Sarah, some basic guidelines for weeding are:

1.  Usage--if you have titles that are rarely used, consider weeding them.
2.  Format--if you have titles that are both in print and microform or print and electronic, decide if you can part with the print to save shelf space.  We converted many titles to microfiche years ago and have since begun purchasing things like JSTOR in place of print.
3.  Curriculum--Evaluated your titles and determine if they truly support your institution's curriculum; weed the titles that don't meet your needs.
4.  Timeframe--There may be titles in your collection such as "Southern Living" or a newspaper that you don't need to keep 'forever'. We generally keep the current 2 months of our local paper in print and the most recent 3 years of Southern Living. When it's time to pull the older issues, we either offer then on duplicate exchange to other libraries or recycle them.  That will give you some growth space.

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me.

Dena Luce, M.L.S.

Extended Services Librarian
Faulkner University--Nichols Library
5345 Atlanta Hwy.
Montgomery, AL 36109
334-386-7482 (ph.)
334-386-7481 (fax)

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah Sanford
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:55 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Weeding print periodicals

I need professional weeding/shifting advice!

We are a small academic library with approximately 1000 active print
journals. Last summer we finished shifting the entire periodicals
collection, leaving 5 years of growth for all active titles. In many
cases, we had to use the bottom shelf because of space concerns--which
means in less than 5 years we will be at full capacity.

I am not a librarian but I am the manager of the periodicals department.
All weeding has to be approved by the librarians. What suggestions do
you have to 1) create space in the collection and
2) help facilitate a weeding project?

One idea is to document all the titles which have short runs (1-10
years) and are older than 1990 and see if I can weed these. What we
can't get through ILL we would likely keep. We keep usage stats but only
on active titles. We already have a number of titles on a retention
cycle (JSTOR, etc.) and we substitute online for print where it is cost
effective. I don't work directly with departments and have no idea which
titles we need to keep for 50 years and which we only need to keep for
5. Weeding the periodicals collection will not be a priority for the
librarians, but it's one we have to do to create space.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

--

Sarah Monson
Serials Manager
Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library
Gustavus Adolphus College
St. Peter, MN 56082
Phone: 507-933-7562
Fax: 507-933-6292

What I'm reading: The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker

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