[Publib] checking out books to keep them from being weeded

[Theyer, Hillary]

This came up while discussing the larger issue of popular vs. classic collections, and I confess, I've done this.  But, patrons also do this - one admitted to me that he checked out the same seafaring tale in the collection in the branch every year, not so much to reread it himself, but to ensure it stayed there for others to read.  Fine - I did tell him what wouldn't work in every library, the one year criteria was just one of many criteria used for weeding.  Another patron was focused in her personal life on ensuring equal access for deaf children, so she routinely checked out anything about being deaf, sign language, education, and the like.  Just to return them in the bookdrop the next day.  OK.

I found weeding fiction torture when I would encounter classics that just weren't moving any more, so I gave them a try on the front counter or the returns cart, and if nobody picked them up there, I would bid them a fond farewell.  Fiction had to be weeded, especially in a branch were I was, as we were out of room.

Now on the other hand, I just checked out from our main library a rebound copy of Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow, because it was recommended as a readalike for another book I just read.  Filthy rebound copy, copyright MCML (1950?), 564 dense pages, we've had it ages as I can tell from the stamps and such, and yet, it still circulates, so I was able to get it.  But, because it still circulates.

In return though, in weeding I would encounter authors like Danielle Steel and Stephen King.  Nothing wrong with them (I love Stephen King), and they ALL still circulated when I checked, but I would look at the shelves and think "I just can't justify giving you that much real estate" and pick some to go based on age or condition or if every other library in a five mile radius still had it.  We couldn't be a Danielle Steel/Stephen King/Nora Roberts/James Patterson library either.  Gotta have a bit of room for that first time author, the good translation, the award winner every says "I should read that someday" about.

I think of reading this way - books are sometimes brain candy, and sometimes brain broccoli.  You don't want a diet of exclusively one or the other, you need them both.  An entirely brain candy library would get boring, but so would an entirely brain broccoli library.


Hillary Theyer
Principal Librarian
Torrance Public Library
3301 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90503
(310) 618-5950
htheyer at torrnet.com
www.library.torrnet.com