The Spring of 2024 Brought a Different Kind of Weeding

This article is from the spring 2025 issue of Hearsay, the semi-annual newsletter of the Wheat Law Library.

As I mentioned in this issue’s Director’s Corner, we did a lot of weeding in 2024. But what exactly is weeding and how is it done?

Weeding, or deselection, is the process of removing materials from a library collection to ensure it remains accurate, useful and relevant to users. Like pruning a garden, effective weeding helps a collection thrive by clearing out outdated or unused items and making space for new resources. While specific criteria may vary based on the type of library, the following considerations were used in the weeding decisions at the Wheat Law Library:

1. Content Accuracy
Materials that contained outdated or incorrect information were candidates for weeding. Superseded editions were removed when more current versions were available, unless the older edition held special significance.

2. Usage
Low circulation is a strong indicator for removal. Items that hadn’t been checked out in five to 10 years were deselected, unless they were unique or in high demand. Duplicate copies were also weeded.

3. Relevance to the Collection
Books that no longer support the library’s mission, curriculum or community interests were removed. If a subject is no longer taught or a topic has fallen out of favor, its materials were phased out, unless it held some type of special significance.

4. Availability Elsewhere
Many items were removed that were easily obtainable through interlibrary loan or that exist in more accessible digital formats such as Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline. We also evaluated how widely available items were through shared collections or consortia.

5. Special Considerations
A significant number of materials were retained despite meeting other weeding criteria. Local history resources, works by faculty, rare titles and historically significant publications warranted preservation.

6. Condition
While not included in the list of items to weed, there were books that were physically damaged — such as those with torn pages or broken bindings — that were removed, when replacement copies were available. Also, outdated formats like VHS tapes or floppy disks were pulled unless they had archival or historical value.

Guided by collection development policies and frameworks like the CREW Method (Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding), librarians approach deselection with care and intention. Thoughtful weeding helps maintain a vibrant, user-centered collection that reflects current needs while preserving essential resources for future use.