1 What to do with Weeded Items

Sustainable Collection Management: What to do with Weeded Items By Ellen Ast Emporia State University

2 What to do with Weeded Items

Abstract A library that uses what it already has acts in ways that are more environmentally and financially sustainable. When it comes to weeding and de-acquisitioning items from a librarys collection, finding alternatives to trash and recycle bin disposal is a growing movement toward greener collection management, and the future holds room for new markets and uses for deselected items. Efforts toward the establishment of libraries holding only weeded items should be supported in order to increase sustainable librarianship and to decrease the psychological, political, and practical barriers libraries and staff face when it is time to weed. Putting weeded items toward marketing and pedagogical uses has the ability to give items new purpose and to earn the publics trust that libraries are making good use of their resources instead of wasting them.

3 What to do with Weeded Items

Introduction National attention to library closures, reduced hours and services, and layoffs all have one thing in common: Lack of money. Testimonials from librarians facing budget crunches describe how money is allocated toward maintaining essential services, while plans for expansion, innovation and hiring may drop on a librarys list of priorities until a more favorable budget is passed. Especially at risk is a librarys collection. Managing a healthy collection means new items must be acquired and current items must meet user needs and attract people to the library. Also, weeding is necessary to keep a collection fresh and physically accommodating for new and more frequently-circulating items. However, people and organizations that have experienced a spending crunch may have learned that when it is time to reduce spending and to use more of what one already has, sometimes the current inventory is enough. Apply this philosophy to libraries and a growing movement toward sustainable librarianship: When money is short for new materials, labor, outreach services, and physical space, a librarys collection can still thrive and attract users if creative ideas toward reducing waste are put into practice. One way to do this is to dispose of weeded items in green ways ways that lessen environmental impact and to find alternatives to throwing them away. Every single library no matter the size, budget, type, or location can actively participate in green weeding, another form of library resource sharing. The act of weeding itself obviously ensures that collections, like gardens, stay green and healthy, but libraries can also strive to reduce their footprint by making conscious and collective efforts to pursue only environmentally friendly discard options (Penniman & McColl, 2008). Disposal takes several forms: Exchange programs, donations, book sales, and credit from publishers against future purchases. Materials are also transported to storage, recycled, and

4 What to do with Weeded Items

thrown into the garbage. This presents challenges to weeding. Politically, libraries may fear opposition by users and governing boards. Psychologically, libraries fear removal of something that might have value. Common excuses for not thinning a collection are lack of time, procrastination, fear of making a mistake, fear of adverse or embarrassing publicity, and fear of being called a book burner (Evans & Saponaro, p. 303). However, arguments in favor of including weeding in collection management policies say regular weeding is necessary to improve access, save money and space, and gain trust. Because different types of libraries have significantly different clientele and goals, they approach de-selection from different points of viewvariations occur in how they select the weeds and what they do with the weeds after pulling them (Evans & Saponaro, p. 297). This paper will not discuss theories and practices behind de-selection. Instead, it will discuss how weeded materials are disposed. Part of that discussion will include disposal alternatives, and then end with an analysis of why this information is relevant to collection management practices and the future of librarianship. Disposal Disposal methods differ from public, school, and academic and special libraries, however the most common options among institutions are storage, special collections and archives (if relevant to institutions history), replacement, recycling, throwing away or selling or donating (more of those options will be discussed in the next section). Compared to academic, school, and special libraries, little has been written about disposal at public libraries because they dispose of more materials at a faster rate than other libraries because fewer public library users want specific items, preferring instead up-to-date material on a subject or books by a favorite author (Line, 1993). Public libraries regularly dispose of books that have become worn out and of

5 What to do with Weeded Items

stock that is no longer used. There is thus a high degree of substitutability; if one book is not there, others will often do as well. Little in-depth research literature has been published specifically about how libraries dispose their discarded items once they are weeded. But opinion pieces and articles give practical insight into the matter and bemoan the more conventional method of throwing away items because of the bad public impression that can make not to mention the anecdotal anguish some librarians feel about weeding. An article published in 2010 for an International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference called for more awareness in particular about waste management and environmentally sustainable disposal practices. More difficult and complicated is the recycling of other, non-paper, items (Urness, 2010). In a study of seven different types of libraries around Canada, most recycled damaged and unwanted print items while libraries with plastics recycling in their areas recycled materials in other formats. Some collection material was required to be destroyed because of licensing agreements, while other materials in sound condition were recycled because staff expertise had determined it as the best disposal method. Finally, libraries threw remaining leftover materials into the garbage. These findings closely resemble what is written about disposal practices in developed countries. In the province of Alberta, there is continuing work to reduce and divert the waste sent to landfills as well as investigation of alternative waste management methods. However, most municipal waste is disposed of by this method (Urness, 2010). Yet the line between whether to cast an item into the trash or recycling is not as easily drawn for the majority of weeded materials still in reasonable condition or that still carry informational value. Other options exist in these situations.

6 What to do with Weeded Items

Alternatives When it comes to weeded items, the majority of libraries feel their trash could be anothers treasure, or at least converted into attractions and learning opportunities before they finally get disposed. According to Penniman and McColl (2008), Gone are the days of sneaking to the dumpsters with boxes of weeded books in tow to throw away. Libraries needing to dispose of materials have a growing number of ways to donate, trade, and sell them good news also for libraries looking for alternative revenue sources. Selling and donating weeded books are the most common book disposal alternatives, which are increasing in popularity as more ways to do so become available online. Websites like B-Logistics and Better World Books acquire discards from member libraries and sell them online through eBay, Amazon and Alibris. Some proceeds go back to the member library. Other libraries donate books to schools, shelters, nursing homes, and other service organizations for people with barriers to information materials. Two years ago a group of librarians started a wiki called Green Weeding for Libraries to collaborate about alternatives to throwing away books, or how to throw away books in more environmentally-friendly ways. Some libraries go beyond these alternatives and find ways to use books for purposes other than reading. An example of how a library used weeded books to furnish the childrens section in another library is presented in an article about the Morrison Regional branch of the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Public Library in North Dakota. When the library needed to replace a worn-down playhouse in the childrens section, it used hundreds of weeded books donated by a nearby public library to build a new one. Juvenile fiction books of a specific size were gathered for the sides, and picture books were used to make roof shingles. Childrens staff worked togetherafter some trial and

7 What to do with Weeded Items

errorglue or staplesrows or staggeredbinding in or outplastic clear or no plastic cleareventually this collaborative effort resulted in a BookHouse (Snyder, 2008). The house was large enough to allow up to six children inside and it was well-received by visitors. In an article (2008) about what law libraries do with their discarded law books, some creative answers were given by practicing law librarians. An academic library gifted its weeded books to a new law school in Mexico, while others give books to people who want them for alternative purposes. According to Nancy Weiss and Karen Wallace, law librarians who were quoted in the article, Some have gone to a local purse-maker, many to an area high school art teacher for an altered books unit, and a few to someone who was going to make them into a lampWe were able to donate the books to a local university theater departmentWhen a theater company, film crew, or television crew needs to have law books as a background, the books have an opportunity for their 15 minutes of fame." Significant research specific to re-using weeded library materials has yet to be done, although more literature is being published about the growing movement in green disposal methods, which emphasizes finding new uses for de-selected items. Analysis and Conclusion The authors of the book Collection Development for School Libraries (2003) suggest every library include in their collection development policies a disposal plan for weeded items. Such a plan is important should a library come under scrutiny for deciding which materials to remove and what eventually happens to them (McGregor, Dillon & Henri, p. 231). At a time when green waste management practices are considered the most responsible, libraries may be questioned if their unsustainable disposal methods are revealed. Libraries may also face public

8 What to do with Weeded Items

criticism for throwing away materials which may have value. Whatever controversy may arise, a collection development policy that covers de-selection and disposal is considered good collection management protocol in literature specifically about weeding. As charitable as the some of the disposal alternatives previously mentioned are, they raise discussion: If an item is not worthy of retention in a library, of what value is it to anyone else? (McGregor, Dillon & Henri, 2003). Some practitioners argue that items which a staff decides no longer belong in a collection have enduring value and thus pedagogical potential. Different editions of textbooks shed valuable light on what was being taught, and presumably what was thought to be important, at particular points in time, and on how these perceptions changed (King, 2010). There are also low-cost ways a library can make use of its weeded items in-house. First, it can display in a designated area books about to be de-acquisitioned which might pique peoples interest. Displayed books can be organized by subject, age, circulation, or whatever the library chooses, and information can be provided about why those books were de-selected and about the librarys weeding policy. Information can also be provided about why the content of displayed items has current value. Facts such as when a book was acquired and when it was most heavily circulated can have value in connection with the librarys past. However a library goes about it, the marketing potential with de-selected items is great because the public can get a deeper look at how a library manages its collection and weeded items can fulfill a new purpose: To teach about the past. Another look at this issue addresses a proposal for a new type of library in the future a facility that only holds items weeded by other libraries. Such a depository may be the answer to the psychological barriers which keep some libraries from being adequately weeded. All

9 What to do with Weeded Items

information associated with a weeded item holds value, even for the simple means of comparing it to content in new information forms. A physical library existing for the purpose of managing a weeded book collection is preserving all levels and stages of information, from data to knowledge, from which all can benefit. Efforts toward the establishment of libraries holding only weeded items should be supported in order to increase sustainable librarianship and to decrease the psychological, political and practical barriers libraries face when it is time to weed. If a library must sneak de-selected materials into the trash and recycle bins, then perhaps something is wrong, either with its policy or its operations. Putting weeded items toward marketing and pedagogical uses has the ability to earn the publics trust that libraries are making good use of their resources instead of wasting them. With the exception of moldy books, damaged tape ribbons, and other physically unusable items, a library that uses what it already has acts in ways that are more environmentally and financially sustainable. To conclude, the movement toward finding alternatives to trash and recycle bin disposal should be helped along until minimal waste is sent to landfills, especially as the future holds room for new markets and uses for de-selected items.

10 What to do with Weeded Items

References (2008). What do you do with old law books? AALL Spectrum, 12(7), 38. Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2005). Developing library and information center collections. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited. King, J. (2010). Old books: research archive or landfill? History of Economics Review, 52, 127. Line, M. B. (1993). Changes in the use of literature with time - obsolescence revisited. Library Trends, 41, 665. McGregor, J., Dillon, K., & Henri, J. (2003). Collection management for school libraries (pp. 231-242). Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. Penniman, S., & McColl, L. (2008). Green Weeding: Promoting eco-friendly options for library discards. Library Journal (1976), 133(15), 32-3. Snyder, N. (2008). A Novel Approach: Library Builds House from Weeded Books. Children & Libraries, 6(3), 16-17. Urness, C. (2010). Library Collection Disposal: new tools for media Management. World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, Gothenburg, Sweden.