Common Core and Weeding Intersections

Stop (Look ALL WAYS) and Proceed to Weed!

Many might not know this about me but one of my passions is weeding library collections.  I have done many workshops on this topic and three of the workshops involved instruction about weeding and then actually weeding the library collection as a collective group.  I will be doing this type of workshop in central New York in about two weeks.  I always manage to work in a section on weeding when Marc and I do workshops on the Common Core. 

The cover of Chip Kidd's amazing book on graphic design is a perfect way to illustrate what weeding the library collection should look like.  Yes! GO to the collection then STOP and look all ways at the collection.

Why is there an intersection with weeding and the Common Core? 

Reason Number One:  Every library needs to evaluate its collection on a regular basis - you should have a continual plan to improve the library collection and weeding should always be a part of this plan.

Reason Number Two:  The shift to nonfiction/informational text in the Common Core SCREAMS  Weed Me! Weed Me! Please!  This is what your library collection would say if it could speak.
 
Reason Number Three:  It gives you dedicated time to review your nonfiction collection - as Jon Lovitz says in an old SNL skit "Get to Know Me!"  - Get to know your nonfiction collection through weeding out the dead wood.


Reason Number Four:  Do you really need to leave these types of books on the shelf?
Here are a few examples of books I weeded this past summer from an elementary library collection.





                                                   

 

Reason Number Five:  Listen carefully - this is the most important reason.  If you don't get rid of the books that no longer serve a purpose in your collection then all administrators will see is a library filled with books and everything must be just fine!  Don't leave books on the shelf just to fill the shelves.  An empty shelf will tell your administration more then a full shelf.  There is a time for many books to move along to new purposes.  Like these books here:

Yes, it is hard to believe but I just weeded these books out of an elementary library in the summer of 2013.