Draft November 2, 2011
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES
I. General Policy
The Law Library’s primary responsibility is to support the teaching and research programs of the faculty and students in the Law School. It also provides basic legal resources for all members of the Stanford community. It is the library’s goal to migrate from mostly paper to mostly electronic for serial and loose-leaf publications.
In general, the Law Library relies on other Stanford libraries to acquire law-related materials, in areas such as economics, computer science, government, history, medicine, political science, or sociology. In each instance, the decision to purchase (and the decision to select a printed, electronic, or other format) is based on the greatest utility to the Law School.
The acquisitions policy of the Law Library is centered primarily upon legal jurisdictions, and varies in intensity from one jurisdiction to another. The following divisions are used in setting the acquisitions policy:
Common Law
- United States
- United Kingdom and Canada
- Other common law jurisdictions
Foreign Law
- Western Europe
- Eastern Europe
- Latin America
- Africa
- Middle East
- Asia
International Law
Roman Law
Ancient Legal Systems
Indigenous Law
Religious Law
Jurisprudence
Criminology
Archives
Rare Books
II. Coordination & Cooperation
The Law Library has cooperative arrangements with other libraries at Stanford, and with several law libraries in Northern California. In general it is the Law Library’s policy not to duplicate materials in other Stanford libraries unless it is necessary either because of demand in the Law School, or because of access limitations elsewhere. Agreements with other libraries include:
Government Documents Library (Stanford)
The Law Library is a selective federal and California state depository, and acquires all government documents needed (1) to satisfy the accreditation requirements of the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools, and (2) the instructional and basic research needs of the Law School. These resource are supplemented with access to online databases, and recourse to the holdings of Stanford’s Government Documents library.
Hoover Institution Library (Stanford)
The Law Library relies upon the Hoover Institution library to supplement its holdings for jurisdictions in Eastern Europe, Middle East, East Asia, and African countries. The Law Library relies on Hoover’s depository collection of European Union publications, and on its collection of foreign gazettes.
III. Selection Intensity
The selection intensity levels are:
Level A – Intensive
Level B – Advanced Research
Level C – Research
Level D – Study
Level E – Basic
Level F – Exclusion
A. United States
1. Primary sources
a. Constitutions, constitutional conventions, statutory material, court decisions, attorneys general opinions:
federal and state Level A
b. Administrative regulations compiled. California, New York, Federal
Level A
Other states
Level F
c. Administrative Rulings
California and Federal Level A
New York Level B
Other states Level E
2. Secondary sources
a. Periodicals indexed in Current Law Index or Index to Legal Periodicals, and other periodicals having legal research value.
Level A
b. Bar association proceedings: ABA and state
Level A
c. Treatises, monographs, pamphlets, reports, proceedings, etc.
Major Law School interest Level A
Lesser Law School interest Level B
Periodic Law School interest Level C
B. United Kingdom and Canada
1. Primary sources Level B
2. Secondary sources
a. Periodicals Level B
b. Other publications
– Major Law School interest Level B
– Lesser Law School interest Level C
– Periodic Law School interest Level D
C. Other Common Law Jurisdictions
1. Primary sources
Level C
2. Other publications
Level D or E
English language only
D. Foreign Law
1. Western Europe
- France and Germany: Level C
Other countries
- English, French, German, Italian, Spanish only: Level D or E
2. Eastern Europe
- English language only: Level D or E
3. Latin America
- Level D or E
4. Africa
- South Africa: Level C
- Commonwealth countries: Level D or E
Other countries
- English language only: Level E
5. Middle East
- English language only: Level D or E
6. Asia
- Commonwealth countries: Level D or E
English language only - China, Japan, Korea, Phillippines, Singapore, Taiwan: Level D
English language only
Other countries
- English language only: Level E
L International Law
Includes international law proper; international arbitration; international organizations; international trade and investment; international relations, international treaties. The collection intensity depends on language
- English (including US treaties): Level B
- French, German, Spanish: Level D
- Non Roman alphabet: Level F
J. Roman Law
English language only
Level D
K. Ancient Legal Systems
Includes Babylonian, Celtic, ancient Greek, etc.
- English language: Level C
- Other languages:Level E
- Non Roman alphabet: Level F
L. Indigenous Law
Includes indigenous law from Africa, Americas, Australia, Canada, in English language only.
- United States: Level B
- Canada: Level C
- Other countries: Level D or E
M. Religious Law
Includes Canon, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, law.
- English language only: Level D or E
N. Jurisprudence
- English language: Level B
- French, German, Spanish: Level D
- Other languages: Level E or F
O. Criminology
- Capital punishment: Level A
- Other aspects
- United States: Level B
- Other countries: Level D or E
- English language only
P. Archives
The Law Library collects archival materials relating to the Law School, including publications of the Law School faculty.
Q. Rare Books
It is not the policy of the Library to purchase rare books, but appropriate books may be accepted as gifts.