Hoarding is not collection development
“Discovery” of North America
Discovery of North America
A Grosset All-Color Guide
Byam
1972
Direct from the kid nonfiction section, all you want to know about the “discovery” of America. (I guess it didn’t exist until some white guys “found” it.) It is a weeder just on the title ALONE. However, if that isn’t enough, check out the pictures and text. My personal favorite is the Viking in the metal bra.
Mary
Ancient Chinese Science
Wonders of Ancient Chinese Science
Silverberg
1969
Submitter: The juvenile nonfiction section at my public library hasn’t been weeded in a very long time, as evidenced by this book about Chinese scientists. I include a picture of the card pocket in the front because of the “two cents a day” fine that is mentioned.
Holly: It does say “ancient” right in the title… but there are too many references to “recent” times in this book. A new book on ancient Chinese science would be great, though!
Great American Negroes
Great American Negroes
Richardson
1945, 1956
Submitter: This year, the school I work at decided to start a book club where we are reading a book about helping students become better readers. We were discussing the sorry state of our high school library and I mentioned how half the books could go on the blog Awful Library Books. At the end of the book club I said I was going to find a truly awful book. One of the first books I grabbed was “Great American Negroes,” by Ben Richardson. We were horrified and decided we could weed this one ourselves. The spine is truly awful.
Holly: Yes, it is. It isn’t 1956 any more, people. There isn’t much reason for a high school library to hang on to something like this. It went from a celebration of a culture of great people to downright disrespectful. There is rarely a reason to keep something “because it’s historical” in a high school library. It’s not a museum.
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