To Weed or Not To Weed? That is the Question

Hello, Grisham--So Long Hemingway?
With Shelf Space Prized, Fairfax Libraries Cull Collections

It seems the Washington Post has picked up on libraries dirtiest little secret--weeding! That word still makes my skin crawl. As an avid book reader and lover, it breaks my heart to have to send a book to its death sentence. That was the worst part of my internship at HSL-EAR but Maile still made me do it, and explained that you weren't really punishing the "bad" books you were making room for the pretty new stuff. Okay, so that dried my tears a little. I still hate doing it, but once I rip off the bandaid I feel inclined to just keep going.

About a month ago, my boss politely suggested (okay, she flat out told me) that my shelves were too full and I should start by removing multiple copies of books that aren't so popular anymore. Of course, that made no dent at all. So I started a rigorous weed. It seems I'd already done one in August but by December I again had 2 huge carts full of YA fiction materials that hadn't circulated in 12-18 months. I don't know the exact weeding schedule for other areas, but because teens are a selective crowd, anything that hasn't circ'd in a year is a goner (unless I find some reason to keep it). It was nice to have clean shelves and space for all my new books, although mysteriously the shelves have already started creeping fuller.

It is always funny to me to look at the covers of the books I nix. It is almost a guarantee that any YA book stricken with bad cover syndrome ends up in the Friends book sale pile. And that also keeps me going. We get a chunk of the Friends money and these books find new homes. So it isn't so bad..... Until your teen shelver who is also a huge book lover sees the cart and wonders what happens to those books. It was like telling a child there is no Santa, Tooth Fairy, or Easter Bunny. I wonder how many of those books she tried to save from the guillotine!?!? (Sadly, what she didn't realize is that if it comes back and still sits there, she was just delaying the inevitable.)