#ShelfChallenge

I like participating in challenges.  They remind of things I need to be doing in my library but don't always do or put off doing.  Like the Shelf Challenge, it reminds me to weed.

Last year was my first year to participate.  I weeded like crazy!  I signed myself up to weed the biography section.  The biographies were in desperate need of a good weeding.  Once I got started I couldn't stop.  I weeded through the non-fiction and touched on the fiction section.

I didn't touch the Everybody section. Everybody books are a little different in that the younger kids aren't quite as picky when they choose a book.  Most younger students just grab books without much thought. So if I run a usage report on the Everybody section it's not really accurate.  Also some picture books are timeless like Dr. Seuss books.  I have one copyrighted 1960 something.  It still gets checked out so it's not a book I want to weed just based on age.  But that 1960 date does nothing to help the age of my collection.

When I came to this library last year the average year of the collection was 1994 making it 21 years old, well below Texas Library Association standards.  I'm working hard to get it to 11 years old (exemplary). Last year through weeding and purchasing of new books I brought the age up to 1998, 17 years old. I'm hoping to knock another 4 years off the age bring it to 2002, 13 years old (recognized).

I've weeded through the A-F's so far. I'm starting the G's. I've read every book on those shelves which was something I didn't do last year (I read some but not all). Some books I don't like but I can see how someone else would enjoy. Some... I have no idea why someone actually published them.

I've found some moldy gems. So. Gross. My goal is to blog about my #shelfchallenge here every Friday. 

Happy Weeding!