My portion of the reference weeding is now complete. I evaluated 5 disciplines for a grand total of 981 items. The disciplines I evaluated were accounting, finance and business law (AFBL), dance and theater (DATH), internet technology (ITEC), nursing (NURS) and philosophy and religion (PHRE). Out of the 981 items that I was responsible for, I moved 670 (68.3%) to the main collection. I left 53 (5.4%) in the reference collection. I removed 233 (23.8%) items from the collection entirely. Seventeen (1.7%) items were already withdrawn, 6 (0.6%) were sent to special collections, 1 (0.1%) was in periodicals not reference, and 1 (0.1%) was no where to be found.
This completes my weeding, for now. We've been told that from now on this will be an ongoing process. I guess we'll see.
Showing posts with label Weeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weeding. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
PHRE Weeding
I have finished evaluating the philosophy and religion (PHRE) section of the reference collection, and with this section complete, I have finished my part of the reference weeding project. Currency is not as vital to this discipline as it was with some of the other disciplines I looked at. However, I did a fair amount of weeding because we had several of these items as e-books. I also moved some of the books to special collections. We were told to be on the lookout for anything that was published before 1909, and anything that was related to Appalachia. These items were to be moved to special collections. The archivist is in the process of creating an Appalachian section in special collections because we have a Appalachian studies program here at the university. He wanted to books published before 1909, just because they are old. The oldest book I found was from 1898.
Here are the stats for the PHRE section. There were 211 books in this section. I sent 156 (73.9%) of those books to the main collection. I kept 6 (2.8%) of the books in the reference collection. Six (2.8%) of these books were sent to special collections. I removed 43 (20.5%) books from the collection.
That completes my portion of the reference weeding project, and I finished it well in advance of the August 1 deadline. Yay me! :)
Here are the stats for the PHRE section. There were 211 books in this section. I sent 156 (73.9%) of those books to the main collection. I kept 6 (2.8%) of the books in the reference collection. Six (2.8%) of these books were sent to special collections. I removed 43 (20.5%) books from the collection.
That completes my portion of the reference weeding project, and I finished it well in advance of the August 1 deadline. Yay me! :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
NURS Weeding
I finished weeding the NURS (nursing) section of reference today. Currency is vital to this subject area, so there were a lot of titles withdrawn. I also ran across several books that we also had ebook copies, so of course, the hard copies of these books were withdrawn . The oldest books I ran across were from the 1920s. I also discovered that several of the books in my list were not in the reference section. After a little digging I discovered that they had already been withdrawn. Obviously this list isn't as current as we have been lead to believe. I wonder who had these withdrawn. It is all a little odd.
Here are the stats for the NURS area of reference. There were 247 titles in this section. Of those 247 titles, 17 of them (7.3% of the collection) had already been withdrawn and 1 was not in reference, but it was in periodicals. I sent 142 of these titles (57.5%) to the main collection. I kept 18 of these titles (7.3% of the collection) in the reference collection, and removed 66 titles (26.7%) from the collection.
That's 771 books down and 212 to go. I have finished 78.4% of the books I am responsible for. I am on the home stretch now and I firmly believe I will be complete before the August 1 deadline. I will now move on to the last section, PHRE (philosophy and religion).
Here are the stats for the NURS area of reference. There were 247 titles in this section. Of those 247 titles, 17 of them (7.3% of the collection) had already been withdrawn and 1 was not in reference, but it was in periodicals. I sent 142 of these titles (57.5%) to the main collection. I kept 18 of these titles (7.3% of the collection) in the reference collection, and removed 66 titles (26.7%) from the collection.
That's 771 books down and 212 to go. I have finished 78.4% of the books I am responsible for. I am on the home stretch now and I firmly believe I will be complete before the August 1 deadline. I will now move on to the last section, PHRE (philosophy and religion).
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
ITEC Weeding
I finished weeding the ITEC (information technology) section of reference today. Currency is vital to this subject area, so there was a lot of weeding in this section. I also ran across several books that we also had ebook copies, so of course the hard copies of these books were weeded. The oldest books I ran across were from the 1970s. I also discovered that one of the books in my list was not in the reference section.
Here are the stats for the ITEC area of reference. There were 38 titles in this section. Of those 38 titles I sent 18 of them to the main collection. I kept none of these titles in the reference collection, and removed 19 titles from the collection. There was one title in the list that was not in reference, and I could not find it in the catalog at all. 47.4% of the ITEC reference collection was moved to the main collection, 0.0% remains in the reference collection, and 50% was removed from the reference collection. 2.6% of the collection was unaccounted for.
That's 524 books down and 459 to go. I have finished 53.3% of the books I am responsible for. I still believe I'm making good time in my quest to have this finished by the August 1 deadline. I have NURS (nursing) and PHRE (philosophy and religion) left to go. I will be moving to NURS next. The next two sections are much larger than the ITEC section. They take up 46.7% for all the books I am evaluating. I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
Here are the stats for the ITEC area of reference. There were 38 titles in this section. Of those 38 titles I sent 18 of them to the main collection. I kept none of these titles in the reference collection, and removed 19 titles from the collection. There was one title in the list that was not in reference, and I could not find it in the catalog at all. 47.4% of the ITEC reference collection was moved to the main collection, 0.0% remains in the reference collection, and 50% was removed from the reference collection. 2.6% of the collection was unaccounted for.
That's 524 books down and 459 to go. I have finished 53.3% of the books I am responsible for. I still believe I'm making good time in my quest to have this finished by the August 1 deadline. I have NURS (nursing) and PHRE (philosophy and religion) left to go. I will be moving to NURS next. The next two sections are much larger than the ITEC section. They take up 46.7% for all the books I am evaluating. I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
Friday, May 6, 2011
DATH Weeding
I finished weeding the dance an theatre section of reference today. Currency isn't as vital to this subject area as it was to the AFBL area, so evaluation was a little easier. This basically just resulted in less weeding. I didn't see anything as old as I ran across while weeding AFBL. I believe the oldest books I ran across were from the 1940s or 1950s.
Here are the stats for the DATH area of reference. There were 297 titles in this section. Of those 297 titles I sent 248 of them to the main collection. I left 14 of the titles in the reference collection, and removed 35 titles from the collection. 83.5% of the DATH reference collection was moved to the main collection, 4.7% remains in the reference collection, and 11.8% was removed from the reference collection.
That's 486 books down and 497 to go. I guess you could say that I've reached the halfway point in this weeding project. I'm making good time in my quest to have this finished by the August 1 deadline. I have ITEC (information technology), NURS (nursing) and PHRE (philosophy and religion) left to go. I will be moving to ITEC next.
Here are the stats for the DATH area of reference. There were 297 titles in this section. Of those 297 titles I sent 248 of them to the main collection. I left 14 of the titles in the reference collection, and removed 35 titles from the collection. 83.5% of the DATH reference collection was moved to the main collection, 4.7% remains in the reference collection, and 11.8% was removed from the reference collection.
That's 486 books down and 497 to go. I guess you could say that I've reached the halfway point in this weeding project. I'm making good time in my quest to have this finished by the August 1 deadline. I have ITEC (information technology), NURS (nursing) and PHRE (philosophy and religion) left to go. I will be moving to ITEC next.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
AFBL Weeding
I have finished weeding the AFBL (accounting, finance and business law) section of the reference collection. There were 188 titles in this collection. I weeded 69 titles, and I moved 105 titles to the main collection. This left a total of 14 titles in reference. I made these decisions by looking at usage statistics and examining the collection to see if there was a newer edition or an alternate source for the information somewhere else in the collection. The oldest book I found was from 1924. As I have said before, it was evident that this section had NEVER been weeded.
If my calculations are correct I removed approximately 91.5% of the AFBL titles from the reference collection. That left 7.4% of the titles in reference. 36.7% of the titles were weeded from the collection and 55.9% were moved to the main collection.
I am now moving on to the DATH (dance and theater) section of the reference collection.
If my calculations are correct I removed approximately 91.5% of the AFBL titles from the reference collection. That left 7.4% of the titles in reference. 36.7% of the titles were weeded from the collection and 55.9% were moved to the main collection.
I am now moving on to the DATH (dance and theater) section of the reference collection.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Weeding the Reference Collection
The library is currently in the middle of a huge weeding project. This weeding project has been complicated by the loss and gain and then loss again of a Collection Management Librarian. Both the reference and main collections are targets of this weeding. Since I am in the reference department, (though technically I am an Instruction Librarian) I will be taking part in the weeding of the reference collection. We spent the past few weeks discussing the best way to approach weeding the reference collection. A plan was implemented during last week's reference department meeting. We decided that each librarian would weed the section they are liaison to and then the remaining sections would be divided up. I am in charge of weeding the Accounting, Finance and Business Law (I am liaison to this department), Dance and Theater, Philosophy and Religion, Nursing and Information Technology. It adds up to approximately 1,000 titles, and we have until August 1 to get these reviewed.
I started working on this on Friday, and I am currently working on the AFBL section. I have made decisions on approximately 80 titles. It is painfully obvious that this section has NEVER been weeded. I am finding books from the 1920s and 1930s. I am weeding based on how important currency is for the subject, (with AFBL very) and if we have an alternate source for the information somewhere in the collection. I've decided to remove approximately half of the titles I've reviewed thus far.
I started working on this on Friday, and I am currently working on the AFBL section. I have made decisions on approximately 80 titles. It is painfully obvious that this section has NEVER been weeded. I am finding books from the 1920s and 1930s. I am weeding based on how important currency is for the subject, (with AFBL very) and if we have an alternate source for the information somewhere in the collection. I've decided to remove approximately half of the titles I've reviewed thus far.
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