In the midst of a massive weeding project at work and I've come to a realization – you can have all the rules, guidelines and criteria you want. You can base your decisions on number of circulations in a given time frame, most recent circulation date, condition of the book, number of other copies in the system, potential for future use, current relevance of the material, value of the book, etc. etc. etc.
But sometimes, you will simply judge a book by its cover.
Comments 4
I am in the midst of weeding too and I TOTALLY feel your pain. And I am right on your wavelength
Why not? It's how the patrons make their decisions on what to take home. And all those factors you listed? Mostly they're to help us determine whether people will take the books out or not. So why not judge a book by its cover (or title) … at least to some degree?
(Gee. That's totally a “branch” mentality: all popular stuff, all the time).
Where are you doing weeding? (Or did you post anonymously on purpose? ;-))
Oh, I agree. But we all grew up with that “You can't judge a book by its cover” saying so I feel a bit of guilt when I do exactly that – as if I'm not giving the book a fair chance or cheating or something.
Yet that's exactly what patrons do (and what else could they do? The excerpts and blurbs tend to have an absolute sameness to them – “The best book you'll read this year/The best book I've read since/If you only read one book this year”)
Oh, and I think graphic designer is the most criminally undervalued position in the whole publishing business.