The Six Benefits of Weeding Using the CREW Method

There are six major benefits of weeding the collection. Saves Space. Shelf space costs money in a variety of ways, not the least of which is the actual cost to buy additional shelving to house more and more materials. For a library such as my current school library that has limited space, it is unrealistic to think that additional shelving will be purchased. Where would we put them? A well-maintained collection saves the cost of dusting books that no one is using and of shifting materials to make room for more items. Students lose patience trying to find items that are crammed onto overcrowded shelves. When there is a little room here and there on the shelves, the library becomes more attractive and easier to use. Good practice says that shelves should never be more than 85% full (and 75% is even better). In my current school library, because our weeding rate is very low, our shelves are generally 90-95% full at any given time. In addition, retaining unused material takes up shelf space that could be used to display recent items. Also, here in my current school library, we have the maximum number of shelves available so that we can accommodate our classes with an interactive white board, space for tables and chairs and for our computers. Weeding allows us to maintain the open, friendly appearance that is the hallmark of my lovely current school library. Saves Time. Saving the time of patrons and Library staff is important. Shelves crowded with ragged books with illegible markings cost time. When students are looking for a particular book and have to sort through items that are clearly not of use or that they don’t want to touch, it wastes their time. On many occasions here in my current school library, students have come up to the library looking for a specific title in between classes – this sometimes gives us only a few minutes to locate materials. Time is wasted then we try to shelve returned items and have to shift and re-shift books to make space. When the librarian tries to use the collection for reference or reader's advisory services and must peruse outdated items to find the correct, current information, valuable time is wasted. An excess of citations from the online catalog that leads to outdated or unusable materials slows searching and frustrates users. Library housekeeping, from dusting to shifting sections, is impeded and made more labor intensive by an overload of useless books and other materials. Makes the Collection More Appealing. By replacing ragged, smudged books and unattractive rebinds with attractive new books, the collection becomes more appealing. Even perennial favorites and classics benefit from being replaced by clean copies with updated covers. Circulation can be increased by simply making the shelves look more attractive and user-friendly, even if there are actually fewer books. It is better to have fresh air and empty space on the shelves than to have musty old books that discourage investigation. Some of the recently weeded books in my current school library had not been touched for decades and were inundated with thick layers of dust and book mold. Many libraries report that patrons assumed they had purchased a lot of new books when all that was done was to weed vigorously. When you remove clutter, you can see what you really have on the shelves more clearly. Enhances the Library’s Reputation. For reliability and currency and building public trust within our student population and parent community, as well as the confidence of our teachers in the library’s viability, the library shelves must reflect our commitment to our students and teachers through collection development and attention to what is going on in the school. We hope that because my current school library has a highly credentialed Teacher-Librarian taking care of the Library, that students, teachers, faculty, and staff expect that library materials are selected by an expert, and that the information is up-to-date and reliable. For many users, especially younger students, the mere fact that a book is in the library lends authority to it. For example, a section of astronomy books that include many pre-Hubble space exploration books or books that include Pluto as a planet create a credibility gap of astronomical dimensions! Nothing will discourage a student as much as writing a paper based on research performed with library materials that provided obsolete or erroneous information. We owe it to our patrons who rely on my current school library to provide accurate information. Patrons will quickly decide that the library has ‘nothing’ of value if they are made to sort through a lot of outdated material. Keeping Up with Collection Needs. Because the CREW method provides a continuous check on the need for mending or binding, it alerts the library staff to lost or stolen books in need of replacement, and guarantees a more accurate volume count. This process also allows for both on-going weeding, where shabby items, superseded items, or unused items can be removed almost without effort, and scheduled weeding where one would look at specific areas of the collection on a regular basis. Librarians that weed continuously have greater knowledge of the collection. Having Constant Feedback on the Collection’s Strengths and Weaknesses. This information can be helpful when soliciting donations and making decisions about purchases. For example, knowing that the business books are out-of-date, the librarian can approach an organized group or an individual and request specific assistance in building an area of special interest and usefulness to them. CREW keeps the present shape of the collection clearly in mind and helps in planning future directions for it. CREW helps the librarian see the cohesion of every task performed in the library and the purpose of every task in relation to the patrons and the collection.