Hi ,

I know this was a question for upper grades but thought I'd share something I did with some old elementary books.  I identified a number of books with ugly, dated covers but books we felt had merit in keeping. This included both chapter and picture books.  I pulled them all out of circulation and displayed them as the "Ugly, Unloved Books".  Students were asked to check one out (4th grade) and if they felt it was a good book they redesigned the cover using white craft paper.  They included a "blurb" about the book in the front of the jacket and then wrote a bio on the back cover about the jacket artist! The kids had a great time discovering oldies but goodies and they enjoyed creating new, updated covers.  

As the LMS, I run a report for books not circulating and a report for copyright date (to check for currency).  Then it's the slog of looking at the books and deciding.  Not an easy task but truly cathartic.  

Be aware of your district's policy of what you do with withdrawn books.  I've heard horror stories of books being found in dumps and LMSs challenged as to the why!  We remove any pages or labels that include the library/school name before disposal.

Bev Bjorklund


On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 12:49 PM, Shannon McNeice <shannon_mcneice@whps.org> wrote:
Agree with Cathy.
I got rid of all the old looking covers, couples from the '80s, etc. Lots of cheesy Permabound art! If it was a book that has relevance, like The Outsiders, I replaced it with a copy with newer cover. But I discarded hundreds of books with old covers and yellow/stained pages. If I had multiple copies of not-popular books, I kept only one. If it was a classic, I kept it until I could afford to replace it with a better cover. (Work in progress.) I discarded all copies with no covers. (Actually I kept them for craft projects.)

Once you get going, it can be cathartic!

Shannon McNeice
Library Media Specialist
West Hartford, CT 06107

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 11:59 AM, Michele Eligio <meligio@northbranfordschools.org> wrote:
Hi,

I know this has come up many times before (so apologizes in advance) but I can't seem to remember the consensus. 

I am genrefying our collection and am dealing with a very old fiction section. A lot of the books do not look very appealing - outdated covers, yellowing pages, etc... So, I am wondering what criteria some of you have used to determine whether a book should stay or go. Thoughts? 

​




Sincerely,

Michele Eligio

North Branford High School Librarian

49 Caputo Road

North Branford, CT  06471

(203) 484-1465

 

“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.” ~Sidney Sheldon



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Head O'Meadow Elementary School
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