Sarah,

We did a similar shifting of our periodicals section about 6 years ago.  We,
too, left space for five years of growth.  Because of continuing additions
to JSTOR and substituting online for print subscriptions as that becomes
possible, we have not had to do any further weeding.  You may, too, be
surprised to find in five years that no more weeding is necessary!  If I
were you, I would not panic yet!

Linda

Linda Harding
Periodicals Assistant
Elmhurst College Library
190 Prospect Ave.
Elmhurst, IL 60126

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Sanford" <ssanford@GUSTAVUS.EDU>
To: <SERIALST@list.uvm.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:55 PM
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