Fiction_L Archives Mystery Weeding Question - If You Were Me... Dates: 6/27/03,5:13 PM  through  6/30/03,2:41 PM  (8 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to June 2003 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Robin B <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 6/27/03, 5:13 PM

OK, I am having a difficult time deciding what to do
on this mystery weeding project. Our collection
development policy states we try to maintain all the
titles in a mystery series but it is difficult when
the titles are out of print. We don't have a huge
budget for trying to buy OP titles from Albris and
other OP sources, and I hate to discard perfectly good
books just because we don't have all the titles in the
series. We do have access to the libraries in the
tri-county area so patrons can put holds on those
titles we don't have but all may not be available
through this source, either. I am mainly having a
problem with some of the older authors such as Michael
Underwood, Sara Woods, etc. What do y'all think?

Other dilemma: Some authors aren't quite as popular
as they used to be and some of the titles in the
series haven't been used for 3-4 years, and others
have been checked out more recently. However, again,
some are falling apart and need to be replaced and are
still in print. Would you replace those that haven't
circulated for a while?

I am feeling very indecisive today and it would help
to have some input as to what other libraries with
budget problems are doing.

As usual, thanks in advance.

Robin Beerbower
Outreach Services/Readers' Advisory
Salem Public Library
PO Box 14810
Salem, OR 97309
503-588-6089

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FROM: Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
REC'D: 6/28/03, 9:48 AM

Robin,
You don't ask easy questions, now, do you?
I have always weeded with the proviso in the back of my mind that if someone
reads one book in a series, at some point, they will want to read the rest,
so I have always kept the entire run of whichever author was under question.
Especially if one book circulates quite a lot. That being said, if it
becomes obvious that some of the older series are losing their appeal
(especially those with the dreadful sixties and seventies dust jackets), I
will weed the entire run. My thinking is that I don't want patrons to read
one book and come looking for the rest and have to disappoint them. And
there is always ILL. If the books are truly falling apart and you don't have
the budget or staff to fix them, I would weed them.
Do you have access to a bindery? The one we use charges $6.95 to rebind a
book. I'll be glad to give the information if you wish. I have found this
really helps, especially if I keep the dust jacket and spruce it up as well.

HTH
Viccy Kemp
The opinions are my own; the library wouldn't want 'em!

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin B [[removed]@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 5:10 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Mystery Weeding Question - If You Were Me...

OK, I am having a difficult time deciding what to do
on this mystery weeding project. Our collection
development policy states we try to maintain all the
titles in a mystery series but it is difficult when
the titles are out of print. We don't have a huge
budget for trying to buy OP titles from Albris and
other OP sources, and I hate to discard perfectly good
books just because we don't have all the titles in the
series. We do have access to the libraries in the
tri-county area so patrons can put holds on those
titles we don't have but all may not be available
through this source, either. I am mainly having a
problem with some of the older authors such as Michael
Underwood, Sara Woods, etc. What do y'all think?

Other dilemma: Some authors aren't quite as popular
as they used to be and some of the titles in the
series haven't been used for 3-4 years, and others
have been checked out more recently. However, again,
some are falling apart and need to be replaced and are
still in print. Would you replace those that haven't
circulated for a while?

I am feeling very indecisive today and it would help
to have some input as to what other libraries with
budget problems are doing.

As usual, thanks in advance.

Robin Beerbower
Outreach Services/Readers' Advisory
Salem Public Library
PO Box 14810
Salem, OR 97309
503-588-6089

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com

FROM: Robin B <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 6/28/03, 10:16 AM

Viccy,

--- Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
wrote:
> Robin,
> You don't ask easy questions, now, do you?

If a question was easy, I probably wouldn't have to
ask Fiction_L, would I? ;-)

Thanks for your input as it does help. Unfortunately,
most of the copies I am pulling can't be made more
appealing by new jackets, spine labels, etc as the
pages are downright yellow and stained. We do send
books to the bindery but it's $12 each (I have no
choice in where we send them; we have a "sole source"
provider). I am ordering paperback replacements and
did put in an order from Albris for the more popular
contemporary authors.

Re: fiction series withdrawals. A year or so ago I
tried to withdraw an older OP paperback series since
we were missing titles and the copies were falling
apart. A patron came in and insisted I put them back
on the shelves as she didn't care if there were
missing copies or not, she would find the missing
titles in a used bookstore. So I had to trundle down
to the processing department and rescue them from the
withdrawal shelves. I haven't attempted to withdraw
them since. However, I am keeping a close eye on the
last use date. <g>

I always appreciate it when librarians take time from
their busy days to help others. Thanks again.

Robin

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

FROM: Patience Beer <[removed]@metronet.lib.mi.us>
REC'D: 6/28/03, 10:42 AM

I am also in the throes of weeding our mystery section. As a mystery
maven I was loathe to weed anything but once I got into it, I discovered
that there were many candidates for weeding. It was pretty simple to weed
the stand alone mysteries by obcure authors which hadn't circulated in ten
years! The once popular but now ignored authors are more of a challenge.
I bit the bullet and weeded our entire collection of John Creasey books.
While I had fond memories of reading them early on in my mystery
readership, which I realized with a gasp would have been over 30 years
ago, on closer examination I saw that they were dated and were definitely
not circulating. Our copies were tired looking with little curb appeal.
Most of them are out of print. So even though John Creasey practically
invented several mystery genres, I decided that his day was past and he
had to go. I hope some fan picks them up at our book sale! I did borrow
an idea from Fiction -L members and have made a display right in front of
the circulation desk with signs saying "It's A Crime! These overlooked
mysteries will be withdrawn if they aren't checked out". If this doesn't
move them, then out they go.

At the recent fiction weeding program I attended which was presented by
the "Ninja Weeders" of Cuyahoga County Library System, they propose that
it isn't necessary to have every title in a series. Perhaps you might
consider changing your collection development policy to reflect this. This
would depend, of course, on whether your library is a major resource for
area libraries or if there are other libraries you can tap when necessary.

In regard to authors whose titles vary in popularity, I'm keeping the
entire series if some of them are still in heavy circulation and the
author is still producing titles in the series. HTH

Robin B wrote:

> OK, I am having a difficult time deciding what to do
> on this mystery weeding project. Our collection
> development policy states we try to maintain all the
> titles in a mystery series but it is difficult when
> the titles are out of print. We don't have a huge
> budget for trying to buy OP titles from Albris and
> other OP sources, and I hate to discard perfectly good
> books just because we don't have all the titles in the
> series. We do have access to the libraries in the
> tri-county area so patrons can put holds on those
> titles we don't have but all may not be available
> through this source, either. I am mainly having a
> problem with some of the older authors such as Michael
> Underwood, Sara Woods, etc. What do y'all think?
>
> Other dilemma: Some authors aren't quite as popular
> as they used to be and some of the titles in the
> series haven't been used for 3-4 years, and others
> have been checked out more recently. However, again,
> some are falling apart and need to be replaced and are
> still in print. Would you replace those that haven't
> circulated for a while?
>
> I am feeling very indecisive today and it would help
> to have some input as to what other libraries with
> budget problems are doing.
>
> As usual, thanks in advance.
>
> Robin Beerbower
> Outreach Services/Readers' Advisory
> Salem Public Library
> PO Box 14810
> Salem, OR 97309
> 503-588-6089
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
> http://search.yahoo.com
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

FROM: Mary Kay Bird-Guilliams <[removed]@wichita.lib.ks.us>
REC'D: 6/30/03, 8:21 AM

Just wanted to add that I have noticed a rise in circulation when I rebound
(or replaced with mass market pb if you have to) older series when the book
is more attractive. Not every time, but often enough that I do try to take
that into account. For instance, if the circ figures are high, but drop
off at a certain point, its quite possible that it was the condition of the
book that put people off. That's my current theory, anyway. As part of an
opening day collection, I rebound a group of books from the original
branches that were consolidating. Its allowed me to follow these items in
the new branch.

FROM: "Frisbie, Johnetta, JCL" <[removed]@jocolibrary.org>
REC'D: 6/30/03, 9:35 AM

Robin
I would keep any of the series that has a high circ if they are in good
condition. If you have inter-library loan capabilities and a patron
really wants to read a whole series you can direct them to that option.
I know that many times when reading older mystery authors I have had to
place a request to ILL. I am, however, glad to find a new author that I
enjoy and weeding the whole series run would preclude a patron from
doing so. Better to have to go through ILL then miss a good new author
altogether.

Johnnie Frisbie
Collection Development
Johnson County Public Library


-----Original Message-----
From: Robin B [[removed]@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 10:11 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: RE: Mystery Weeding Question - If You Were Me...

Viccy,

--- Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
wrote:
> Robin,
> You don't ask easy questions, now, do you?

If a question was easy, I probably wouldn't have to
ask Fiction_L, would I? ;-)

Thanks for your input as it does help. Unfortunately,
most of the copies I am pulling can't be made more
appealing by new jackets, spine labels, etc as the
pages are downright yellow and stained. We do send
books to the bindery but it's $12 each (I have no
choice in where we send them; we have a "sole source"
provider). I am ordering paperback replacements and
did put in an order from Albris for the more popular
contemporary authors.

Re: fiction series withdrawals. A year or so ago I
tried to withdraw an older OP paperback series since
we were missing titles and the copies were falling
apart. A patron came in and insisted I put them back
on the shelves as she didn't care if there were
missing copies or not, she would find the missing
titles in a used bookstore. So I had to trundle down
to the processing department and rescue them from the
withdrawal shelves. I haven't attempted to withdraw
them since. However, I am keeping a close eye on the
last use date. <g>

I always appreciate it when librarians take time from
their busy days to help others. Thanks again.

Robin

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

FROM: Lynne Welch <[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 6/30/03, 12:23 PM

Patience makes several good points.
1. A last-ditch attempt to drum up circ stats for these oldies-but-goodies
provides you with a good defense when you withdraw them because
they didn't go out, even when under the spotlight as it were.
2. Book sale -- have you considered approaching the person who
protested, Robin, to ask if she would be willing to fork over the book-sale
price now in return for taking those books home? We have done that
with some measure of success in certain cases. And if they don't want
to pay the quarter/fifty cents/whatever price the Friends are currently
asking and house/dust/heat the items themselves, doesn't that tell you
exactly how much they value the books?
3. We have documented specific standards for withdrawal and use
them. Certain subjects have definite shelf-lives. Condition is another
factor we consider. If we don't want to touch items to re-shelve or check
them out, we get rid of them (shades of the one book with cheese corn
throughout the pages...ewww). If they don't clean up with soap and water,
or the pages are so yellowed and brittle that they disintegrate when we
turn them, out they go. If a book falls into any of our categories, out it
goes.
If circ stats dictate we retain a copy, we buy another -- we will even buy
a used copy if the item is out-of-print; we use www.addall.com as a
quick meta-search tool.
4. And, there are times when we retain one or two items from a series,
but withdraw the rest. We feel that if a person is interested in the rest of
the series, but there is no longer a general demand in our community,
we will be happy to interloan the other items on request.
5. The operative words in your collection development policy would appear
to be "try to maintain all the titles." If the items are disgusting,
falling apart,
or just not circulating, we have opted to keep those that are still in good
condition and circulating and to get rid of the rest. In addition to budget
constraints, space constraints mean that if we keep those old and unwanted
items, we can't provide newer and more popular items to our public.
I hope this helps ~~
Lynne

At 11:37 AM 6/28/2003, Patience B wrote:
>I am also in the throes of weeding our mystery section. As a mystery
>maven I was loathe to weed anything but once I got into it, I discovered
>that there were many candidates for weeding. It was pretty simple to weed
>the stand alone mysteries by obcure authors which hadn't circulated in ten
>years! The once popular but now ignored authors are more of a challenge.
>I bit the bullet and weeded our entire collection of John Creasey books.
>While I had fond memories of reading them early on in my mystery
>readership, which I realized with a gasp would have been over 30 years
>ago, on closer examination I saw that they were dated and were definitely
>not circulating. Our copies were tired looking with little curb appeal.
>Most of them are out of print. So even though John Creasey practically
>invented several mystery genres, I decided that his day was past and he
>had to go. I hope some fan picks them up at our book sale! I did borrow
>an idea from Fiction -L members and have made a display right in front of
>the circulation desk with signs saying "It's A Crime! These overlooked
>mysteries will be withdrawn if they aren't checked out". If this doesn't
>move them, then out they go.
>
>At the recent fiction weeding program I attended which was presented by
>the "Ninja Weeders" of Cuyahoga County Library System, they propose that
>it isn't necessary to have every title in a series. Perhaps you might
>consider changing your collection development policy to reflect this. This
>would depend, of course, on whether your library is a major resource for
>area libraries or if there are other libraries you can tap when necessary.
>
>In regard to authors whose titles vary in popularity, I'm keeping the
>entire series if some of them are still in heavy circulation and the
>author is still producing titles in the series. HTH
>
>Robin B wrote:
>
> > OK, I am having a difficult time deciding what to do
> > on this mystery weeding project. Our collection
> > development policy states we try to maintain all the
> > titles in a mystery series but it is difficult when
> > the titles are out of print. We don't have a huge
> > budget for trying to buy OP titles from Albris and
> > other OP sources, and I hate to discard perfectly good
> > books just because we don't have all the titles in the
> > series. We do have access to the libraries in the
> > tri-county area so patrons can put holds on those
> > titles we don't have but all may not be available
> > through this source, either. I am mainly having a
> > problem with some of the older authors such as Michael
> > Underwood, Sara Woods, etc. What do y'all think?
> >
> > Other dilemma: Some authors aren't quite as popular
> > as they used to be and some of the titles in the
> > series haven't been used for 3-4 years, and others
> > have been checked out more recently. However, again,
> > some are falling apart and need to be replaced and are
> > still in print. Would you replace those that haven't
> > circulated for a while?
> >
> > I am feeling very indecisive today and it would help
> > to have some input as to what other libraries with
> > budget problems are doing.
> >
> > As usual, thanks in advance.
> >
> > Robin Beerbower
> > Outreach Services/Readers' Advisory
> > Salem Public Library
> > PO Box 14810
> > Salem, OR 97309
> > 503-588-6089
> >

Lynne Welch - Reference Librarian
Herrick Memorial Library - Wellington OH 44090
tel. 440-647-2120 fax 440-647-2103
email: <[removed]@oplin.lib.oh.us>
website: <www.wellington.lib.oh.us>

FROM: "C. L. Quillen" <[removed]@mtlaurel.lib.nj.us>
REC'D: 6/30/03, 2:41 PM

We don't have a policy at my current library, but in another
library where I worked, we got rid of the whole series if we
didn't have at least 1/3 of the series. If the rest of the series
was available and we just didn't have it, we would get if the
circulation of what we had was good.

C. L.

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Robin B
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 11:11 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: RE: Mystery Weeding Question - If You Were Me...

Viccy,

--- Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
wrote:
> Robin,
> You don't ask easy questions, now, do you?

If a question was easy, I probably wouldn't have to
ask Fiction_L, would I? ;-)

Thanks for your input as it does help. Unfortunately,
most of the copies I am pulling can't be made more
appealing by new jackets, spine labels, etc as the
pages are downright yellow and stained. We do send
books to the bindery but it's $12 each (I have no
choice in where we send them; we have a "sole source"
provider). I am ordering paperback replacements and
did put in an order from Albris for the more popular
contemporary authors.

Re: fiction series withdrawals. A year or so ago I
tried to withdraw an older OP paperback series since
we were missing titles and the copies were falling
apart. A patron came in and insisted I put them back
on the shelves as she didn't care if there were
missing copies or not, she would find the missing
titles in a used bookstore. So I had to trundle down
to the processing department and rescue them from the
withdrawal shelves. I haven't attempted to withdraw
them since. However, I am keeping a close eye on the
last use date. <g>

I always appreciate it when librarians take time from
their busy days to help others. Thanks again.

Robin

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

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