When to Weed a New Library—

A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLSPresented by Lee Alatorre, Collection Development

Consultant,for Resource Roundup, Region 20, September 18, 2015

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Accessing Your TitleWise Analysis

Standard III. Learner-Centered Technology and Information Access -- Strategies for Librarians

Exemplary Program Development

Recognized Program Development

Acceptable Program Development

Below Standard Program

Development A. Provides a balanced and current collection of at least 12,000 books, audiovisual software, and multi-media or at least 20 items per student at elementary level, at least 18 items per student at middle school level, and at least 16 items per student at high school level, whichever is greater.

A. Provides a balanced and current collection of at least 10,800 books, audiovisual software, and multi-media, or at least 18 items per student at elementary level, at least 16 items per student at middle school level, and at least 14 items per student at high school level, whichever is greater.

A. Provides a balanced and current collection of at least 9,000 books, audiovisual software, and multi-media, or at least 16 items per student at elementary level, at least 14 items per student at middle school level, and at least 12 items per student at high school level, whichever is greater.

A. Provides a balanced collection of less than 9,000 books, audio-visual software, and multimedia, or less than 16 items per student at elementary level, less than 14 items per student at middle school level, and less than 12 items per student at high school level, whichever is greater.

B. Maintains an overall average age of collection of less than 11 years with special attention for specific disciplines in accordance the CREW Method usage and MUSTIE negative factors as outlined in the CREW Method.

B. Maintains an overall average age of collection of less than 13 years with special attention for specific disciplines in accordance with the CREW Method usage and MUSTIE negative factors as outlined in the CREW Method.

B. Maintains an overall average age of collection of less than 15 years with special attention for specific disciplines in accordance with the CREW Method usage and MUSTIE negative factors as outlined in the CREW Method.

B. Maintains an overall average age of collection of 15 or greater years.

A Tale of 2 New-ish Schools—Both Schools Opened in 2008

NISD HS

Year Coll Age I/S Rec Items

2008 2001 18 28,616

2009 2002 23 37,043

2010 2002 24 38,695

2011 2003 17 40,570

2012 2003 18 41,624

2013 2004 15 35,841

2014 2005 16 37,964

NISD MS

Year Coll Age I/S Rec Items

2008 2002 16 21,045

2009 2002 17 22,481

2010 2003 17 23,892

2011 2003 18 24,733

2012 2003 18 25,772

2013 2004 18 25,003

2014 2004 18 25,463

Let’s Take a Closer Look:

NISD HS

Year Coll Age I/S Rec Items

2008 2001 18 28,616

2009 2002 23 37,043

2010 2002 24 38,695

2011 2003 17 40,570

2012 2003 18 41,624

2013 2004 15 35,841

2014 2005 16 37,964

NISD MS

Year Coll Age I/S Rec Items

2008 2002 16 21,045

2009 2002 17 22,481

2010 2003 17 23,892

2011 2003 18 24,733

2012 2003 18 25,772

2013 2004 18 25,003

2014 2004 18 25,463

Opening Day Collection

Weeding Done

Age-Sensitive Categories—What to Look For

Will never be 0%, so don’t try for that.No older than 25% - 40% is realistic and

manageable.Try not to get above 75%.

Much harder to recover from.Starting to look at replacing entire sections.

Let’s Take a Closer LookAge-Sensitive Categories

Year 003-007 320s 360s 370s 380s 520s 570s 610s910s

2008 37% 29% 27% 27% 25% 37% 39% 26% 34%

2009 44% 35% 35% 31% 34% 46% 42% 34% 40%

2010 53% 41% 40% 36% 39% 52% 49% 45% 47%

2011 71% 42% 45% 45% 48% 59% 55% 50% 53%

2012 83% 56% 57% 54% 60% 77% 73% 60% 67%

2013 53% 47% 45% 32% 32% 53% 40% 35% 63%

2014 39% 65% 56% 44% 53% 56% 62% 49% 79%

Weeded 5/13

Let’s Take a Closer LookAge-Sensitive Categories

Year 003-007 320s 360s 370s 380s 520s 570s 610s910s

2008 56% 18% 25% 37% 20% 44% 22% 30% 33%

2009 72% 29% 39% 43% 33% 57% 33% 42% 52%

2010 81% 47% 49% 46% 52% 63% 45% 52% 65%

2011 88 % 58% 58% 58% 64% 66% 54% 59%

79%

2012 89% 73% 74% 68% 80% 77% 73% 74% 84%

2013 93% 84% 83% 77% 91% 80% 88% 86% 88%

2014 100% 95% 91% 87% 94% 86% 97% 95% 93%

Weeded 2012-13

Decades—Not Much Reason to Have a Large Percentage pre-2000Year 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

2008 2 1 1 7 6 26 103 213 729 5,513

2009 2 1 1 8 6 38 115 237 1,419

6,170

2010 2 1 1 8 6 39 115 242 1,441

6,294

2011 2 1 1 8 6 39 113 241 1,435

6,255

2012 2 1 1 9 6 40 112 241 1,440

6,183

2013 0 0 0 2 0 8 34 42 129 4,802

2014 0 0 0 3 0 10 35 50 154 4,850

Weeded

Decades—Not Much Reason to Have a Large Percentage pre-2000Year 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

2008 2 2 0 2 1 12 59 135 533 3,109

2009 2 2 0 2 1 14 59 142 563 3,261

2010 2 2 0 2 1 15 59 140 565 3,285

2011 2 2 0 2 1 15 61 142 577 3,317

2012 2 2 0 2 1 15 60 140 576 3,323

2013 1 2 0 2 1 8 49 98 418 2,767

2014 1 2 0 2 1 7 49 98 419 2,778Weeded

Collection by Year Graph—What to Look For—my opinion!

Be excited if:Your decades

through 1990 are tiny or invisible!

At mid-decade, your 2000 bar and your 2010 bar are almost equal.

Ideal for

mid-2010s

for this

collec-tion

Collection by Year Graph—What to Look For—my opinion!

Be concerned if:Your 1990 bar

reflects 25% or more of your collection.

Your 2010 bar reflects 25% or less of your collection.

25%

Ideal for

mid-2010s

for this

collec-tion

Decades—Such an Easy Fix!

Click on the Collection Year Tab in TitleWise Analysis. Click on the double page icon at the end of the line. Note the call # to look for or print the displayed list. Pull items; check copyright date for errors; if any,

fix. Based on usage, decide whether to keep, replace, or

withdraw item.

Another Easy Fix—Detail by 10s

Click on the Detail by 10s Tab in TitleWise Analysis. Scroll through the “Age” column looking for years 2001 or

older and that have 25 or less items in the 10s area. Click on the double page icon to print those lists. On a printed copy, highlight any older 10s area that has 25

items or less to identify the lists you want to print; then print the list later.

On the printed lists, pull the items with the oldest publication dates and consider them for withdrawal.

So . . . Do You Need to Weed the First Few Years in a New Library?

Perhaps not.But you should start considering

the age of your collection and begin planning to weed at least some areas by the end of Year 3.

Where Do You Start?

The same areas I advise for older school libraries: Age-Sensitive Categories that are over 40% aged; try

to keep them all within 25 - 40%. Decades:

1910-1970

1980

1990

2000-2001 (2001 will be considered “aged” in January 2016!)

Detail by 10s: Work with the oldest sections that have 25 items or less first.

And remember . . .

Weeding CAN be FUN . . .

IF you have a PLAN!

Contact me:lee.alatorre@gmail.com

210-324-9224

If you have questions about today’s presentation. If you would like me to evaluate your collection using

your most recent TitleWise Analysis ($30). If you would like me to prepare a 3-5 year Action

Plan based on your most recent TitleWise Analysis ($100—includes the $30 evaluation of your collection).