Hoarding is not collection development
KnoWhutIMean Vern?
Ask Ernest!: What, When, Where, Why, Who Cares
Worrell (fictional character)
1993
Submitter: Here is a poster child for the importance of weeding your library’s humor section. Helpfully, the book’s subtitle asks many of the relevant questions I had about it being in our collection, such as why? Why was this book ever printed? What? What was someone thinking when they bought it? Who cares? This dated gem hadn’t circulated in over a decade, so I guess the answer is no one. From a public library.
Holly: Ernest P. Worrell was pretty darn funny to middle schoolers everywhere in the 80s. (Ok, to adults too, though they might not admit it.) Sadly, Jim Varney, who played Ernest, died of lung cancer in 2000. In other words, kids today grew up in a world without Ernest and Vern and this book is only valuable to nostalgic adults. It wasn’t a horrible choice for a public library in 1993, but it definitely had a limited shelf life and could have been weeded shortly after Varney’s death. Also, I’m bothered by the typo in the last image below.
TV Superstars
TV Superstars Scrapbook
Itfinoski and Lackmann
1984
Of course I snagged this title! Four shows all in one book. I am sure that the title/cover alone would have garnered readers back in the 80s. However even for a kid’s book, then the content is a bit “light.” No really solid bio information or even behind the scenes gossip. Although let’s be honest, the really juicy stuff doesn’t happen to some of these people for another few years.
Mary