You may come across many a book on a library’s selling shelves and wonder to yourself, “Why are they getting rid of this?” After all, the book may be fairly new or in decent condition. It could be a popular title by a popular author. It could even be a book you donated yourself, so why isn’t it on the shelves with all the others? That’s what we’ll be exploring today!
What is Weeding?
Weeding is the act of ridding books from library shelves in order to keep them safe, organized, and clean. Like overgrown grass in an unkempt garden, libraries too need their shelves “weeded” fairly often. Some libraries get rid of books on a yearly basis, while others may do it monthly/weekly/daily. Either way, all public libraries weed their collection.
Every library has different standards of weeding, and the following may or may not apply to your local library.
The easiest way to decide if a book should be weeded depends on its condition. Is the book water-damaged? Are there pages missing? Is the cover sun bleached? Is the spine broken? Is there an unusual smell? Has it been repaired too many times? Can it be repaired? Is any part of the main text obscured? Is the book’s worn condition too unpleasant to handle? The list goes on. The damaged book in the picture suffers from extreme water damage.
Sometimes, a popular author will come out with a highly anticipated book, and the library will order several copies to keep up with demand. But eventually, the hype for the book will calm, and soon, those copies will start to take up too much space. To make room for the next new book, space must be made.
Sometimes, books, no matter how popular they are, will occasionally get low circulation rates. Some books never get circulated at all. This does not mean the book was terrible or nobody wanted it. In a building that can hold over 20,000 books, there will be ones that will never have their covers opened. (Though sometimes librarians will do their best to give it a second chance).
Change is inevitable, and so is information found in books. Travel books, for example, are weeded frequently because prices change, street names change, businesses come and go, and a thousand other reasons that may cause the information in the book to be outdated.
It is physically impossible to hold every book in existence, and with the power of the internet, libraries can offer a variety of online books. Some folk will always prefer a physical copy over a digital one, but the reality is simply libraries do not have the space.
Some books come in, see low circulation rates, and then weeded. Sometime later, the same book is donated to the library, but records show this didn’t do so well the first time around, so it is rejected before the book hits the shelf.
Some books will only come in a full set, and if one book is lost, is it worth it to reorder the entire set again for that one book? If it is too expensive, is it wise to keep a collection when patrons can’t even get access to the entire collection?
Sometimes librarians over estimate a book’s popularity, its condition, its necessity, etc, and a patron will ask for a book to be removed. Weeded does not mean banned. A patron may just want the newer version of the book or find the book’s condition unsatisfactory.
What happens to the books after they’re weeded?
Most libraries have a small book sale section. Prices vary from library to library.
One library’s weeded item may be another library’s much-needed item. Some books do better numbers in other libraries, and it’s another way to give the book new life.
Many non-library places have need of books as well: nursing homes, waiting rooms, prisons, mini-libraries, etc. Better World Books is a nonprofit book dealer that puts used books in the hands of those who need them.
This mostly applies to books that are badly damaged. Some gently-used books are thrown away because not even patrons would want them, like internet books from the early 90s.
The librarians may need the books for future projects.
Ever want to try book folding? Need extra paper material for that art and crafts project? Old, weeded books may be what you need.
In conclusion, there are many reasons why a book will be weeded from your library. Every library has its own standards of weeding, and the bullet points above may or may not apply to your library. The next time you go to the library and see a seemingly new book being taken out of the system, it might be due to the reasons above.
For further information: CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/pubs/crew/index.html
