Weeding the History Collection

In late June, Drs. Maiershofer and Edgington spent a morning weeding the 900 section of the library. They removed about 10% of the books in the 900 to 959 area (History, Geography, Travel, Ancient World, European, and Asian Histories). The majority of the books removed were "dated" (who knew history could become out-of-date?)

Routinely weeding the library collection improves its quality both in relevance to the curriculum and psychologically. Students are not misled or discouraged by the out of date or irrelevant materials found on the shelves. The overall impression of the library is improved and studies have shown that circulation (usage) increases. Plus, we receive money for the discarded books and make room for new acquisitions! As a result of their work, nearly 600 books are being sent to Better World Books to benefit literacy programs in Africa and the Darling Library will receive a percentage of book sale profits.

After working for 2-3 hours in the stacks, they washed their hands of the dust and went to lunch with the library staff in the old downtown Fullerton district, ending up on a short walking tour of some of the historic buildings in the area.

Last summer the Bible faculty weeded the Biblical Commentary section and have already noted some positive improvements in student papers. (See blog post.)