Plans to Weed: An Investigation into the State of North American Reference Collections Supporting Art and Design

This paper aims to shed light on the state of the Reference Collection in post-secondary Art and Design libraries. Recent trends indicate that the availability of electronic research tools is a factor in institutions dismantling their print collections; however, others have argued for retaining them for their convenience, low cost, and even for their value as training tools. This research seeks to determine what types of reference collections art and design libraries are maintaining, how they are using and promoting them, and what considerations go into their removal.