Beta College Library
Bound Serials Collection
Weeding Project
Alicia Melucci-Roberts
Art Guttierez
Catherine Closet-Crane
Earl Givens
Scott Reed
Weeding Project for BCL
Introduction
 Overview
 De-selection Criteria
 Faculty Consultation Procedures
 Public Relations Plan
 Timeline
 Outline of Process
 Sources Used
Weeding Project for BCL
Overview of the situation
 The Problem:
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Stacks at 93% capacity & room is needed for growth
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600,000 items in BCL collections
60,000 volumes need to be withdrawn for storage or disposal
 Elements of the Solution:
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Access provided to many electronic journals
Project MUSE and JSTOR
Shared high-density remote storage option
Agreed-upon 2 phase weeding process
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Phase 1: Weeding of bound serial volumes
Phase 2: Weeding of monographs
 Our Task: Develop a Plan for Phase1
Weeding Project for BCL
Overview of the situation (continued)
 The Beta College Library Dilemma
 Bound periodicals occupy most shelf space
 All serial materials will be evaluated
 Serials may include:
 journals (academic and non-academic)
 national bibliographies
 almanacs
 yearbooks
 Purpose of Weeding
Weeding Project for BCL
General Deselection Criteria for Serials
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Physical condition of bounded volumes
Superfluous subjects
Superseded editions
Duplicate titles
Trendy ephemera
Currency or reliability
Copyright date
Government documents
Weeding Project for BCL
Procedure for Faculty Consultation
 The Head of the Library will request the creation of
faculty consultation committee
 The Collection Manager will work collaboratively
with subject/reference librarians and consultation
committee
 Each Subject/Reference Librarian will work
collaboratively with the faculty liaison in their
discipline
 Faculty consultation committee will review
deselected materials list for 45 days and make
recommendations
Weeding Project for BCL
Public Relation Plan
 The Head of the Library will act as a liaison with department
chairs
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The Collections Coordinator will be the official spoke-person
and liaison to the University community
 develop an electronic newsletter to report on process
 provide a public forum for questions
 answer to concerns & answers
Subject/Reference Librarians will
 act as a library liaison with the faculty in their discipline
 meet with consultation committee and faculty as needed
 The faculty consultation committee will
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act as a liaison between faculty in their discipline & the library
Weeding Project for BCL
Timeline
 January – March
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Presentation of weeding plan. Subject/reference librarians analyze
serials collection and proceed with de-selection of material. Launch the
public relations campaign on the library website. Develop presentation
for dept. chairs and faculty
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Jan.15: Meeting with department heads and faculty.
 April
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Subject librarians meet with faculty consultation committee
Consultation committee reviews list for 45 days
 May
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Subject librarians meet with faculty consultation committee
 June - September
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Start transfer of bound serials
Start the disposal process and complete before school starts
 October – December
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Complete transfer of bound serials to remote storage
Prepare for Phase 2 - Monographs
Weeding Project for BCL
Outline of transfer, withdrawal & disposal process
 Identification
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This is part of the initial prep phase where a list of serials is created
based on the General Deselection Criteria for Serials
Insert tags into serials to identify them as items being considered for
Phase 1
 Withdrawal
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Student workers will collect items and check tags for feedback
Cataloger will remove items that are being withdrawn from catalog
 Transfer to Storage
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Student workers will pack items for transfer to remote storage
Items for storage will retain standard cataloging information
Location in catalog will be updated for remote storage items
 Disposal
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Inform students working on disposal of the sensitive nature and give
directions for dealing with public
All stamps or identifying marks will be crossed out or removed
BCL will recycle as much as possible
Weeding Project for BCL
Conclusion
Any Questions?
Weeding Project for BCL
Sources Used
Austin, B. (2002). Establishing Materials Selection Goals for Remote Storage: A
Methodology. Collection Management, 27 (3/4), 57-68.
Banks, J. (2002). Weeding book collections in the age of the Internet [at Southeast Missouri
State University]. Collection Building, 21 (3), 113-19.
Burgett, S. W. (2006). A Comprehensive Weeding Project for a Community College Library
Collection or Bye Bye Books. Kentucky Libraries, 70 (4), 17-21.
Dubicki, E. (2008). Weeding: facing the fears. Collection Building, 27 (4), 132-135.
Handis, M. W. (2007). Practical advice for weeding in small academic libraries. Collection
Building, 26 (3), 84-87.
Lancaster, F. W. (1988). Obsolescence, weeding, and the utilization of space. Wilson Library
Bulletin, 62 (9), 47-49.
Weeding Project for BCL
Sources Used (continued)
Martin, M. and Sayed, N. (2004).Good Grooming: Basic Issues in Weeding and Weeding
Policy in Library Collections. Mississippi Libraries, 68 (2), p. 36-38.
Metz, P. and Gray, C. (2005). Public Relations and Library Weeding. The Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 31 (3), 273-279.
Ruesch, R. (2008). By the Book: Thoughts on the Future of Our Print Collections. Law
Library Journal. 100 (3), 555-562.
Singer, C. A. (2008). Weeding Gone Wild: Planning and Implementing a Review of the
Reference Collection. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47 (3), 256-264.
Tobia, R. C. B. (2002). Comprehensive weeding of an academic health sciences collections:
the Briscoe Library experience. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 90 (1), 9498.