Managing the Reference Collection:

Weeding Gone Wild

“…6 The discussions that accompanied the review of the standing orders and subscriptions were an excellent precursor to a complete review of the reference collection because they helped define and solidify a general consensus about what should and should not be in the collection. One article that was particularly useful in framing some discussions was Tyckoson' s "Facts Go Online," where the author examined the current use of a list of core reference titles he had compiled a decade earlier and determined that most of them were now rarely used because of the increased use of the Internet and databases.…”

“…27 Harloe and Barber felt that communication with technical services was so essential to the success of a review of the reference collection that they recommended the library appoint a committee to coordinate the process between reference and technical services. 28 Fortunately, the Access Services Department and the cataloging department in the BGSU libraries were extremely helpful during our review of the collection, as was the staff at our remote storage facility.…”

Issues Concerning Slavic and East European Reference Collections

“…It appeared that no weeding had been done for years and the collection, no longer workable, had become what Harloe and Barber term unflatteringly a "historical accretion of reference sources." 76 The evaluation progressed in LC call number order from the As to the Zs. A list generated from the LC online catalog of all items assigned to the Bulgarian reference collection was handy for keeping track of titles and identifying reference items that were missing from the shelves.…”