Marketplace updates: Weeding titles

As most library staff members already know, weeding is the removal of titles from a library's collection that are no longer needed or usable; a vital practice to keep a collection attractive, practical, and relevant. Typically, most would think of weeding a print collection in order to remove titles that are worn and tattered, not circulating, or irrelevant or incorrect due to updated information. This prevents shelves from becoming overcrowded and allows materials to remain visible and accessible for patrons that visit the library. But what about weeding a library's digital collection? Since shelf space is not an issue in the digital realm, most librarians overlook the necessity of weeding a digital collection. However, as with a print collection, weeding a digital collection has several benefits: 1)      Removing irrelevant titles – Check your nonfiction content that may be outdated. The travel books, legal guides, and medical titles in your collection may have new editions available with accurate, current information. Ask your OverDrive Collection Development Specialist for help identifying these titles in your collection. 2)      Removing unpopular content – Just like your print collection: if it isn't circulating, it probably isn't worth having in your collection. Most libraries will remove print titles that don't circulate for three to five years due to limited shelf space. Due to the archiving abilities of a digital collection, you may want to hang on to your titles unless they don't see a checkout for seven to 10 years or more. 3)      Removing difficult formats – If your patrons have download issues with device-specific formats like WMA, WMV, or PDF, it may just be easier to weed those formats from your collection. Focus on formats like OverDrive READ and Streaming video to offer patrons a browser-based experience that requires no setup or downloading. 4)      Removing expired content – Some titles in the OverDrive catalog expire after a certain time period or number of checkouts. This content, known as metered access content, has limits set by the publisher so that the digital title has a similar life span as a print title. Because of these limits, metered access titles are often inexpensive and offer libraries an easy way to weed titles that become irrelevant or unpopular. If you do not wish to repurchase an expired metered title, weed it from your collection to prevent holds from accumulating. With the Marketplace v2.5 update, you can now weed your digital collection in a few easy steps. Marketplace users with the “Library site admin” and “Weeding” permissions can now visit the Weeding tool in Marketplace located on the Library site admin page under the “Admin” tab: Once you open the tool, you will be provided with a search window to easily pull up a title or list of titles based on any creiteria you provide. You can look for titles of a particular subject, language, publisher, add date, sale date, or sreet date. You can also use this search tool to easily find metered access titles that have expired or titles that are no longer available for purchase: After you have found the title(s) you would like to weed, simply check the box next to the title name and hit the “Weed Title(s)” button: Weeded titles will be hidden from your library page within 24 hours. You can see a report of the weeded titles in your collection by visiting the Colleciton Statistics report and choosing “Weeded” from the “Status” drop-down menu: So next time your library decides to do some spring cleaning, take a look through your OverDrive collection to see if there is anything worth getting rid of. Weeding your digital collection can help increase your library's circulations by removing any outdated material, reducing unwanted clutter of unpopular content, and eliminating any titles that have expired or are difficult to download. For additional weeding tips or quesitons on the weeding process, contact your Collection Development Specialist or email collectionteam@overdrive.com.   Rob Mooney is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.

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