“Hacking” Weeded Books to Grow Diverse Collections

In 2017, ALSC blogger Angela Reynolds wrote “weeding is a perennial issue.” The ALSC Blog’s coverage on weeding over time is a testament to this. Just last year, ALSC’s Managing Children’s Services Committee wrote about how weeding is necessary to grow an antiracist collection. 

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’s difficult to discard materials. But selling or donating certain items feels like planting weeds in someone else’s garden, if you will. 

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.

The neurons kept firing, transporting me to the American Educational Research Association’s 2024 Annual Meeting. That’s when I first heard of “hacking” books and “hack jams.” 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: “hacking” a picture book set in New York City may include altering illustrations to reflect the city’s diverse population. 

Next, I was transported to Brenda Maier and Courtney Walker’s #alaac24 presentation on adapting books for students with dis/abilities. Unlike “hacking,” 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).

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, making “culture hacking” a creative intervention that engages users in liberatory programming while growing a collection for a fraction of the cost of new materials.  

What do you do with weeded materials? And how have you “hacked” or adapted materials to meet your users’ needs? Drop a line in the comments or at ktaksier@ufl.edu. And wish me luck on my first foray into “hacking” weeded books!

This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency IV: Collection Knowledge and Management.

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The post “Hacking” Weeded Books to Grow Diverse Collections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

 In 2017, ALSC blogger Angela Reynolds wrote “weeding is a perennial issue.” The ALSC Blog’s coverage on weeding over time is a testament to this. Just last year, ALSC’s Managing Children’s Services Committee wrote about how weeding is necessary to grow an antiracist collection.  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’s difficult to discard materials. But selling or donating certain items feels like planting weeds in someone else’s garden, if you will.  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…
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