Tips for weeding your book collection in your home library

By Victoria Waddle | Contributing Columnist

Recently, I moved to a smaller home. I’d helped my parents downsize twice, so I understood that no one wanted my old stuff any more than I’d wanted theirs. And while I’m generally unsentimental about trimming the household, I still have a difficult time weeding my book collection.

I culled 400 books, but many of those belonged to my adult sons, and they save next to nothing. I need to remove another 300 to comfortably fit my collection in the new house. As a retired school librarian, I found some collection management principles helpful, but a home library has a different, often more sentimental, value. I reached out to other librarians to find out what they do to keep their home collections in check. Their suggestions may help you as well.

First, decide which topics you are serious about collecting. Cindy Mediavilla, retired librarian and member of the California Library Association’s Hall of Fame, has several home collections including one of Arthurian fiction — works set in Camelot or featuring characters and themes from the Arthurian legend. It contains over 1100 volumes, and is never weeded. “It takes up our entire den. [I] don’t know what’s going to happen when I run out of room!” However, she weeds other collections on an as-needed basis.

Next, retired special and public librarian Kathy Shields recommends asking yourself “Will I ever read this again?” and “Does this have true sentimental value?” If you remove all the books for which the answers are “No,” “there is rarely anything else to weed.” Other librarians add another layer to this test: If a book has no nostalgic value, but you might read it again, would a digital copy do? What about checking it out at the library? Academic Librarian Peggy Murphy, who retired as a principal librarian for Los Angeles Public Library, said: “I no longer keep books that are available in e-format. I do keep nostalgic books from my childhood, books from college I particularly enjoyed such as the Riverside Shakespeare and Chaucer, books signed by authors [I] have met such as John Updike. My physical library has shrunk … to about 50 books.

I’ve found it’s easier to part with books if I can put them to good use elsewhere.

Many land in the Claremont Forum Bookshop, which supports the Prison Library Project. Other librarians suggest similar choices. Liz Leahy, an academic librarian, has large collections of books in both her office and home. “The type of book will determine where I send the copies …. I work in theology and history, and when I weed those books, they go to smaller academic libraries or to … the Theological Book Network. When I’m weeding fiction or hobby or cookbooks, they usually go to my local public library … for our book sales.” Donating to Little Free Libraries, school libraries and used book stores were also popular choices as were gifting books to friends or starting an “Adopt a Book” box or shelf at church or school.

Teacher librarian and California School Library Association Historian Heather Gruenthal makes a very important point: when donating books, ask yourself if they contain outdated values, stereotypes or misinformation. If so, put them in the recycle bin. She gives the example of Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea,” a one-time bestseller and book club read. “Later he was discredited by Jon Krakauer in a book called ‘Three Cups of Deceit.’  When I see these books in Little Free Libraries or in our school’s Book Crossing Zone, I quietly put them in the recycle bin…. The author was removed as head of his own charity for misusing funds that were meant to build schools for girls.” I’ve had similar experiences with books extolling Lance Armstrong as a model for young people.

It’s not just schools and public libraries that don’t want your out-of-date and damaged books. Yvonne Weinstein, retired school librarian and missionary for Empowering Ugandans, drives home the point that misinformation is bad for everyone.

“Do not send your outdated books to Uganda” or any other developing nation. “They need good information, too.” Dated books might even be dangerous, such as those with bad medical advice.

If you want to find a second life for books that should be recycled, Gruenthal has many suggestions, including: make blackout poetry; cut into squares to make origami paper; use in your die-cut machine to make letters; and use to make other paper crafts.

And now that you’ve made room for new books, have fun shopping.

Victoria Waddle is a retired school librarian and author. Her chapbook “The Mortality of Dogs and Humans” was recently released by Bamboo Dart Press. Her collection of short fiction “Acts of Contrition” (Los Nietos Press) is widely available.

Source: Orange County Register