Life is like a library...weeding makes things grow.

One of the hardest things that any librarian will tell you they have to do is "weeding". Do you know what I mean by weeding? It is a lot like it sounds. In fact, I recently read an authoritative article about weeding in a library that likens a collection of books to a garden. The basic idea is that you have to preen a good collection of books. Things that were once well thought out purchases or generous donations to accept at one time gradually become irrelevant, outdated, unappealing, even inaccurate. So the time finally comes when the harsh judgement call needs to be made about what stays, what needs replacing and what is simply no longer useful to the rest of the collection. And as pretentious as it may sounds, it really does take a professional to do that. Not because it is "rocket surgery" or "brain science";) but rather because you really need to take the emotion out of throwing out a book for the good of the collection. Or for the good of the library. Indeed, there is even a science behind being discreet while going through a thorough weeding process because there are all kinds of well meaning people who will do everything they can to stop you (some public users or teachers just can't tell the difference between necessary weeding and Fahrenheit 451). But the librarian must persevere. A whole collection of resources is at stake.

It is a well known phrase in the library world that "weeding makes things grow". In real terms, getting the weeds out of the collection bring ups circulation and betters the entire collection. Truly, a well weeded collection is a healthy one and thus creates a healthy library. Leaving the weeds in the collection makes resources not only less appealing but less accessible. It forces the library users to search through more than they would need to find what they are looking for (you can see how this could be a serious problem for an institution that can only compete with Google in the quality of results they offer and not in the quantity).

Can you see where I am going with this though? The whole life metaphor and everything?

Matt and I got home last month with just 2 suitcases each, from which we had lived for a year. It was hard to only have that much space to work with up when we headed out to Scotland but surprisingly easy our way back home. The surreal part began when Matt flew out to OK to load up a Penske truck with everything from our storage unit. After moving the stuff into our apartment and unpacking it, we had forgotten about so many things that we had once owned. Everything from clothes and shoes to kitchen utensils and books. How had I never realized how much stuff we owned? And as irony would have it, we have seen fit to send at least half a dozen boxes of some of this stuff to Goodwill after having moved it here! I hear it is easier to do this before a move but I suppose I will just have to keep that in mind for the next time.

Just like the book weeding process, weeding out the stuff from life can be an ongoing process or prolonged until it is a big annual project. At any rate, I think it really ought to be done at least once a year and ongoing may make it more of a habit than an emotional event to have to dread every spring.

And also like book weeding, I think I could have benefited from some kind of unbiased business professional a couple of times. There is guilt with getting rid of stuff. Things people gave you as a gift - things you appreciated but simply no longer need. Things that you once found useful but just no longer can think of a reason to keep. Things that remind you of something significant you never want to forget but really just doesn't have a place in your everyday life now. I feel like I am waxing a Real Simple article here (may I should submit this to them? ha!) but seriously, it can be tough stuff to get rid of things. But what I have found useful to remind myself of is that not only do I have a Master's Degree in knowing what is useful and what is not in a collection of information, I also probably have loads of pictures, blog entries, or dear friends to remind me of whatever I think I may forget. And for all the rest, it was nice while it lasted but I need the space for new things to grow.