Weeding Out Nonfiction Books That Don’t Belong in the School Library

“Continuous pruning, updating, and evaluation is required if our libraries are to remain viable resources,” says Deborah Ford (Junior Literary Guild) in this School Library Journal article. “An up-to-date collection, even if small, is better than one filled with outdated or worn material… [I]t’s better to have no information than misinformation.” Ford suggests the MUSTIE acronym for tossing books that don’t belong:

Misleading – Factually inaccurate, outdated;

Ugly – Beyond mending or rebinding, pages falling out, smells musty or moldy;

Superseded – There’s a newer edition or a better book available; 

Trivial – Of no discernible literary, scientific, or entertainment value;

Irrelevant – Not useful to the school’s students, educators, or parents;

Elsewhere – The content is easily available from another resource.

School librarians may want to do a collection analysis (software is available from most circulation systems and many vendors) to look for weak areas. Technology, the sciences, and social issues are Dewey areas that can become outdated quite quickly. Another idea is holding a weeding party in which teachers, administrators, parents, and older students divide the library into sections, comb the shelves, and suggest books that need to go, with the librarian making final decisions. 

To find the best new nonfiction books to fill gaps, take advantage of book lists published by several organizations. The National Council of Social Studies and the National Science Teachers Association create annual K-12 Notable Trade Book lists. Subject-area specialists within the school or district can also make suggestions.

Ford suggests one other resource: CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries (2012) from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, revised and updated by Jeanette Larson to include e-books and other media, licensed under Creative Commons: 

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/pubs/crew/index.html 

“To Weed or Not to Weed?” by Deborah Ford in School Library Journal, August 2015 (Vol. 61, #8, p. 13), no e-link available

From the Marshall Memo #599