We are what we own: Deselection strategies for our profession's viability Florida Library Association Conference 2011 Jorge Perez St. Petersburg College

2. Survey Results 117responses 18 47 50 2 Age

3. Do you feel print books are sacred?

4. How many times a year do you participate in deselection?

5. Have you purchased or acquired library discards for your office or personal book collection? 56%

6. Space: Print Collections 20-49% 50-79%

8. Remove items from library not-used

9. Urge to save

10. Discard donations & gifts

11. Urge to acquire free things

12. Avoid discarding – too overwhelming39% 18% 38%

13. How stressful do you feel at the thought of your library budget shifting the majorities of money to eBooks as opposed to print books? 7% 25% 28%

14. How stressful would it be for you if 30%-40% of print books were to be deselected from your library’s collection? 13% 33% 19%

16. Florida Community Colleges “...monograph collections… were significantly out of date with the majority of library books having been published before the 1970’s” (Perrault et al, 2002, p. 241)

17. Florida Community Colleges “..1990’s..the percentage age of older materials to newer materials had increased and that outdated materials were prevalent in all major subject divisions, including science and technology” (Perrault et al, 2002, p. 241)

18. Non-Traditional User “With students strapped for time already; our resources must be especially efficient, convenient, available during a wide variety of times, and also available remotely” (Poole, 2009, p. 194)

19. “Reading a book, however, requires concentration, endurance, the ability to disconnect from other connections. You have to be there rather than not there. Hyperwired young people may be making it to age 17 without acquiring that ability, let alone losing it.” (Romano, 2010, para. 19)

20. “….the focus is no longer in creating a comprehensive print collection but supplementing it with a vast and comprehensive collection of electronic information sources, resources, and links” (Fernandes, 2008, p. 206)

21. …[Steven J. Bell, Temple University] urged librarians to think past libraries traditional roles of gateway, archive, and buyer of scholarly material. …“We could really carve out a much more significant role as instructional partners” (Howard, 2008, para. 10)

22. “Ranganathan deplored that many librarians seemed to be more concerned with preservation than with use, thus perpetuating the image of the librarian as a custodian rather than as some skilled in the exploitation of bibliographic resources” (Lancaster, 1988, para. 1)

23. Meaning of Books “The non-library world interprets weeding destroying of valuable materials, the treasured vessels and conveyers of our culture and society.” (Intner, 2006)

24. “Libraries were invented so that individuals wouldn’t have to own everything they might sometime want to read. Our trust in libraries makes it possible for us to throw things away.” Nicholson BakerWriter / Advocate for library preservation

25. Attachment “Even though we can’t hold on to anything, clinging remains one of our strongest habits. Useless though it may be, we devote much of our energy to grasping at that which is elusive and impermanent.” Pema Chodron

26. “Many librarians have an emotional attachment to their collections. They think of books as a literal part of the library, as part of their family.” Michael SawyerDirector of Calcasieu Parish Public LibraryLouisiana

27. Browsing “When items on the first shelf or two they examine aren’t what they want and aren’t very attractive looking, browsers get the vague feeling that the rest of the stock, which, on the surface, looks the same as what they’ve just seen, isn’t going to be any better.” (Intner, 2006, p. 16)

28. Academic / Browsing

29. Clutter Personality Types Easily distracted Procrastinator Sentimental Clutterer Bargain shoppers Perfectionists Geralin ThomasProfessional OrganizerCary, North Carolina

30. Decision-making “To weed is to make multiple decisions simultaneously, decisions based on both objective and subjective criteria” (Handy, 1994, para. 5)

31. “People with compulsive hoarding often feel afraid to throw things away, worry excessively, and repeatedly check to make sure they’re not throwing away anything important.” (Tolin, Frost & Steketee, 2007, p. 20)

32. Cost Concerns Will not throw out an item until we have spent the value Shelving Savings in staff time Material use future acquisition decisions

33. Stakeholders “The benefit of involving the faculty seems to be more to prevent negative feelings rather than to improve the weeding process.” x (Slote, 1997, p. 10)

34. Case Study 2008-11 Tarpon Springs Campus St. Petersburg College 2009-10 Lower Division: 5,070 not including upper division

35. Library Staff 2 paraprofessionals 2 librarians (liaison areas) 3 student assistants 1 OPS –staff member 20-32 hrs.

36. Mission / Vision Support Curriculum Leisure Collection Easy to Find Space for study/ leisure/ technology Prepare for inventory

37. Undecorating – Tracy Elliott Remove faded posters, paintings, plants, etc. Remove yellowed plastic covers from books Reduce trash can amount Damaged, stained, faded furniture, study carrels Old technology VCRs, computers, typewriter… Paper/pathfinders Signs Supplies to other departments/campus libraries

38. Weeding Procedure Librarians remove and discard items Do not revisit cart – no reviewer Cart given to paraprofessional to remove from OPAC and OCLC holdings OPS/student assistants mark through items - SURPLUS Box for book sale or check better world books or free cart for students

40. Initial Deselection Just Weed before involving faculty or other stakeholder Repeat copies – if not used Damaged material Older reference copy in circ. Collection Medical/Law/Technology 5 years Duplication in electronic format- some removal Too many in one subject – gift for other campus library

41. Multiple Rounds- Small Goals Check areas multiple times throughout a period of time First time: everything older than 1990 and does not have historical value Second: remove a section not being used Etc.

43. Shelving Redefine Shelving Meaning: Not only storage Lay books to view item on shelf Remove items from top and bottom shelf Display books face out Let there be light Security Be open to remove shelving

44. Reference Collection “For most reference collections, more is not necessarily better” (Matthews & Tychson, 1981)

45. Reference Collection Total 3,291 Total 1,466 No purchasing - replacing

46. Reference Collection Reference Collection A-B

48. Reference Collection 10 units

50. General Collection total 25,627 total 30,229 total 20,475

51. Age of Collection 2005 26% 25% Total 25627

52. Age of Collection 2008 36% 23% Total 30,229

53. Age of Collection 2011 61% Total 20475

54. Circulation 2008-11

56. Inventory – barcode in book (majority)

57. Give books to other campus libraries

58. Find books from other campus libraries or colleges misshelved

59. Moderate circulation rise

60. Acquisitions- future ordering projects

62. Better World Books “Do not make your weeded books a problem for someone else by just passing the buck.” Free book cart (Allen, 2010, p. 33)

63. Policies and Procedures More information- direction Weeding procedures (guide for staff) Donation/gift policy acquisition

64. Policies and Procedures “A good collection development policy should be clear, concise, and easily followed since many staff members have collection development responsibilities and everyone should work toward mutual goals when making decisions” (Poole, 2009, p. 199)

66. Library Entrance

67. “(Deselection) is a process of catharsis that frees you to focus on the future” (Handy, 1994, para. 25)