{"id":32100,"date":"2024-12-19T00:01:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T05:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=32100"},"modified":"2024-12-16T20:01:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T01:01:57","slug":"hacking-the-weeds-to-grow-diverse-library-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2024\/12\/hacking-the-weeds-to-grow-diverse-library-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHacking\u201d Weeded Books to Grow Diverse Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2017, ALSC blogger Angela Reynolds wrote \u201cweeding is a perennial issue<\/a>.\u201d The ALSC Blog\u2019s coverage on weeding over time<\/a> is a testament to this. Just last year, ALSC\u2019s Managing Children\u2019s Services Committee<\/a> wrote about how weeding is necessary to grow an antiracist collection<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As I helped weed a school library collection this year, the staff and I debated what to do with books we deleted from the catalog. Yes, it\u2019s difficult to discard materials. But selling or donating certain items feels like planting weeds in someone else\u2019s garden, if you will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week we removed the stickers and dust jackets from weeded books to reduce the likelihood of their return. One afternoon, as I watched a student helper rip a dust jacket off with a smile, I was transported back to cutting up old magazines in my own childhood. There was something liberatory about it, especially when I used the clippings to create something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neurons kept firing, transporting me to the American Educational Research Association\u2019s 2024 Annual Meeting<\/a>. That\u2019s when I first heard of \u201chacking\u201d books<\/a> and \u201chack jams<\/a>.\u201d The basic idea is that materials are critically analyzed alongside users and altered to be more relevant. In many cases, these alterations disrupt the narrative of the original material. For example: \u201chacking\u201d a picture book set in New York City may include altering illustrations to reflect the city\u2019s diverse population.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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At <\/em>#alaac24<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Courtney Walker<\/em><\/a> passed around a copy of <\/em>Brenda Maier<\/em><\/a>\u2019s <\/em>The Little Green Swing<\/a> adapted to meet students\u2019 needs. (Photo courtesy of K. Taksier)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Next, I was transported to Brenda Maier<\/a> and Courtney Walker<\/a>\u2019s #alaac24<\/a> presentation<\/a> on adapting books for students with dis\/abilities. Unlike \u201chacking,\u201d the purpose of adapting books is to maintain the original narrative, not disrupt it. For example: adapting a picture book set in New England may include affixing leaves (real or artificial) that allow for a tactile understanding of the changes that deciduous trees undergo (see image above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This unexpected time travel helped me realize we can alter weeded books to meet users’ needs. Public school libraries only have the budget to replace about 89 books a year<\/a>, making \u201cculture hacking\u201d a creative intervention<\/a> that engages users in liberatory programming while growing a collection for a fraction of the cost of new materials.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you<\/em> do with weeded materials? And how have you \u201chacked\u201d or adapted materials to meet your users\u2019 needs? Drop a line in the comments or at ktaksier@ufl.edu<\/a>. And wish me luck on my first foray into \u201chacking\u201d weeded books!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency IV<\/a>: Collection Knowledge and Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you are interested in submitting a guest post, you can learn more here<\/a> and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2017, ALSC blogger Angela Reynolds wrote \u201cweeding is a perennial issue.\u201d The ALSC Blog\u2019s coverage on weeding over time is a testament to this. Just last year, ALSC\u2019s Managing Children\u2019s Services Committee wrote about how weeding is necessary to grow an antiracist collection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[2870,47,1604,1614,38],"tags":[2907],"class_list":["post-32100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-kelley-taksier","category-collection-development","category-competencies-for-librarians-serving-children-in-public-libraries","category-knowledge-curation-and-management-of-materials","category-programming-ideas","tag-hacking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}