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Weeding

Weeding, or sometimes known as de-accessioning, is the process of identifying titles that need to be removed from the collection and discarding them.   There are several reasons to remove titles such as outdated information, poor physical condition, titles that no longer circulate, space considerations, biased or sexist terminology and duplicate copies.  Many times librarians consider weeding to be a large project that is done every 5-10 years.  However, weeding should be done in smaller steps every year.

Weeding can be done in several ways but generally the process looks like this:

Before you weed, check your local city/county rules on discarding surplus inventory.  Some rules require you to send any surplus through an auction process.

Be sure to have plenty of boxes before you begin.

Identify titles that no longer circulate from reports generated from your circulation system and/or routine physical inspections of titles on the shelf.  Look for older copyright dates such as titles 10 years or older, too many titles on a particular subject such as gardening or cooking and duplicates.

Pull those questionable titles and check them against the circulation records.  If they are in good physical condition and still circulating, you may want to keep them or order a new copy. 

Always remember to check medical and legal titles for current publication dates.  Do not keep older titles in these areas – they may contain incorrect or even illegal information by today’s standards.  Do not keep these titles even if you cannot replace them with newer copies.

If you are free to discard materials, you can dispose of them through several ways such as recycling print materials, book sales, donation Web sites, selling books on the Web or just throwing them away.  Be prepared for discarded materials to find their way back to the library. 

The AALS Professional Collection has two titles that pertain to weeding.  Weeding Library Collections and The CREW Method.  The CREW Method is widely used in determining which items should be weeded.  The latest electronic version of The Crew Method may be viewed and downloaded here. 

There are several different Web sites that are more up-to-date than CREW and are recommended. SUNLINK

Weeding Library Collections  
Weeding the Fiction Collection:  Should I Dump Payton Place? 
Weeding in Libraries  
Weeding FAQs

If you are interested in training sessions on weeding, Idaho State Library’s Alternative Basic Library Education page may be found here.   Arizona’s Collection Development training on weeding is found here.