1. “What are countless books to me, and libraries of which the owner in his
whole life will scarcely read the titles?”
Seneca 4 B.C.-65 A.D.
“if you want roome for modern books, it is easy to remove the less useful
into a more remote place.”
Thomas Hollis, 1725
“A small collection of well chosen books is sufficient for the entertainment
and instruction of any man, and all else are useless Lumber.”
Rev. Reginald Heber 1787
Why Weed?

2. Why do other libraries weed?
• Better use of space
• Increase collection use
• Improved user experience
• Time efficiency

3. Why do we weed?

4. Why do we weed?

5. Our Process
http://libguides.furman.edu/deselection

6. Should the policy contain a few checks, for example two
or three librarians (probably including the Director)
agree to put the machinery in motion?
Question

7. Could it be specified that at any one time no wider
range than a single letter of the alphabet would be
chosen? Or something at least to keep the scope finite?
Question

8. Are there related library policies that speak to the
library's obligation to keep certain books as a matter of
historical or intellectual concerns?
Question

9. Are there certain areas that should have special "locks"
on them?
Question

10. What is the library's obligation--in concert with all other
libraries--to keep certain books for future generations of
researchers?
Question

11. What obligation does the library have for books that
have been given to the library?
http://libguides.furman.edu/gifts
Question

12. Should we specify that the Special Collections librarian
should be involved in the process so that some books
that have not been checked out recently--but are classics
or have some other unique qualities (the prints in them,
for example)--are given the chance to be put into the
library's Special Collections?
Question

13. I worry, too, about the too-important role placed on
whether the book has circulated or not. There have
been many times I have consulted a book on the shelves
and then replaced it myself, not knowing that it needed
to be laid out in some unspecified place where it could
be re-shelved officially and therefore "counted". As an
instrument of detection it does not seem very refined.
Question

14. PZ?
Our next step….