The Curriculum Collection at Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a collection of materials appropriate for use in K-12 classrooms. Patron feedback indicated the space where the collection lives felt messy and cramped, which inhibited browsing and discovery. In response to this feedback, Deborah Hemming undertook a deselection project in the Curriculum Collection in Summer 2019.
While working in map libraries at Brock University and McGill University, Martin Chandler was tasked with weeding to create more study space for students, while in one instance a weeding process had already recently taken place, and in the other the collection was not in a state fit for weeding.
This talk will present two differing case studies that discuss the challenges and successes involved in atypical weeding projects, including the creation of flexible, effective deselection criteria, the need for well-developed institutional knowledge and inventories, and recommendations for physical re-organization of the collections.
Data Services Librarian, McGill University Library
Martin Chandler is the Data Services Librarian at McGill University, where he is responsible for numeric and geospatial data, and oversees the Data Lab and the Map Room.
