Weeding Library and Information Science Collections:An Experience Using Student Assistants

The library of the Emory University Division of Librarianship had its beginnings in the teaching collection of the training classes of the Carnegie Library of Atlanta, and thus the genesis of the collection dates to 1899. As with almost any library collection, its development has been uneven; and, it has suffered the vagaries of fluctuating acquisitions funds, a long series of librarians with differing capabilities and interests, and—as with all academic libraries—a rather constantly shifting and changing faculty and curriculum which it supports. Given these circumstances, and the fact that the collection had never been methodically weeded in its entirety, one might conclude the need for a weeding project was almost indisputable.