Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Marta Lee (2009) in her article described weeding 1.Physical condition of the material.
of reference collection. This should be a regular
2. Local/State/Regional relevance
activity which keeps collection updated by
replacing old editions with new and librarian will 3. Historical value
know the exact collection.
F. Materials to be weeded:
So all these studies shows that weeding is an
important and neglected activity in the libraries. It 1) Books :
is necessary to keep active collection on shelves 1.1) Physically worn out books: Active use of
and according to shift from print to electronic we books is essential. If the physical condition of the
have to update our policies also. books is worn out or beyond repair. Then it should
D. Need for Weeding of collection: be replaced by new edition or weeded out which
make the collection more appealing.
Weeding out is a part of collection development .
1.2) Lost Documents: The books which are lost by
According to Harrod‟s Librarians Glosarry (6th
students/faculty if they are not available in market.
Edn) “ The process of planning a stock acquisition
The price is recovered by the library. But such
programme not simply to cater for immediate needs
but to build a coherent and reliable collection over books are to be withdrawn from the collection by
a number of years to meet the objectives of the placing before the library committee.
services” 1.3) Untraceble documents: During the stock
verification some time the books are not in the
The term “weeding” is described by Nolan (1991)
proper shelves. Such lists after checking and
as “ the removal from the collection of items not
rechecking are listed. Then final list which includes
serving the collection‟s purpose”
untraceable doucments should be weeded out.
Weeding is the removal of materials from the
library collection that are no longer needed or 1.4) Multiple copies: Sometimes multiple copies
of books are available in the collection such as
viable and is a standard practice in managing a
textbooks and literary works. By keeping minimum
library‟s collection. Weeding is important in
copies of shelves extra copies should be weeded
keeping a collection vibrant, relevant, and useable.
It assists in preventing stacks from becoming out.
overcrowded. It makes remaining materials more 1.5) Non circulated books: Circulation data will
visible and accessible. Weeding of materials is way be obtained for each title. The books which are not
to ensure the best utilization of space and also it circulated for last 20 years will be considered for
helps to evaluate the collection in the library. Due weeding out.
to weeding space will be made available for active
collection. Many print as well as CD & DVD Secondly Online Catalogue of Library of Congress
collection which is not in condition to circulate can will be checked for each title to determine the
be withdrawn from the collection. The collection number of libraries which are holding the book.
gets updated and librarian will come to know its Titles which are available in many libraries will be
own collection in better way. withdrawn.
Jayakar Library is facing the space problem. 1.6) Out dated reference Collection:If the
According to the first annual report of Pune reference collection is updated i.e. may be latest
University on 30th June 1950 the collection was edition or in electronic format . The old version
about 11,405. Now the collection as on 30th June may be weeded out.Such as almanacs which are
2013 is 4,98,514. In last 64 years the collections updated annually so the older editions will be
has increased 43 times. To cope up with this discarded after five years.Dictionaries like old
tremendous growth new library adopted new forms dictionaries must be replaced with new editions.
of publications i.e. e-books, e-journals, online Dictionaries of abbreviations, slang, acronyms
databases, DVDs. Presently Jayakar Library is shuld be replaced by new editions.Indexes and
having e books 2078, CD & DVD -230, audio abstracts if perpetual access is available online then
Video Talks or online lectures 1300, E Journals 61 print volumes should be discarded.
and online databases 15. Pune University , Jayakar 2) Journals/Periodicals: Sometimes the backfiles
library is one of the beneficiary of UGC Infonet perpetual access we are having for some journals
consortia, through the consortia library is having and their counter part which is in print format that
access to more than 5000 ejournals. In this way the can be taken into consideration for weeding.
library is having hybrid collection containing print Journal titles which are not in recent research
as well as electronic resources. So it is difficult to interests of the institution and out of syllabus will
manage all the collection in an effective way. be reviewed and consider for weeding.
E. Criteria for Weeding out collection: 3 Ephemeral material such as newspapers,
For weeding out of collection some criteria must be popular magazines, newslettes, brochures,preprints,
framed which are as below: reprints, new bulletins which are of less interest
and need not require long preservation can be e. R is Review :Circulation staff must
weeded from time to time. review the issuing , returning and
reshelving of books and condition of
4 Non print material- CDs& DVDs are
books whether it is damaged or
considered by reviewing their physical condition ,
outdated. Popular books should be
factual accuracy , visual and sound quality and
replaced with their new editions.
obsolete formats are considered for weeding.
f. E for Evaluation : Librarian must
G. Existing Recommendations: evaluate new version of books
released so that older versions should
For weeding out of collection some experts have be archived or withdrawn. The whole
given their opinion and some institutions also collection should be up to date and
suggested recommendations.
balanced.
1. Dr S R Ranganathan in his book “ School g. W is weeding : Quality is more
and College Libraries “ states that mssing important than quantity. Users expect
of one volume for every 2000 students in well organized collection , effective
open access is expected. and efficient services . Library should
2. As per the U G C report 1965, on have more active collection.
“university and college libraries “pg 49
H.1 CREW Criteria for Weeding :
mentions that Inevitable loss : after every
500 volumes collection one volume loss is The CREW methods gives six general
evitable. criteria for weeding library collection.
3. According to G R by Government of That is MUSTIE.
Maharashtra No. 108/Pra.K.30 vinimay M for misleading – factually
Mumbai 32 dated 2nd December 1991 inaccurate.
clearly stated that three members U for Ugly – beyond repair
committee should be formed to decide the S for Superseded – Replace by new
books which are to be withdrawn. edition.
4. India government Finance ministry „s T for Trivial – of no discernible
circular No. F 23(7) E H (A)/83 dated literary or scientific merit
07/02/1984 clearely stated as below : I – Irrelevnt to the needs and interests
“Loss of three volumes per thousand of the library community.
volumes issued/consulted in a year may be E – elsewhere – the material is easily
taken as reasonable provided such loss available from other libraries
cannot be attributed to dishonesty on
negligence on the part of librarian.
I. Procedure for Weeding out of Material:
5. University Grants Commission in 1957
under chairmanship of Dr S R i) Pre Weeding Procedure: Before initiating the
Ranganathan constituted a committee and weeding out procedure everyone should be
following principles should be adopted involved in this process. The Librarian, experts in
while weeding out books the subject, administrative staff. A formal meeting
a. Generally speaking pedestrain books to discuss the various issues regarding weeding
(text books and books without were taken into consideration and interaction with
permanent value) may be weeded out each is very essential.Selection of books from
once in five year. stacks is very imporatant. The staff who is handling
b. Books work out by use beyond repair circulation of books knows exactly the books
may be weeded out once a year. which are torn out , not referred by anyone. Such
c. Reference books which are quite out books are kept before withdrawal committee for
of date and whose latest editions are checking. After checking disposal slips pasted to
available in market may be weeded each item to indicate how the weeded items will
out one five year or ten years. be handled once they are removed from
collection, then final list is prepared. Approval
In some libraries CREW method is used for
from library committee is taken for weeding out
weeding.
items. Then books and journals actually weeded
H. CREW Method of Weeding : In small out from stacks and treat according to their disposal
libraries this method is useful. CREW stands slips. Withdraw the printed cards from card
for Continuous, Review, Evaluation and cabinets, remove entries from library database and
Weeding. cancelled entry from accession register.
d. C for Continuous: Acquisition of
books should be according to the
needs of users . It should be a
continuous vigilance about use of the
books. So the collection is balance
and reflective of its users.
1} Binding
2} Mend/Preserve
4} Digitize
5} Donate to----
6} Discard
ii) Post Weeding Procedure: .Books weeded out from collection withdrawn from
database ie. Libsys and prepared a withdrawl
The torn and beyond repair books which are
register.
weeded out from collection will be send for
pulping. Database files may be removed from server.
The books which are in good condition may be Some rare materials like manuscripts, thesis , old
given as donation to other college libraries various journals are digitized and preserved on Dspace
departmental libraries.The less used books are kept server on intranet. E.g. one handwritten thesis
in compact storage.In Jayakar Library books which is now beyond repair scanned and kept on
published upto 1969 are kept in compact storage DVD and on server in Dspace software.
done periodically. This will enable the active speed of service with minimum manpower and
collection on racks .It will automatically provide time. In the era of internet and information and
the space for new collection and study space for communication technology new forms of collection
users. It gives information about precious i.e. electronic formats are coming. We have to
collection as well as its weaknesses. It helps to frame the policy accordingly.
reduce the maintenance cost. Which improves
References:
Dubicki, Eleanora (2008): Weeding :facing the fears. Collection building 27(4 ), 132-135
Francis, Mary (2012) : Weeding the reference collection : a case study of collection management. The
Reference librarian 53,219-234
Gillies, Scott and Stephenson, Carol (2012): Three libraries, three weeding projects: collaborative weeding
projects within a shared print repository.Collection management 37 205-222.
Lee, Marta (2009): Weeding Is not just for gardeners: a case study on weeding a reference
collection.Community& Junior college libraries 15(3) , 129-135.
Mix, Vickie (2010): Documents journey through time: weeding a history.Collection building 20(3) ,131-136.
Munro,Bruce & Philps, Peter (2008): A collection of importance : the role of selection in academic libraries.
Australian academic research libraries 39(3) 149-170.
Muthu, M (2013) : Weeding library collections : an overview . Information studies.V 19(4),223-246.
Nolan, C. W. (1991). The lean reference collection: Improving functionality through
selection and weeding. College & Research Libraries, 52, 80–91.
Schonfeld, Roger C (2011) :What to withdraw?Print collection management in the wake of
digitization The serials librarian.60, 141-145.
Scott,Adams (1954) : Weeding as an art. Bulletin of medical Library Association 42 (1),31.