Episode 21: Diamond or Dud? Weeding Is a Lesson with Heather Arguello

Heather Arguello adds about a thousand books to her collection every year. Which means every summer, a thousand books have to go.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Heather Arguello, school librarian at Almaden Country Day School in San Jose, California, a pre-K through eighth grade campus of about 425 students, where circulation has tripled under her watch from roughly 8–10,000 a year to over 30,000.

Diamond or Dud works like this: students fill out a half-sheet slip with the title, author, call number, and copyright year, then evaluate the book against five criteria and circle a verdict. Diamond, meaning it's been sitting there unnoticed. Or dud, meaning there's a reason nobody's checked it out. Heather wants five slips per book before she decides. If a kid falls for a book mid-evaluation, they can check it out that day and save it.

Her point: weeding isn't magic, and kids should know that. When they're part of it, the collection becomes theirs.

Pillar: 🩷 Literacy

💡 Steal-this-idea: Raffle the new releases. Students enter their name for the chance to be the first to check out an anticipated title, which means they learn what's coming out and when, and a new book arrives with a waiting list instead of sitting on a display.

🛠️ Resources:

• Diamond or Dud evaluation template — Heather's half-sheet student slip, ready to print

Follow Heather: 📱 Instagram: @borntobealibrarian

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Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

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