Minutes of the Information Resources Committee
for October 6, 2003

What: Minutes of the October 6, 2003 meeting
Where: Molinaro 236 Conference Room
Who: Committee Members Lester McCann (chair), Al Crist, Dennis Kaufman, Mary Lenard, John Longeway, an Gwen Miller.
Guests: Barb Baruth, Interim Director of the UW-Parkside Library, Prof. Greg Mayer, Biological Sciences

The meeting was convened at 2:35 p.m. with the introduction of the 2003-2004 committee members and the guests.

Interim Director Baruth gave a brief history of the Materials Weeding process. It is guided by the library's Collection Development Policy (http://oldweb.uwp.edu/information.services/library/about/colldev2.cfm), which was initially developed over 20 years ago and last revised in 2002. The weeding program started approximately three years ago for the following reasons:

(1) The stacks are becoming full, in many areas more full than is recommended by accepted library guidelines.

(2) A significant quantity of existing materials are in poor condition, causing patrons to be reluctant to use them.

(3) Patron surveys indicate that users believe the library collection to be out-of-date and therefore not relevant.

Shelving guidelines recommend that the top and bottom shelves be empty and the other shelves only three-quarters full. The existing stacks are too close together to meet accessibility guidelines, and the amount of library seating is believed to be below the quantity recommended for a library serving a university of our size.

The current weeding project has the following three components:

(a) Subject-related Weeding. Collections in specific subject areas are examined. Criteria are damage, circulation history, publication date (for date-sensitive materials), etc.

(b) Duplicate Weeding. Due to the history of the library's collection, many items are duplicates.

(c) Format-based Weeding. This began with an examination and removal of many 16mm films (due to their fragility and the existence of more accessible VHS and DVD formats). The LP (album) collection has received attention most recently.

Regarding the weeding project: • Weeding is being done conservatively. For example, 16mm films that were checked out at least twice in the past nine years were automatically retained.• When materials are selected for removal from the collection, they are placed on shelves on the L1 level of the library and notices are emailed to the governance mailing list, offering faculty the opportunity to have selected materials returned to the collection. The meeting attendees observed that faculty would not know why the materials were selected for removal, which would cause them to ask that materials be returned when, for example, other copies were already being retained.• Although many faculty do come to review the selected materials, many do not. The library appreciates the faculty and instructional academic staff members who take the time to help review the materials.• Even though the Universal Borrowing service is available to library patrons, the committee observed that it doesn't encourage
leisurely browsing. The same applies to many of the available electronic resources.• Weeding can occur at times when a department's area expert is away from campus, making it possible that materials will be removed even though they still have value. Related to this is the concern that currently unpopular materials might be weeded that a future faculty member would have found to be of value.• The library is marking for weeding less than half of the duplicate materials it encounters. When a duplicate exists but is different in some way from the first copy, it is typically being retained.• The librarians work on weeding only when there is available time in their schedules. While the perception may be that weeding is occurring at a rapid pace, the reality is that it is occurring only occasionally and not in all areas of the collection. The committee members were reminded that librarians like books, too, and having to select materials for removal is not an
enjoyable activity for them.Next, the committee turned its attention to ideas for improvement of the weeding process. Suggested ideas included: • Increasing the number of stacks. • Getting the departments more directly involved with the weeding process. Interim Director Baruth said that she and her staff would be happy to attend department meetings to discuss the management of holdings in all areas of concern to a department.• Increasing the faculty's knowledge of the reasons behind the `need to weed' and the process the librarians follow to perform weeding.• Help people understand the library's gift policy, so that donors know which materials the library will be able to use.
(There have been past instances of hard feelings developing due to donated materials being found for sale at the Friends of the Library sale.)Finally, Interim Director Baruth made it clear that she is concerned about and interested in the faculty's opinions of the library and its operation. Any instructor with questions or comments is encouraged to contact their department's liaison librarian. The librarians assigned to academic programs are listed here:http://oldweb.uwp.edu/information.services/library/about/staff.htm#liaisonsNo time was set for the next meeting. The chair will call a meeting when a sufficient quantity or urgency of business has
accumulated.

Meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m. Minutes taken by the chair.