I am new to courses in Library Science but have attended many, many library book sales. I am interested in how books are selected for sale and the processes used for deleting books
My tentative Final Project of an annotated bibliography will address the weeding of books from library collections and the issues of destroying information vs storage needs. Is valuable information being lost or merely replaced and updated? Is circulation data a good criteria for eliminating a book? What does love of the author have to do with it?
Any suggestions will be considered...
I'm not sure how far along you've gotten with your research, but this is a great source for some general background information. It covers the CREW method, which I used when I was weeding a collection at one of the libraries where I've worked. It can be found in full-text here: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod08.pdf
ReplyDeleteEven if you don't need the text, there's a bunch of further reading sources at the end that you might look into!
CREW (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding)
It covers before, during, and after weeding and answers soooo many questions about when? why? how often? and of course: what?
It has guidelines such as How old is the book/ how long since it's been used/ and MUSTIE guidelines
MUSTIE: Misleading, Ugly, Superseeded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere
Just a random comment: one of the libraries where I currently work checks all withdrawn books for prices on Amazon. If it's rare or expensive, we sell it online instead of putting it in our library book sale for $1. If we absolutely can't sell it, it goes into a free box. It's nice to think that even books that are withdrawn can go to a nice home and have a use! We also feel bad about withdrawing a book that has been donated "in memory" of someone. Feel free to ask me any questions if you think I'll be of help! -Diana A.
This is a great topic, Joyce! I love collection developmnt, and the CREW Method is wonderful--I enjoyed a project that I did using it when I was pursuing my degree. Be sure that you are limiting yourself to only scholarly studies; and be sure that you are not using articles from trade articles, which are not based on research. Please keep me posted on your progress and let me know if I can be of any assistance.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
S.S.
Thanks Diane! Since I have started searching, it seems lots of universities have a site that covers the CREW method. I am at a loss as to which to chose.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mommy's Shoes. Scholarly it is.