Post 21 - Weeding and Collection Development

Over the past several days, I have been working on moving my reference collection so that I had a usable display area. While moving materials, I have also been weeding texts. I am amazed at how many out-of-date texts are still on the shelves. Some of the books I weeded were from the 1930s and 1940s. Many still had the USSR and the Cold War as prominent figures in US political arenas. I weeded a series of books about men and space; the problem was they were published prior to the first man in space. I know that it is difficult for some to remove items from a collection (a friend of mine refers to it as the "Depression Era" syndrome; where people can't dispose of anything because "you never know when you'll need it or use it again). In a way, I feel like not weeding is doing a disservice to the students using the library because they are not being exposed to newer books with current information (here though do not get me wrong; newer books were added to the collection, but without weeding any of the old ones).

While I've been weeding parts of my collection, I've also been trying to figure out the best way to replace the information covered in the weeded texts. For currency purposes, databases and electronic resources seem to be the best because students are getting the most up-to-date information. At the same time though, I feel that using a book for research is an experience and helps in understanding the research process, so I do not want to take this away from the students; they still need to understand how to use a book for information purposes (one never knows when the power will go out).

My students and I are very lucky this year because we were granted very similar budgets for books and electronic resources. I was able to purchase new databases for student use, while also purchasing new print materials. I think balancing the resources is the best approach to teaching research. Students need to understand the variety of resource available to them and how to use each one to their benefit. They cannot rely solely on one medium because that medium may not always be available. As I continue on in my library career, I hope to be able to continue to balance my electronic and print resources in order to better teach and develop student researchers.