Hi Stacy,

This is an ongoing topic with Preparators and there is interesting material on the topic that can be found on the PACCIN - Preparation Art handling and Collections Care Information Network (A Professional Interest Committee of AAM) website.

To cut to the chase though - yes current trends are towards the use of LED in museum lighting. On the site there is a link to what is probably the best resource available when starting to investigate its implementation. It is called "Guidelines for Selecting Solid-State Lighting for Museums" it is available from the Getty Conservation Institute and is available at this link.

http://getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/science/lighting/lighting_component8.html

There is an advantage though to not only understanding the theory but also the pragmatic side of things. The current state of the technology is addressed quite well on practical terms in a post in the lighting section of the PACCIN forum titled "LED food for thought from Clint Paugh". Clint is the lighting designer and interim manager of fabrication at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Missouri and was generous enough to provide us with a valuable working perspective. The link to that thread is below.

http://www.paccin.org/showthread.php?536-LED-food-for-thought-from-Clint-Paugh

Best regards and good luck!

Ashley