Overhead # 1

These are some of the tools I feel are necessary when I go into the stacks to start weeding. The face mask and antihistamines are necessary because you don�t know how much dust and mold you will encounter, the aspirin or Tylenol for difficult decisions, knee pads for bending and stooping, Ben Gay for removing items from shelves, and the tissues when you finally let something go.

Overhead # 2

The policy for weeding the different collections at the NOAA Central Library are contained in the Collection Development Policy. Some of the collections have been weeded in recent years, while other collections will not be weeded until sometime in the future.

Overhead # 3

When I came to NOAA in June, 1992, there were many books shelved on the back wall on the second floor because there wasn�t any room to shelve them and journals were sitting on book carts because there wasn�t any room to shelve them. The first two letters of the journals (A & B), were shelved on the 2^nd floor, while the remainder of the journal collection was located in the basement. The "C" Collection was shelved in 27 different places on all 3 floors of the library. Removing 1 book from a shelf resulted in all of the books falling off. The library was going to move to a new facility in Silver Spring in June, 1993. Normally, prior to a move, librarians weed collections of out-of-scope and unused material, leaving the material that is being used. However, the Library Director decided not to have anything weeded. First, she felt subject specialists would be needed to go through and review the material in many of the collections and there was not enough time to accomplish that prior to the move. Second, she wanted as much of the shelving filled in Silver Spring so managers in the agency would not take any space away from the library. Both decisions turned out to be correct. The unique scientific nature of the material in some of the collections require subject experts within NOAA or retired NOAA employees. From experience, this is a time-consuming endeavor.

When NOAA management asked how much space was needed in Silver Spring, I was able to give them the total number of linear feet, which included space for 2-3 years of growth. I arrived at this number after I mapped the entire collection in Rockville, leaving space for growth in the book, reference, journal and oversize collections, and very little space in the historical collections ("M"," "C", and "C& GS" collections). Once I received the floorplan for the library in Silver Spring, I transferred my data and I was off by only 4 shelves in the reference collection, which I was able to weed.

In 1996, the NOAA General Counsel offices decided to combine their collections and have them shelved in the Library. I decided to place the new collection where the journal collection began. In order to make space for this collection, the Coast and Geodetic Survey and journal collections needed to be weeded and backshifted. After discussions with the General Counsel Offices and measuring the amount of space of the library�s legal collection, I determined that at least 360 shelves (1,080 linear feet of shelf space) was needed for this collection, which would combine the General Counsel�s collections with the library�s legal collection.

Weeding the Coast & Geodetic Survey collection would have been extremely difficult for the library staff. The material in this collection is historical, dating from the early 1800's to 1970. A small part of the collection contained old reference material which I was able to weed; however, the scientific material, which made up over 90% of the collection, proved to be a greater challenge. A subject specialist was required to review the rest of the collection. That subject specialist, a NOAA Corp Officer with a vast knowledge of the agency, went through collection, using the following criteria:

Overhead # 4

At the same time, I reviewed the journal collection, earmarking titles for weeding. The criteria used was:

Overhead # 5

If we weeded the journal collection based on criteria I, there wouldn�t be anything left.

I presented a list of titles to the reference staff for review using the above criteria. The reference staff accepted the titles on the list, deleting a few titles, while adding additional ones.

OTHER COLLECTIONS WEEDED AT THE NOAA CENTRAL LIBRARY:

Reference Collection:

Keeping a reference collection current can be an extremely expensive proposition. Updating directories, dictionaries, indexes, looseleaf services and encyclopedias every 1, 2, or 5 years places a strain on a library�s budget. I worked with the reference librarians in 1996 to update and weed the reference collection. A major decision was made to update reference sources related to the agency�s mission, and with a few exceptions, not to update general reference sources. This decision was made based on use of the reference collection by the reference staff and users. A contributing factor to this decision was the use of online databases available at the library.

Depository Collection:

In 1993, the NOAA Central Library was designated a selective depository for U.S. government publications distributed by the Government Printing Office. Currently, the library receives approximately 22% of the material distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program. Titles were selected in 1994 following the review of the GPO Depository List of Classes by myself, the reference librarians and the Library Director.

Each spring, GPO sends out a printout of all item numbers a depository library currently subscribes to. Upon receipt of the printout, the depository and reference librarians and myself review the list. In the past three years, each review has resulted in the selection of 5 item numbers and the deselection of at least 100 item numbers where the items are out-of-scope.

Deduplication of the Collections:

With so many collections in the library, duplication and overlap of material is expected. The library staff has been working in the past couple of years on removing duplication. The library keeps two copies of all NOAA and predecessor agency publications, and 1 copy of everything else. Journal titles have been removed from the "M", "C", and "C&GS" collections and incorporated into the journal collection resulting in 2^nd and 3^rd copies being weeded. Selected historical and unique series have been selected and reclassified into LC. Duplicate copies of volumes in the series are withdrawn. This has allowed the cleaning up of the collections and one complete set of the series is now available in one location, as opposed to be scattered among 3 or 4 separate collections.

Overhead #6

* Through May 1999

This overhead shows how the collection has grown over the past 7 years. As you can see, the number of paid journal subscriptions is now back to 1992 levels. The overhead also shows the importance of gifts being added to the collection. The library has had a policy in effect since the beginning of 1993 encouraging NOAA offices to donate their surplus material to the library. This was prompted by the upcoming moves of NOAA offices to Silver Spring. As you can see, NOAA offices have responded to our request. In some cases, I received 10 to 15 full sets of the same proceedings. In a one week period several years ago, I went through over 4,000 gifts, mostly journal issues. Gifts have made up for the shortfall of a stagnant budget by filling in gaps in the collection. Normally, for every gift added to the collection, 2 gifts are surplused; however, in recent years, I have taken advantage of the NOAA Libraries Listserv to select gifts to be added to the collection and to list our surplus material. Remember, the criteria for selection of material determines what will be weeded.

WHAT HAPPENS TO WEEDED MATERIAL?

What do you do with all of the material removed from the shelves? Do you test the sprinkler system to see if it works by burning everything? Do you toss some items through sealed windows whenever you want fresh air? Whatever, your organization does, this is how weeded material is removed from the NOAA Central Library:

As a Federal Library, I have checked with the Library of Congress Gift and Exchange on numerous occasions to inquire whether they wanted any surplused material. Each time, they have declined. Utilizing the NOAA Libraries listserv, a list of books, long runs of journal titles, CD-ROMs (depending upon restrictions of the license agreements) that would be of interest are sent out to the 37 NOAA Libraries for their selection. Material not selected by other libraries is set aside for the annual library bookfair. At the bookfair, new books are displayed by publishers and tables are set up where all superseded, withdrawn, and duplicate material is placed. In the 5 years the library has held these bookfairs, there has been more interest by NOAA staff in the Silver Spring Campus in the older material than in the new books. Last year over 3,000 surplus books and journal issues were displayed and approximately 50% were picked up at the bookfair. Any material remaining after the bookfair was shipped to the United States Book Exchange in Cleveland.

I have contacted other libraries about withdrawn material which would be of little interest within NOAA. For example, when the library weeded the journal collection, there were many titles in astronomy and space science. I contacted Brenda Corbin at the U.S. Naval Observatory Library who agreed to post the journal list on the Astronomy listserv. Requests came in from around the country for about half of the titles. The remaining titles were sent to the United States Book Exchange.

Finally, there are rules dealing with the disposal of withdrawn GPO Depository material. First, they must be offered to the Regional Depository, then to the Library of Congress. If neither library selects the material, then the material is offered to the other NOAA Libraries.

Overhead # 6

CONCLUSION:

The NOAA Central Library has a policy in place for the weeding and divestment of material. The criteria for weeding has been:

1. Title is not related to the mission of the agency

2. Title is out-of-scope

3. Title is out-of-date

4. Title is not used by agency personnel

5. Multiple copies of a title

Remember, the purpose of weeding is to provide easier access to needed material, save space, and delete out-of-date materials; just like thinning out your garden.

END

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