TREATMENT OF MUTILATED ART BOOKS - A SURVEY OF ACADEMIC ARL INSTITUTIONS

Mutilation is an enduring problem faced by librarians worldwide. The a uthors in this study investigate how both main and departmental art li braries at academic ARL institutions in the United States handle one s pecific type of damaged materials-mutilated art books. Findings reveal that librarians at surveyed ARL libraries report a problem with mutil ated art books almost universally. These librarians have developed a n umber of strategies for dealing with damaged art books, ranging from i gnoring the mutilation to replacing the book to restricting future acc ess to the item. Factors such as cost, importance of the work, and, am ount of mutilation help librarians decide what actions will be taken o n mutilated art materials. Few libraries have color photocopiers avail able for patron use and rely more heavily on black-and-white photocopi es than color photocopies for replacement pages.