Collection Development
Information Access and Resource Sharing Network Policies & Priorities
The Law Library mission is to provide law faculty and students with information access and research support in a professional library environment. In furtherance of this mission, the Law Library acts as a repository for selected primary and secondary legal source materials, a gateway to electronic information, a participant in resource-sharing networks, and as a depository for selected federal government documents.
The following policies have been formulated pursuant to the Faculty 2006 Self-Study Goal that the library continue to develop and transition to a digital library.
I. Policies
A. Collection Development & Information Access Policy
Our collection development and information access policy is limited in scope to materials which directly support the curriculum and the research, instructional, and writing needs of our law faculty and students.
B. Resource Sharing Network Policy
Our resource sharing network policy is to create and participate in local, regional and national library networks that expand our knowledge of and access to information through shared online catalogs, national bibliographic databases and delivery systems.
1. Factors driving creation of networks include:
a. Availability of sophisticated library software, powerful servers, and the internet
b. Consortia database pricing
c. Demand for information
d. Impossibility of information self-sufficiency for any library
C. Format Selection Policy
Our format selection policy is to select digital where there are no overriding factors in favor of a different format.
1. Factors in selecting print format include:
a. Continuing desire by the LRW instructors to provide research instruction in print materials
b. Desire to possess and retain the written record of the development of American and public international law
c. Ease of use by faculty and students
d. Faculty & student dislike of microforms and compact discs (CDs)
e. Lack of graphics and tables in some online databases
f. Limited shelf life of microforms and CDs
g. Longevity of acid-free paper
h. Problems inherent with CDs, including updating, network compatibility and user-friendly searching
i. Ready availability of print for heavily used materials
j. Risk of electronic database disappearance/content removal
k. Unavailability in digital format
2. Factors in selecting micro-formats (fiche & film) include:
a. Necessity to provide access to little used research materials
b. Shelf space
c. Unavailability in print or online format
3. Factors in selecting audio and video formats include:
a. Alternative learning methods
b. Instructional value of audio & visual learning aids
4. Factors in selecting digital format include:
a. Access to documents world-wide
b. Access to interdisciplinary materials
c. Availability of free federal & state government sites for public information
d. Desire to conserve shelf space
e. Desire to reduce expense of duplicate materials in multiple formats
f. Desire to reduce labor-intensive technical processing and maintenance of print materials, microforms and CDs
g. Ease of use by faculty and students
h. Full-text searching
i. Need to provide online research instruction
j. Publisher-provided electronic services such as individual email notification of subject-matter current developments
k. Rapid updating
l. Remote access
m. Research medium of choice by students and law firms
n. Simultaneous access
o. Unavailability in print
p. Wireless environment
II. Priorities
A. Resource Allocation Priorities
1. Annual print and online continuation costs should not exceed 90% of the total acquisitions budget in order to have funds available for new titles.
2. Provide access to major electronic databases.
3. Maintain print access to primary and secondary authority for Oregon and Washington
4. Provide access to federal primary authority
5. Provide access to state primary authority.
6. Provide access to American and public international law journals
7. Acquire new titles in accordance with our collection development priorities
8. Acquire audio and video tapes only upon request
9. Reduce looseleaf services to the minimum
10. Cancel less used print treatises which are available in electronic format through our subscription databases.
11. Implement less frequent updating for selective treatise titles (every 3rd or 4th year)
12. Acquire microforms only for retrospective materials of historical importance which are not available in electronic format.
B. Resource sharing network priorities
1. Participate in local and regional networks that provide access to inter-disciplinary materials
2. Utilize regional and national bibliographic databases for interlibrary loan purposes
3. Link to online catalogs that may be used to identify source materials
4. Participate in specific networks as follows:
a. Hatfield Library Consortium
b. OCLC
c. Orbis Cascade Alliance
C. Federal Depository priorities
1. Provide citizens within the 5th Congressional District with direct access to law related U. S. Government documents
2. Provide mediated access to GPO websites
D. Electronic Priorities
1. Provide access to databases that provide rapid updating and cite-checking of primary source materials
2. Provide access to databases that provide relevant information not otherwise available in the collection
3. Provide access to databases that provide search capabilities of legal sources not possible in other formats
4. Provide access to databases that provide a back-up to materials in the collection
5. Provide access to databases that significantly reduce research time
6. Provide access to databases that provide indexing and searching capabilities for large print collections, both current and retrospective
7. Provide access to databases that replace the need for continued collection of print/microform materials not considered essential for possession under our Collection Development and Information Access Policy (II. A.)
8. Subscribe to specific subject-matter databases that support our curriculum.
9. Access to the following materials will be primarily through online databases and web sites:
a. Foreign law
b. Periodicals
c. Periodical Indices
d. Practice-oriented materials
e. State government information
f. United Nations documents
g. U. S. Government documents (GPO Access & Thomas)
h. U. S. Supreme Court briefs, 1990 - (Westlaw)
i. U. S. Supreme Court oral arguments, 1990 - (Westlaw)
E. Print, Microform & Video Priorities
1. Acquire U. S. Federal and State primary authority (statutes, administrative regulations, court opinions, and administrative decisions) as follows:
a. Appellate court decisions for Oregon and Washington
b. Attorney General Opinions for Oregon and Washington
c. Administrative regulations in force for Oregon
d. Selected administrative decisions for Oregon
e. Regional Reporter
f. Federal Statutes
g. U.S. Supreme Court decisions
h. Federal regulations
i. All treaties to which the U.S. is a party
2. Acquire a limited number of print access materials (abstracts, citators, digests and indices) that correspond to our Federal, Oregon and Washington primary materials.
3. Acquire a retrospective and current English language law periodical collection not available online that focuses primarily on American and public international law.
4. Acquire current scholarly treatises in:
a. Comparative law
b. Jurisprudence and the history of English and American law
c. Public international law
d. Subject areas that support the civil rights of all peoples and communities subject to discrimination
e. Subject areas that support the curriculum
f. Subject areas of research concern to faculty
5. Acquire retrospective treatises which have substantial research value in:
a. Core curriculum subject areas
b. Constitutional law, international law, jurisprudence, and the history of English and American Law (we have Primary Source Media, 19th Century British and American Legal Treatises in microfiche for constitutional law, international law, jurisprudence, legal history, and maritime law)
c. Subject areas of research concern to faculty
6. Acquire foreign codes and treatises on a very selective basis, focusing primarily on support of foreign study programs and European Union countries.
7. Acquire a variety of condensed subject-matter review materials on a selected basis.
8. Acquire duplicate sets of primary authority materials not available online only where there is heavy student use. As regards secondary authority:
a. Periodicals - second subscriptions are provided for several local law reviews (placed in the Faculty Study)
b. Faculty "Recommended materials" for students - with few exceptions (Hornbook and Nutshell series, etc.) the library will not purchase multiple copies
c. Treatises - except as otherwise specified, multiple copies are not purchased.
9. Acquire specific materials as follows:
a. ABA and AALS materials selected from or included in their respective package plans. Selective ABA materials are also available through the ABA website with Director's membership number and password.
b. American Law Institute (ALI) Archives 1923 to date on microfiche. (See also HeinOnline)
c. American Law Reports (ALR's) - 1 copy. (Also available in Westlaw)
d. Bar exam questions for AK, CA, OR and WA if they are available in print and not available online.
e. Casebooks used as classroom texts - 1 copy per class section for reserve
f. Citators - Shepard's citators are purchased on a limited basis:
(i) Federal
(a) U. S. Supreme Court Reports (West)
(ii) Regional
(a) None
(iii) State
(a) OR
(b) WA
g. Concise Hornbook series (West). Selected titles
h. Court rules - Court rules are purchased on a limited basis:
(i) Federal Court Rules
(ii) State Court Rules for AK, CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
(iii) State Court Rules when they are an integral, numbered volume(s) within that state's statutes.
i. Dictionaries
(i) English language - unabridged
(ii) Foreign language (selected)
(iii) Law
(iv) Medical
j. Digests - Digests are purchased on a limited basis:
(i) Special subject digests - e.g., UCC, FRD
(ii) State digests for OR and WA
(iii) U. S. Supreme Court Digest (West)
k. Examples and Explanations Series (Aspen). Selected titles.
l. Federal documents
(i) Pre-1970. Rely on the Oregon State Library
(ii) 1970-2001. We own the CIS microfiche complete collection
(iii) Post-2001. Rely primarily on web access and the Federal Regional Depository and secondarily on our very limited selections as a Selective Federal Depository.
m. Forms - Formbooks are purchased on a very limited basis.
n. Hornbook series (West). Selected titles (1 copy retained permanently)
o. Introduction to the Law Series (Aspen). Selected titles.
p. Legal Encyclopedias - legal encyclopedias are purchased on a limited basis:
(i) Am Jur 2d
(ii) CJS
q. Looseleaf services - due to prohibitive cost and expanding availability of subject matter online, extensive care is taken in selection.
r. National Reporter System. U.S. Supreme Court Reporter and Pacific.
s. Nutshell series (West). Selected titles.
t. Oregon CLE materials
(i) Software will be purchased on a title-by-title basis for students and faculty use only. The Bar does not permit duplication of software for patrons.
(ii) Standing order for no more than 2 copies of each hardbound title
(iii) Maintain subscription to BarBooks online
u. Oregon Law Institute standing order.
v. Oregon State Bar section newsletters - selected (retain).
w. Practice-oriented handbooks (other than Oregon CLE handbooks) are not purchased unless they are the only creditable source of information on a topic relevant to our needs.
x. Restatements - one copy (Restatements are available on Westlaw, Lexis & HeinOnline).
y. Software
(i) Stand-alone software will be purchased for student and faculty use only when it is available in a network version.
(ii) Software accompanying treatise material will be processed and shelved on 2-hour reserve (subject to license restrictions)
(iii) A copyright notice prescribed by the Library of Congress at 37 CFR 201 (1991) will be affixed to software available for public use.
z. State Statutes. AK, CA, HI, ID, OR and WA.
aa. Understanding Series (Lexis). Selected titles.
bb. United Nations Category V (Law) and ICJ materials. Use web access for other UN documents.
cc. U. S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments, 1980-1999/2000, microfiche. Post 1999/2000, Westlaw
dd. U. S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1897-1991/1992, microfiche. Post 1991/1992, Westlaw
ee. U.S.C.A.
ff. U.S.C.C.A.N.
gg. U.S. Reports
hh. U.S. Statutes at large
ii. U. S. Supreme Court Reporter
jj. Video recordings by request
kk. Voice recordings by request
ll. Washington CLE materials are purchased on a limited basis.
10. Acquire rare books, funds permitting, in the area of international law. Due to the relative newness of international law, it is still possible to acquire some titles, whereas the cost factor is prohibitive for most other rare law books.
III. Procedures:
A. Binding
1. Binding shall be done by the Trappist Bindery.
2. Periodical shipments will be sent to the bindery once a month.
3. Rebinding of treatises will be done on a funds-available basis. Coordinate with Head of Technical Services on treatise rebinding.
4. New softbound treatise material will be designated for binding by the Director.
B. Gifts
Gifts of materials are accepted only on the basis that the Director may utilize them for whatever purpose most advantageous to the library (add to collection, exchange, sell, discard, etc.) The Director may offer to place gift book plates in certain items. A gift register is maintained by the Law Library Accounts Manager & Web Specialist.
C. Retention
1. Bar Exams: Retain the most recent five years.
2. Federal Register: The most recent two years of the print Federal Register shall be made available on the shelves. Available on Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline.
3. U.S. Government publications: Those received through the Depository Library Program shall be retained for a minimum period of 5 years. See 44 U.S.C. §1912. Subsequent disposal requires permission from our regional depository (Oregon State Library). Superseded documents may be discarded without permission upon receipt of a new edition or revision. See Ch. 4 of the Instructions to Depository Libraries.
4. The following items shall be labeled and shifted to the superseded location in the collection:
a. Biographies
(i) American Bench
(ii) Who's Who in American Law
b. Directories
(i) AALL, AALS
(ii) Earlier editions of Martindale-Hubbell for Oregon (the State of Oregon Law Library retains full sets of superseded Martindale-Hubbell since the 1970's)
(iii) Earlier editions of Oregon and Washington Legal Directories
c. Oregon Administrative Rules
(i) Old editions
5. The following dated materials shall be retained in the collection:
a. American Digest
b. Casebooks - prior editions after evaluation by Director or Reference Librarian
c. CFR
(i) Title 3, Executive Orders (shall be cataloged)
(ii) Annual CFR Sections Affected (four quarterly pamphlets - bind) (retain on shelf with current CFR)
d. Hornbooks - retain 1 copy of all hornbook editions
e. Looseleaf services
(i) Retain all transfer binders (i.e., unbound cases) if the content is not online
f. Oregon Revised Statutes
(i) Old editions and "Chapters Replaced"
g. Treatises - prior editions after evaluation by Director or Reference Librarian. Prior editions not retained may be made available to students
h. West's Federal Practice Digest
D. Selection
1. Responsibility
a. The Library Director shall be responsible for the final selection and de-selection of all library materials and databases with advice from the library staff.
b. Students, faculty and library staff are encouraged to make recommendations.
2. Sources
a. Brochures and catalogs
b. Classified List of U.S. depository items
c. Current Publications in Legal and Related Fields (Hein)
d. Green slip service (Hein)
e. Library of Congress proof sheets (Midwest - twice yearly)
f. Midwest Selection Service (no subscription services)
g. Miscellaneous
h. University of Michigan Law Review - book reviews
i. Used book lists (Lionel Epstein, Meyer Boswell, Law Book Exchange, etc.)
E. Vendors
1. Primary Jobbers (purchase direct if not sold through the trade)
a. Blackwell North America (in-print treatises, primarily University imprints)
b. Hein
c. Midwest
2. Second-hand and out-of-print dealers
a. Alibris
b. ABE American Book Exchange Bookfinder
c. Epstein - Washington, DC
d. Law Book Exchange
e. Meyer-Boswell - San Francisco
f. Miscellaneous
3. Retail sellers
a. Amazon.com
b. Miscellaneous
F. Withdrawal
The following items shall be removed from the library catalog, stamped "withdrawn", and recycled or given away:
1. Casebooks - old editions (after evaluation by Director or Reference Librarian)
2. CFR (other than those listed in this document under III C.5.c)
3. Digests - replaced volumes
4. Directories - superseded (other than those listed in this document under III C.4.b)
5. Encyclopedias - replaced volumes
6. Form books - replaced volumes
7. Shepard's Citators - replaced volumes
8. Statutes (other than Oregon) - replaced volumes
9. Treatises - replacement volumes
IV. Faculty Study
A. Objective
Provide a limited reference study area consisting of the following materials:
1. Oregon Session Laws, Statutes, A.G. Opinions, Citator, Court Opinions, Court Rules and Digest; Willamette Law Review; and Oregon State Bar Pleading and Practice CLE. (All of the above are also available online.)
2. U.S. Law Week
B. Limiting Considerations
1. Annual funds for upkeep
2. Easy accessibility to the Law Library main collection.
3. Faculty/office/home access to databases.
4. Space
Last updated on 07-26-2012