Collection weeding: Innovative processes and tools to ease the burden

Evaluating collections and ultimately removing content poses a variety of difficult issues, including choosing appropriate deselection criteria, communicating with stakeholders, providing accountability, and managing the overall timetable to finish projects on time. The Science and Engineering librarians at Brigham Young University evaluated their entire print collection of over 350,000 items within one year, significantly reducing the number of items kept on the open shelves and the physical collection footprint. Keys to accomplishing this project were extensive preparation, tracking progress and accountability facilitated by Google Sheets and an interactive GIS stacks map, and stakeholder feedback facilitated by a novel web-based tool. This case study discusses guidelines to follow and pitfalls to avoid for any organization that is considering a large- or small-scale collection evaluation project. •Step-by-step review of a collection evaluation project in a large academic library•Evidence-based evaluation criteria should be developed early in review process.•Usage statistics and other metrics are helpful, but should be used judiciously.•Project management tools help to monitor progress and improve productivity.•Innovative virtual review shelf involved professorial faculty in collection weeding.