Facilitating the serendipitous discovery of information: Planning and weeding the fine art collection

As many academic libraries face shrinking space, weeding collections has become a necessity. At Western Carolina University plans for a library renovation provided the opportunity to do a library-wide weeding project of the print collection. This article explains the collaborative undertaking of the arts liaison and the collection development librarian in weeding the fine art print collection. Included are some best practices for weeding an academic library, the importance of creating a collection that is smaller but well utilized by undergraduate students, and a description of the weeding process.