Don't Freak Out! Handling Negative Reactions to Weeding

During this session I will share my personal story of weeding my academic library's outdated health science print collection. As I designed a plan to streamline my library's print titles, I never anticipated the anger, frustration, and opposition I would receive from my several members of my library team. When these challenges arose, I worked with my library director as well as researched to discover ways of dealing with these negative reactions while still completing this much-needed project. A few strategies/ideas I will share include weeding print titles owned as E-books first, repeatedly sharing the weeding criteria in print and verbally with the entire library team and allowing fellow library staff and faculty a chance to review weeded titles before they were permanently removed from the collection. Understanding the emotional connections between library staff and the print collection is important to recognize and understand before beginning a large-scale weeding project within your library. Leave this session with insightful methods you can use within your own library and library team when the time comes to weed your collection. Walk away with ways of keeping the peace within your library while developing the best collection possible.

Speaker:

Jessica Daly
AdventHealth University / R.A. Williams Library
[email protected]

Jessica Daly currently serves as Head of Collections and Electronic Resources and Head of Library Outreach and Marketing for the R.A. Williams Library at AdventHealth University in Orlando, Florida. As a faculty librarian, she holds the ranking of Assistant Professor.

She received a Bachelor of Science in Education as well as a Master of Library Science from East Carolina University. Jessica is a published author, columnist, and public speaker.

Jessica was named Hospital Librarian of the Year for 2020 by the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library of Medicine and was awarded Exemplary Instructional Programs or Services in 2022 by the Florida Library Association.

Jessica has been married to her best friend, Brian, for 24 years and is the proud mother of Taylor, her 21-year-old daughter who attends Seminole State College. She has two dogs, Bella, a Shih Tzu mix, and Scout, a Golden Retriever.

Track:

General