Weeding is a necessary evil. We have to weed books in order to get new books that are current and appealing for students and teachers alike, but it's sometimes hard to get rid of them, especially if we think it still has some value in it. Even parents and teachers might take offense if they see you throwing away "good books" (Spilled Milk). That's why we need to have guidelines to help us make those tough decisions. When weeding, we need to consider how much it's being used, if it looks old, or if we have multiple copies of the same book (Weeding policies). When weeding, we should do it in small sections throughout the year without making a big fuss about it. If we do, then we're giving into the possibility of protests from parents and teachers and therefore, never getting anything cleared out (Spilled Milk). Having support from the administration such as the principal is a great help in this area, especially if he (or she) is interesting in developing the library for student learning (Spilled Milk).
Checking for racism and bias is something else we need to consider when weeding. We want to give students a well rounded view of information, not beliefs of one group or another. I would never have guessed to scrutinize illustrations for stereotypes such as what animals are representing certain groups of people, as Questioning Your Collection suggests. It's easy not to think about certain things because I'm in the position of power as being white, but it's something to think about, especially if you're in an inner city school. If we don't question what we consider sacred, including classics, how are we ever going to develop our collections for a diverse group of students?
I would argue that being careful about stereotyping is just as important in suburban schools.
ReplyDeleteOn time, on target.