are in the heat of battle.
 * The cover of this book was also interesting. It was hardcover and made to look like a patchwork quilt made by the Amish. I do not see the connection?
 * The book, because of its 1955 publication date, also includes a few photos. Looking at the photos made me remember //Leave it to Beaver// and little 1950's boys playing "Cowboys and Indians".
 * This book also did not fit my criteria for appearance as it was yellowed and in disrepair.



2. __Barkerville: A Guide in Word and Picture to the Fabulous Gold Camp of the Cariboo__, by Bruce Ramsey, 1961, Mitchell Press
 * This book was kept in a green binder on the shelf. I originally pulled it out of curiosity and was shocked to find this pamphlet style book inside. I thought it must be really important and used a lot to keep because the pages were no longer bound. The book had not been signed out since 1990!
 * There was also writing throughout the book and pages were missing.
 * This was one of many "pamphlet" style books I found on the shelves. They remind me of info. books we find in gas stations along the Trans Canada Hwy, housed in wire book carousels along with maps and postcards.
 * This book met all of my criteria for appearance and circulation. I am also positive that there are newer publications on Barkerville.



3. __The Colonial Dream__, by Harold Horwood, 1978, Natural Science of Canada Ltd.
 * Another book that I thought must be exceptionally valuable and well used because it was in a duo tang. The cover had apparently been damaged so the pages were removed, the cover was photocopied, and the book was hole punched and put into a duo tang. The book was very hard to read in this format because it was punched as if it was 8 1/2 x 11 but the book was 11 x 8 1/2 so the pages in the new format could not be read without flipping the book around for every page.
 * Again, this book had not been signed out since 1993 and contained outdated images.



4. __The Riel Rebellion 1885__, by Frank W. Anderson, 1955, Frontier Publishing Ltd.
 * I believe someone else in the class found this book on their shelves as well. The dedication alone is interesting; "To the halfbreed and Indian warriors of 1885, in appreciation of their courage and skill" - Of course the dedication is not intended to be offensive but it is today.
 * This was another pamphlet style book that lists its price on the cover as $1.75 - I know we can get better quality resources on the Riel Rebellion than this.
 * This book also had writing and underlining on many of the pages.



5. __The Frank Slide Story__ and __Regina's Terrible Tornado__, by Frank Anderson, 1968, Frontier Publishing Ltd.
 * I am becoming more curious about Mr. Anderson - his "About the Author" information says that he has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in 1955, and a Master's Degree in Social Work at the University of Toronto in 1957. He is described as "a long-time student of western history".
 * These two books were also only $1.25 each and are extremely dated and showing their age.
 * The books also list very few sources so I question their content and reliability. It seems like Frontier press might be the Wikipedia of the 1960's?



6. __Cariboo Gold: The Story of the British Columbia Gold Rush__, by Marian T. Place, 1970, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
 * This book has been defaced - there is ink and pencil colouring the outside edges of the book.
 * There are pages torn from the inside of the book. Probably a student who wanted the pages for an assignment but didn't want to sign out the book and take it home.
 * There are chapter titles like "Indian Troubles".
 * There are very few visuals in the book and those that are used are black and white illustrations that reflect its 1970 publication.
 * Once thing I did like about this book was the chapter about camels because I love that story of the Gold Rush but I know there is information about camels being used in other resources.



7. __Growth of a Nation Series__, by Rosemary Neering, 1974, Fitzhenry & Whiteside
 * 1) __Gold Rush__
 * 2) __Building of the Railway__
 * 3) __Settlement of the West__
 * 4) __Fur Trade__ (2 copies)
 * 5) __Confederation__
 * 6) __Life of the Loyalists__
 * 7) __Life in New France__


 * This series is very well used so I can understand why it has been kept on the shelf, but the condition of these book makes it absolutely necessary to discard them.
 * The format of the books makes them kid friendly, but I would argue that they are so dated in their appearance now, that the kids are not looking at them as much as we might think. They are definitely not being signed out.
 * I think having books in this kind of poor condition on our shelves makes our library look junky. These books would not even be kept in a used book store or thrift shop.



8. __'Ksan: Breath of Our Grandfathers__, 1972, National Museums of Canada
 * As someone who has lived in northern British Columbia and is familiar with 'Ksan I found this book totally disappointing. It is a book about an exhibit of 'Ksan art and people but it is in black and white and does not reflect the colourful nature of this people.
 * The book is also damaged with a broken spine and missing pages.



9. __Indian Arts in Canada__, by Olive P. Dickason, 1972, Indian and Northern Affairs, Crown Publishing
 * I discarded 2 copies of this book.
 * Both copies were in very poor condition - broken spines, ripped covers, they have both been repaired multiple times.
 * Most of the photos in this book are also in black and white, which doesn't reflect the beauty of the crafts and art.
 * I know there are other, more current books, showcasing First Nations art in Canada.



10. __Five Corners: The Story of Chilliwack__, by Bruce Ramsey, 1975, Chilliwack Historical Society
 * I struggled a bit with weeding this book as it depicts local history but I could not ignore its condition and inaccuracies.
 * The opening of the book shows a map of Chilliwack. This map is now 35 years old and does not include 1/2 of what Chilliwack is today.
 * The spine and binding of this book are also very damaged and the pages are brittle.
 * I am also sure that I will be able to find an updated or newer history of Chilliwack that I can add to the collection.



<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%; text-align: left;">Reflections: I did not find the process of weeding difficult at all. I actually found that I had to restrain myself a little because the current librarian was starting to look a little nervous. He is letting me actually weed this section but I could see that he thought I was making some errors. I, unlike him, do not think that we should keep a book that is literally falling apart just because it's history and the information hasn't changed. So many of the books on our shelves were in tatters and looked so outdated I was embarrassed. I do not think that students are looking at these books, even in the library, so why are we keeping them? I felt that the shelves looked very junky and dirty because of the damaged condition of many of the books.

I am not a pack rat. My husband gets frustrated with me at home because I am constantly getting rid of things that haven't been used and I found that this translated easily to the library. As I was doing this assignment I would show other staff members some of my "finds" and they would often say "but don't you think we should still keep it?" When a book needs to be hole punched and kept in a duo tang, it's time for it to go, regardless of the information it contains. I feel very confident that I can find better resources or that we already have that same information somewhere else in the library. Having said this, I do hope that weeding will become more difficult as the collection is better maintained. I hope to have to really examine the content of a book, not just look at the torn spine, to determine if a book should be weeded.

Although some of the information found in the books I weeded is still accurate I do not think we should necessarily keep the resource. I realized during this process, that how the information is presented was also important to me. I thought it was ridiculous to have a book about First Nations art and culture that is not in colour. The black and white photos, although once the best that could be provided, do not accurately depict the subject of the books. I also found that illustrations from 30 years ago can be quite offensive by today's standards.

I was excited to find some of the "offensive" language in the books I was reading. Although the resource and the content were often inaccurate, the use of terms like "Indian", "savage", and "halfbreed" created some excellent opportunities for discussion. In discussion with the First Nations Studies 12 teacher, we have put aside some of these resources to use as discussion points in some of her lessons. I also saw this as a collaboration opportunity between the two of us and am thinking this may also work for other subject areas. I could find outdated or poorly presented resources and use them as a way to teach kids about the library or create an assignment that gets them using these resources in a different way.

The one area I did not weed but was hoping to, is the video collection. I know there are lots that can be "tossed" from this part of our collection. I easily saw that we have both the video and DVD versions of the CBC series "Canada: A People's History" and I know there are other visuals that are duplicated in these formats. I did not weed these for three reasons; firstly, I wanted to make sure everything is in working order. I did not want to throw one thing away only to find out that the version I kept does not work. The second reason for not weeding this section yet was that I want to confirm what is being used by our staff. With the leave of one teacher, and possible changes for next year, I wanted to make sure that I kept resources that were really being used. I also did not feel completely confident with our circulation records and wanted to actually talk to the staff members. The last reason for not weeding this section was the current librarian. I felt I had pushed my boundaries and did not want to make him any more uncomfortable. I know I could have done this portion of the weeding process "virtually" but because I have been given the privilege of doing it "for real" I felt I had enough to have made a significant impact on our collection.

This was a great process for me and I am looking forward to "getting my hands on" more of the books and other elements of the library collection next year. Every time I walk into the library I now see more that needs to be weeded. It was quite addictive.