Imagination Can Never Be Obsolete

Finite funds and finite space necessitate that libraries weed their collections.  And when they do, they indicate which books they are removing by a variety of stamps or handwritten words, like this one:

Or this one:

But this one?

Obsolete?  Well, some books are indeed obsolete.  Books that talk about the Soviet Union as if it still exists, for example.  Atlases that show Czechoslovakia.  Books that have scientific information that has since been proved incorrect, or for which new terminology has been agreed upon (e.g. Is Pluto a planet?)

But this was a picture book.  A picture book about a child who is visited by a king and his royal entourage... which turns out to have all been in the child's imagination, piqued by a deck of playing cards.  This book is not, and could never be, obsolete.

Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

I was volunteering in my daughter's school library the other day and some other volunteers were (once again) weeding the fiction section and I joined in.  They were being merciless and, for the most part, rightfully so.  Anything that hadn't been circulating, that we hadn't heard of, that we thought was too hard, or that had a dated cover was going to be made available to the teachers for their classroom libraries and the rejects would be donated or recycled.  We wanted to make room both for new books and for shelf space to display what we have facing outward, to entice students.

Some of Johanna Hurwitz' books about Cricket Kaufman

I largely agreed with their decisions and their criteria.  Except for one: the dated covers.  On the one hand, great covers do draw readers in, particularly reluctant readers.  On the other hand, following this rule almost led to the disposal of Molly's Pilgrim (which I just wrote about here), Johanna Hurwitz's books about Cricket Kaufman and her classmates, and and the Anastasia books by Lois Lowry.  So I testified on their behalf and they were given amnesty and restored to the shelves!  Some of these books are out of print, so if we didn't keep them, there's no way to get new copies.

Johanna Hurwitz's books about the Sossi Family

While these books might not appeal to reluctant readers, what about enthusiastic readers?  My daughter loves Molly's Pilgrim and anything by Johanna Hurwitz, and when the time comes, I suspect she'll love Anastasia books too.  She knows to look for a book not just by title but by author and she has specific favorite authors.  When reading aloud to my girls I always name the author (and illustrator, if applicable).  In fact, they each went through a phase in which they would pretend to read and make up titles by authors they were familiar with, e.g. The Nice Flower by Kevin Henkes, or Popcorn by Beverly Cleary.  Sadly, very few students at the school library ask for a specific author.  Instead, they know the names of certain series, like the Wimpy Kid books, but most of them couldn't tell you who wrote them.

Would you have kept the books I put back on the shelves or not?

Weeding Progress Report

I wrote earlier about weeding the fiction collection of my daughter's school library.  So far, I've removed approximately 50-60 books, which is probably only about 1000 strong (excluding certain series like Magic Treehouse, Cam Jansen, A to Z Mysteries, etc.).  On principle alone I've removed any "movie novelizations" or books adapted from television shows (like one horrific take-off on Little House on the Prairie).  I've kept all the books that we have by certain authors, including Betsy Byars, Beverly Cleary, Andrew Clements, Sharon Creech and others, even though I don't see them flying off the shelves  - both because while I'm familiar with the author in general, I'm not familiar enough with each book individually to determine which should be kept and which shouldn't and because I know some students like to read as many books by their favorite author as they can get their hands on, varying quality be damned.  I've kept only one copy of classics, award winners, and other books that look worthwhile but that just aren't getting read, like Julie of the Wolves (even without circulation records, I can assure, kids are not lining up for this one) and Lois Lowry's Anastasia books, although I'm personally a big fan.  And now that I finally have access to some circulation records, I'll be going through the shelves again. 

So, how am I doing?  And when you weed, do you aim to remove a certain percentage of your current collection?

Weeding Fiction: Advice Needed!

I volunteer at my daughter's public school library and have been tasked with weeding its fiction collection (excluding picture books).  Here's my problem: unlike non-fiction, which can become obviously out-of-date, fiction doesn't age in the same way.  Sure, some old books become dated but other old books become classics.  So how do I figure out which are which (other than the obvious, well-known classics or award-winners)?

This is an urban public school which serves a primarily poor population, many of whom speak a language other than English at home.  The kids' favorite books are the Wimpy Kid books and books of that ilk.  Anything in a diary format and/or with illustrations is popular.  As I reviewed the fiction shelves, I found tons of books which I've never seen children take out: books from the 60s and 70s, historical fiction, books about Native Americans, and so on.  Those books are, to put it mildly, not exactly flying off the shelves.  But some of them are great books.  So... how do I decide which books to keep?

Any advice is appreciated.