I began with weeding the yellow dot section (this section contains long/more complex chapter books).

I looked at each and every book up to the F section. If a book had been checked out in the last 2-3 years, I gave it a cursory once-over and usually kept it. Any books checked out earlier than 3 years ago got a more thorough perusal. I weeded several books that had never been checked out, cross-checking for what they could contribute to the collection. For example, there is a book about a Japanese girl who was injured in the atomic bomb. It hasn’t been checked out but it makes an important contribution to the collection. I also encountered books about Native peoples and referred to this excellent resource to inform my decisions about these books. 

I sorted books into a “to weed” pile and a “to revisit” pile (see photos). Several of the books I weeded are duplicate copies that I will make available to classroom teachers for their libraries. 

I then searched Titlewave (where we order our books) for new books and added several to my back to school list. I focused on books that feature diverse characters. This is a work in progress that I’ll revisit in the next school year. 

I then moved to the picture book section. I found several books that I will move to the SEL section: very cute books about new babies :), a book about a girl with an eye patch due to an eye condition, and some other emotions-centered books. I also found a wordless book that I put in my wordless book basket. I used similar criteria for weeding that I used to weed the yellow dot section.