Na Gorushke, Na Gore*: Weeding in the Secret Garden, pt. ix

So I started weeding the Russian collection this week.

Ужас!!!

(Oh, the horror!)

I tapped a few colleagues for help and acquired a nice list of Cyrillic to English alphabets, as well as common library terms. Also found several links to the LOC website.

Plodding forward.

UPDATE: I guess popular literature can be found in any language. In addition to the Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitzyn, I'm finding Russian-language copies of titles by John Grisham and James Patterson, as well as Forrest Gump, and--wait for it--Fifty Shades of Grey!

Also doing some re-organizing.  People see 891.7 and think it can go right next to 891.73 just because the author is the same. NOT. The nice thing is that some of our multi-volume collections are looking a bit more whole again. Doing my bit for the FLP.

Onward.

*--Traditional Russian folk song

UPDATE: Just weeded the Russian translation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  That will be sacrilege to some, but it was in poor condition, and had only circulated seven times in 21 years (and not since 2005)
UPDATE II: Just finished the Russian collection. 14.6% weeded out (82 out of 590 titles), mostly condition issues. Asian next, then adding the new Arabic titles.

Onward.

Ahab the Arab*: Weeding in the world-language collection, part viii

First and foremost, welcome to our readers from the United Arab Emirates! Feel free to argue, bloviate, spout off, or otherwise engage me and my readers in spirited conversation.

Finished the Spanish collection yesterday, will begin to take on the Russian collection later this week. I've been falling behind on DVD weeding and ordering and have deadlines to keep, so the things that have the most urgency will come first--namely DVD ordering from Midwest Tape, then the Bibz list, then DVD and Russian weeding. The fun never ends...

*-Ray Stevens, 1,837 Seconds of Humor, 1962.

Concert for Bangladesh*: weeding in el Jardin secreto, part vii

Welcome to Bangladeshi readers! Country #64 heard from!

Feel free to argue with me, agree with me, state something new and outrageous.

Continuing with weeding the Spanish language collection.

Conclusion 1: Stephen King is not popular among our Spanish-language patrons.  Someone ordered the complete translated set three years ago and all but four or five titles have not moved.  "Carrie" is the leader, but only 4 borrows in three years--hardly a ringing endorsement.

June 19, 2017:

Finished the Spanish language collection this morning with a flurry of items that dropped out of the system.  Among the interesting titles in Spanish translation:

The Color Purple
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Android Karenina (no, really)
The Portrait of Dorian Gray

and a fairly recent Nobel prize winner whose name escapes me right now.

Mopping up the paperwork for the systemless books, then on to Russian tomorrow.
Onward.

Japanese Dances*: Weeding in the Secret Garden, part vi

Slogging through Spanish-title weeding.

Interesting finds:

Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
50 Shades of Grey

That's it for today--just three shelves :-). Discard rate for Spanish language titles running about 40% at this point (thru H's). I think the lower rate as opposed to Italian is reflected in the increase in Spanish speaking population here in the city.

Amusing note: The door to the breakroom from where I'm working is at the end of a short corridor, next to the Asian language collection. I opened the door from the breakroom to find a young, pretty, Asian girl sitting on the floor reading one of our books. She was a little embarrassed but I assured her it was okay. Besides, the stack of books she was checking out meant my job might be a little easier when I get to the Asian collection.  But--I have to finish Spanish and Russian first.

Onward.

*Composition for orchestra by Bernard Rogers, 1933.

Spanish Eyes*: Weeding in the Secret Garden, iv

Continuing with the world language weeding:

• Interesting titles in Spanish: Jane Eyre, Fahrenheit 451,

• Had to discard two old copies of Cervantes' Don Quixote--I hesitated but one was missing pages and the other's spine was crumbling.  I sent it out with someone who was leaving work early (Man of La Mancha reference).

• Most interesting find so far: a two volume compilation of interviews of Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Harrison, Ned Rorem and others entitled "Consules de Sodoma". Musicians know Harrison and Rorem as prominent 20th century composers;   I'll have to seek out the English translation some day.

1999*: Weeding in the Secret Garden, part iii

Finished the Italian collection today. Discarded 63% of the collection for poor circulation and condition issues.  Many, many items not circulated since before 1999. A few more in the 1/1/1980 category, and numerous books the record of which fell out of the system.

My supervisor alluded to what may be replacing everything that I'm removing, but nothing firm as of yet. She did say Arabic titles may be coming in, so we'll see what happens there.

Onward to the Spanish collection next week.

Cheers.

*--Prince, 1999, 1999. 

Language of Love* : Weeding in the Secret Garden, part ii

Some highlights of my time weeding our foreign language collection:

• Samuel Beckett in French
• Tom Sawyer, Old Man and the Sea, , and Dashiell Hammett in Italian
• LOTS of extra work to put titles back in the system--and they'll probably be weeded when no one checks them out for another year.
• French Collection--discarded 47% of titles
• German Collection--discarded 43% of titles
• Italian Collection--well over 50% so far
• longest period between last checkout and today--37 years, 5 months (January 1980)
• many items with 20+ years since last checkout

No, an item's lack of circulation isn't the only criterion for weeding. 

Onward...

*--Dan Fogelberg, Windows and Walls, 1984.