On December 4th @ 10:30AM CST we will be hosting the final director meeting of 2020. More importantly, our esteemed guests, the NEKS public library group will be invited to vote for ca$h (gift cards) and pumpkin spiced whatever giveaways.

This is our version of an ugly sweater contest, the first annual MUSTIES. The directors will vote for the M.U.S.T.I.E.st or W.O.R.S.T. loaned item that has been weeded from a library’s collection. All members (be they school, academic, public, or special) may submit photos of retired items (cake pans, DVDs, books, anything you think has a shot at the grand prize). We want you to weed, and we want to reward you. Submissions will be anonymous until after the vote.

Send photo submissions to dalexander at nekls.org.

Get started with weeding by calling a NEKLS consultant or tackle it on your own-some, here’s a great starting spot. If you don’t have a collection development policy, or it has not been reviewed since no one knows, let’s talk.

If you need to recycle deselected books, here is a starting spot for that task.

MUSTIE is an easily remembered acronym for six negative factors that frequently ruin a book’s usefulness and make it a prime candidate for weeding:
M = Misleading (and/or factually inaccurate)
U = Ugly (worn and beyond mending or rebinding)
S = Superseded (by a truly new edition or by a much better book on
the subject)
T = Trivial (of no discernible literary or scientific merit; usually of
ephemeral interest at some time in the past)
I = Irrelevant to the needs and interests of your community
E = The material or information may be obtained expeditiously
Elsewhere through interlibrary loan, reciprocal borrowing, or in
electronic format.… Read the rest