The Review and Weeding of a Reference Collection: A case study

Authors

  • Susan Marie Mueller University of Nebraska at Kearney

Keywords:

Reference, weeding, core titles, literature review

Abstract

The author’s library weeded its paper-based reference collection. Some of the titles in the collection were out of date because the most recent edition was in the e-book format and available online. Other titles were simply outdated, irrelevant or in poor physical condition. In addition, the collection took up prime space on the main floor. The library used three criteria to assess the collection: age, currency of content and inclusion on a core title list. The criteria were not determined initially, but rather through trial and error. When completed, the print-based reference collection was considerably smaller and moved to a different location. When viewed in retrospect, the weeding process lacked one standard criterion. No one did a literature search. Though there was no compelling reason to do a search after the fact, the collection development librarian wanted to know if this would have made a difference in the process.  The literature search revealed some interesting information about weeding. This included the fact that weeding of a reference collection is a topic frequently not covered in the literature, as well as the fact that a core title list is rarely used.  It also revealed that the creation of a reference collection development policy and a weeding policy would have made the process simpler.

Author Biography

Susan Marie Mueller, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Coordinator of Collection Services/Associate Professor

Downloads

Published

2015-11-11

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

Everything we publish is freely available. In the spirit of encouraging free open access journals, Practical Academic Librarianship applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all works we publish (read the summary or the full license legal code ). • Authors retain copyright and grant Practical Academic Librarianship right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Under the CCAL, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to read, download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in PAL, so long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. In most cases, appropriate attribution can be provided by citing the original article in PAL. For any reuse or distribution of a work, you must also make clear the license terms under which the work was published This broad license was developed to facilitate open access to, and free use of, original works of all types. Applying this standard license ensures your right to make your work freely and openly available. By submitting a manuscript for review, author(s) acknowledge first publication rights are granted to PAL. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published; that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; and that its publication has been approved by all coauthors and the responsible authorities at the institute where the work was conducted. As publisher, we are providing a process for your intellectual property to be reviewed by and distributed to your peers. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain all necessary permissions for the inclusion of copyrighted materials, such as figures and tables from other publications, and has paid any and all necessary fees. Appropriate credit should be shown in the body of the work. Previously published work will not be considered for publication; we do not accept any simultaneous submissions. Practical Academic Librarianship will, however, accept manuscripts based on presentations made at conferences sponsored by the Special Library Association, at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.