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Collection Development Policy — H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library |
Collection Development Policy for Information Resources
Mission
The portion of the H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library Mission Statement relevant to collection development reads as follows:
The mission of the H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library is to support the instructional and research efforts of the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law faculty and students, specifically, and those of the greater Penn State University community, generally, by supplying access to, and support in the use of, all information resources, regardless of format or physical location, needed to support the School's high expectations for teaching excellence and significant scholarly productivity (drafted, November, 2007).
Background
Library collection development is an art not a science. From past experience and knowledge of the interests of the library's users, it is possible to know with some certainty many of the resources they will need, but the needs and interests of the community are constantly changing with new faculty, new course offerings and the development of new subject areas in the field of law. To provide resources to meet the users' needs it is necessary that the selector of materials for the library make informed predictions as to what those needs will be. The collection should be developed so that the library has a broad coverage of the entire field of law and more complete coverage in areas where the curriculum and research interest of the community are intense. Some attention must also be paid to the preservation of resident collections so that they will be available to researchers in the future; however, as locally owned print and microform collection content is increasingly digitized, the Library intends to seize opportunities to deliver information in formats that deemphasize the cost, space requirements, and delivery limitations of onsite ownership in favor of robust and highly portable digital access to that same information.
Selection Process
The Associate Dean for Library and Information Services has final responsibility for all Law Library activities including guidance and oversight of the all collection development policies and practices. The Law Library's Government Documents/Acquisitions Librarian is responsible for day-to-day administration of all selection and acquisition activities including supervision of all standing and blanket orders; service as the Law Library's primary liaison with most publishers and information suppliers; identification, recommendation, and ultimately ordering of new materials deemed to be of interest to School of Law researchers; and coordination with Penn State University Libraries' Acquisitions Department to regularly assess the appropriate level of collection development cooperation and to evaluate opportunities for resource sharing when it serves the mutual interests of the School of Law and the greater University. Additionally, the Government Documents/Acquisitions Librarian is responsible for informing the School of Law faculty about newly published books and journals (through the electronic distribution of Hein's Greenslips and offer to distribute the Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) that may be of interest to them. Finally, all members of the Law Library faculty are encouraged to make recommendations, particularly in their areas of subject expertise, and to bring meritorious recommendations from students and other Law Library users to the Associate Dean for Library and Information Services, the Associate Director of the Law Library, and the Government Documents/Acquisitions Librarian for purchase and licensing consideration.
As a limited federal depository library, the Law Library selects from those documents available using procedures outlined in its Government Documents Selection Policy (see below). Under the general oversight of the Associate Dean for Library and Information Services, the Government Documents/Acquisitions Librarian is the Law Library's primary liaison with the Government Printing Office concerning our participation in the Federal Depository Library Program and is responsible for all selection, collection maintenance and recordkeeping concerning depository items added to the collection.
General Guidelines for Collection Development
- Access to, and not necessarily ownership of, information needed to support the research, scholarly, and teaching missions of the School of Law regardless of format and independent of physical location is the emerging focus of the Law Library's collection development activities. Where the same information is available in different formats (paper, microform, electronic), the Law Library will carefully evaluate the relative usability, ease of delivery to a geographically dispersed clientele, content currency, and archival stability, and comparative cost of each and factor these and other considerations into all collection development decisions made.
While core collections will still be held in print and in various microformats for the foreseeable future, the Law Library recognizes that the quality, content coverage, and site-independent availability of electronic collection resources are increasingly making it possible to supplant print and film resources whose contents are now digitized. As a consequence, the Law Library considers it a primary collection development goal to seek all reasonable opportunities to gain the instant access to core and secondary collections of incredible diversity and depth offered by digital collections while judiciously reducing its print and film holdings and purchases.
- The Library is obligated by its status as a U.S. Government Documents Depository Library to maintain the materials acquired through this program and make them available to the general public.
- The Library recognizes its reciprocal obligation to collect and preserve materials that will be of use to other libraries as we expect them to maintain materials upon which we rely. We have ongoing commitments to participate in cooperative arrangements with other libraries.
- The Law Library is currently re-evaluating this Collection Development Policy with an eye toward making it better meet the emerging and rapidly changing research, scholarly, and teaching interests of the School of Law.
As of early 2008, the collection criteria and selection guidelines listed below are still in force and continue to guide most of the Law Library's collection development decisions.
- All Pennsylvania legal materials are acquired. Where necessary, multiple copies, sufficient to meet the demand are acquired.
- Federal Materials: all federal case decisions, all federal statutory materials, and all federal administrative regulations and decisions are acquired. Access to federal materials available over the internet is maintained on public use terminals. DSL is a partial U. S. Government Documents Depository Library. Selection of Depository materials is covered by a separate policy.
- Other States: A statutory code for each state; access/ownership of each state's session laws through Hein Online, archival CD-ROM, and/or microfiche; administrative codes for selected states, attorneys general opinions for all states; and selected official court reports are acquired. Internet access to state legal materials is maintained.
- Bar Association Materials: The American Bar Association Package Plan and most state bar journals are acquired.
- All of the West National Reporter System with Decennial, Regional, Pennsylvania and selected other states' digests are acquired. These support the teaching of legal research
- Legal Periodicals: Most journals indexed in the Index to Legal Periodicals and Legal Resources Index, and selected journals indexed in the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals are acquired.
- Bibliographies and Indices: Basic acquisition tools (e.g., Books in Print, Standard Periodical Directory); standard legal bibliographies; periodical indices listed in IV.F; and Shepard's Citations for U.S. cases, U.S. statutes, and Pennsylvania are acquired (the Library relies upon Shepard's and Keycite available on Lexis and Westlaw for citator searches in other jurisdictions). Indices for UN Documents, European Union Documents, and U.S. Government Documents are purchased.
- Hornbooks and Casebooks: All hornbooks are purchased (in multiple copies where demand warrants). Casebooks and other classroom materials are not collected unless little else is available on the subject.
- Treatises are purchased guided by the following emphasis in subject areas. Treatises which involve frequent and expensive updating unsupported by curricular needs or research interests are avoided.
- Subject areas of strong emphasis:
- ADR/Arbitration
- Advocacy
- Commercial Law
- Corporate/Business/Securities/Antitrust Law
- Constitutional Law — especially U.S. Supreme Court materials including biographies of Justices
- Elder Law
- Human Rights
- International Law
- Native American Law
- Professional Responsibility — including comparative law materials
- Tax Law
- Subject areas of intermediate collection efforts:
- Elder Law
- Native American Law
- All other subjects offered in the curriculum
- Subject areas of only general interest:
- Canon Law
- Criminology
- General Works
- Trials
- British and Commonwealth Materials: Selected English statutes, case law, digest and materials of historical importance are acquired. Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and other Commonwealth materials are acquired selectively. Lexis is relied on for more complete coverage.
- Foreign Law: Cases and statutes from a few selected jurisdictions are acquired. Codes from civil law countries (especially those from which we draw LL.M. students) are purchased. Emphasis is placed on Austria , France , Italy and Germany .
- Legal Newsletters in specific subject areas are not purchased except in unusual circumstances such as a lack of other sources of information in the field. Such circumstances include specific faculty projects or moot court competition problems.
- International Documents: United Nations, European Union and Unidroit materials are collected.
- Looseleaf Services: at least one looseleaf service for each subject in the curriculum is acquired if such a service is available. These may be in paper, digital or both formats, if interest and use warrant.
- Computer Assisted Legal Research: Lexis and Westlaw are provided for students, faculty, and staff, including access from home. This access is provided over the internet along with home internet access for all students who have the necessary hardware. Other CALR systems may be made available based on cost and value.
- Every effort is made to acquire all materials necessary to support faculty research interests and to support those seminar subjects in which the students do intensive research.
- Clinic Library: A branch library is operated in the Clinic Offices with a basic practice collection with emphasis on Family Law and Disabilities Law.
- Popular Culture Materials: To enrich the law school experience the Library collects videotapes of popular films that either illustrate the image of lawyers in our society or supplement the curriculum. On a very selective basis books of a popular or generally enriching nature are purchased.
Revised: February 2008
Government Documents Collection Development Policy
Depository History
The Penn State Dickinson School of Law is located in both Carlisle and University Park , Pennsylvania . The Dickinson School of Law was founded in 1834 in Carlisle, is a pre-Revolutionary town of approximately 20,000 people that is home to the U.S. Army War College and Dickinson College . In July 1997, the law school merged with Pennsylvania State University and a second campus operation of the School of Law opened at University Park , the home of Penn State 's main campus. The H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library (formerly known as the Dickinson School of Law's Sheely-Lee Law Library) was designated as a selective federal depository in 1978.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Government Documents Section is to provide access to government information and to support the curricular offerings and research needs of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law community. The primary clientele are the students, faculty, and staff of the Dickinson School of Law and the constituents of the 5th and 19th Congressional Districts.
The collection is maintained in accordance with the requirements of Title 44, Chapter 19 of the United States Code, Instructions to Depository Libraries, Guidelines for the Depository Library Program, and the Federal Depository Library Manual .
Selection Responsibility
Selection of government documents is made by the Acquisitions/Government Documents Librarian. Recommendations from the professional and general library staff, government documents staff, faculty, students, and members of the public are considered by the Librarian when making decisions concerning collection development. The collection supports the curriculum and research interests of the students, faculty, and staff of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and the federal government information needs of the 5th and 19th Congressional Districts.
Subject Areas and Collection Arrangement
A review of the items selected is conducted once a year in preparation for the Annual Update Cycle. Collection in certain subject areas may be expanded or limited based on changes in academic programs and community needs. The collection includes congressional, executive, and administrative primary legal materials and law-related publications in areas of curricular interest, such as Agriculture, Trade, Labor, or Civil Rights.
Moderate to comprehensive collection development includes the following agencies or commissions:
National Archives & Records Administration, Federal Register Office (AE) Commerce Department, Patent & Trademark Office (C)
Federal Communications Commission (CC)
Civil Rights Commission (CR)
Defense Department, Judge Advocate General's Office (Anny) (D)
Defense Department, Judge Advocate General (Navy) (D)
Energy Department, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (E)
Federal Maritime Commission (FMC)
Federal Trade Commission (FT)
General Accounting Office (GA)
Government Printing Office (GP),
Housing & Urban Development Department, Federal Housing Administration (HH)
Interior Department, Indian Affairs Bureau (I)
Justice Department (J)
Judiciary (JU)
President of the United States (PR)
Executive Office of the President,; Foreign Broadcast Information Service (PREX) Vice President of the United States (PRVP)
State Department (S)
Securities and Exchange Commission (SE)
Congress (X), (Y1), (Y4)
Independent Agencies (Y3)
Limited collection development includes the following agencies or commissions:
Agriculture Department (A)
Defense Department (D)
Energy Department, Energy Information Administration (E)
Environmental Protection Agency (EP)
Farm Credit Administration (FCA)
Health and Human Services Department (HE)
Interior Department (I)
U.S. Information Agency (IA)
International Trade Commission (ITC)
Labor Department (L)
Library of Congress (LC)
Executive Office of the President (PREX)
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Social Security Administration (SSA)
Treasury Department (T)
Transportation Department (TD)
Veterans Affairs Department (VA)
The Government Documents Collection is arranged in Superintendent of Document (SuDoc) classification number order. Most Government Document microfiche is filed in SuDoc number order. Selected Government Documents are located in other library collections, such as the Treatise Collection and Reference Collection which are arranged by Library of Congress classification number, Periodical Collection arranged alphabetically by title, or Unclassified Collection arranged by type of material. Government Document titles are included in the on-line catalog which denotes location of Government Documents.
Formats
Government Documents are selected in all formats including paper, microfiche, and electronic materials. Selection of format is based on content and purpose of publication. Paper is preferred for its pictorial content or reference purposes. Microfiche is selected for ease in storage or preservation purposes. Electronic materials are selected for ease in searching and retrieving information and for storage purposes. Forms and posters are rarely selected. Those USGS maps that are selected are housed at Kutztown University , the Selective Housing site.
Selection Tools, Non-Depository Items, Retrospective Sources
The following resources are consulted for collection development:
DOCUMENTS TO THE PEOPLE
FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY MANUAL, SUGGESTED CORE
COLLECTION ANNOTATED FOR SMALL TO MEDIUM PUBLIC AND
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES AND FOR ALL LAW LIBRARIES
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY
GPO ACCESS (Core Documents of U.S. Democracy, and pages for the Federal
Library Depository Program )
GPO SALES PRODUCT CATALOG GPO SUBJECT BIBLIOGRAPHIES
GUIDE TO U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
INTRODUCTION TO UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SOURCES
JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
LIST OF CLASSES OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION BY DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES MONTHLY CATALOG OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS NEEDS AND OFFERS LISTS
TAPPING THE GOVERNMENT GRAPEVINE
USING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SOURCES
Additional bibliographic resources are used when appropriate. Agencies are contacted for documents that are not available through the Federal Library Depository Program. The library maintains a deposit account with GPO for purchase of materials that may not otherwise be available.
Resource Sharing
The library is a member of ACLCP (Associated of College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania) which includes reciprocal borrowing agreements and participation in a union list. Several libraries in ACLCP are government depositories. The Government Documents staff is a member of the Central Pennsylvania Documents Group. As part of the Pennsylvania State University , the library also has borrowing privileges with various libraries of the Penn State University campuses.
The Government Documents staff participates in several listservs, including GovDoc-L, DocTech-L, Law-Lib, PADocEx, and PAGovDocL. By participating in these various lists and groups, the Acquisitions/Documents Librarian gains knowledge of the strengths of other depository collections.
Government Documents materials which circulate are included in the Library's Interlibrary Loan Service.
There are a number of depository libraries located in the University Park and Carlisle areas. They include the following:
Dickinson College (Carlisle)
Bucknell University (Lewisburg)
Franklin and Marshall College (Lancaster)
Kutztown University (Kutztown)
Millersville University of Pennsylvania (Millersville)
Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
State Library of Pennsylvania (Regional)(Harrisburg)
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Shippensburg)
Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg)
Members of the Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania (ACLCP):
Albright College
Alvernia College
Bucknell University
Dickinson College
Dickinson School of Law
Elizabethtown College
Franklin and Marshall College
Gettysburg College
Harrisburg Area Community College
Juniata College
Kutztown University
Lebanon Valley College
Lycoming College
Messiah College
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Penn State Harrisburg
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
State Library of Pennsylvania
Susquehanna University
York College
Members of the Central Pennsylvania Documents Group:
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Bucknell University
Dickinson College
Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University
Franklin and Marshall College
Gettysburg College (not part of the Federal Library Depository Program, but has an extensive documents collection)
Lycoming College
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State University
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
State Library of Pennsylvania
Widener University School of Law
Collection Evaluation
A review of item number selections is conducted each year in preparation for the Annual Update Cycle. The FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY MANUAL Core Collection Lists, GPO Subject Bibliographies, and other bibliographies are consulted when reviewing the item number selections. Academic programs and community needs are also evaluated to determine item selection changes.Weeding and Maintenance
The Government Depository Collection is maintained according to the guidelines established in the INSTRUCTIONS TO DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES and other publications of the Federal Depository Library Program, and guidelines established by the State Library of Pennsylvania Regional Depository.
Government Documents materials are retained indefinitely. However, most of the superseded documents are discarded.
The Government Documents Staff makes every effort to preserve federal materials in all formats. Selected titles are bound, such as reference materials, frequently used publications, or those documents which are part of the Periodicals Collection. Badly damaged or deteriorating publications are also bound. Every effort is made to replace missing documents by contacting the issuing agency, purchasing through GPO or commercial vendor, or photocopying.
Access
The Library's on-line catalog includes bibliographic information and location for many Government Documents titles. All library collections (Periodical, Microform, Treatise, Unclassified, Government Document, Reference, Electronic) which contain government documents are available to all members of the public during public library hours. Professional staff offer reference service and assistance in locating documents not included in the on-line catalog during all public library hours.
The library subscribes to or has access to several indexing tools, including the Monthly Catalog, Congressional Universe, CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress, Public Affairs Information Service, and Government Documents Catalog Service by Autographics.
Archives Policy Statement
The Archives of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law includes material which illuminates much of the Law School 's history. These non-current records, papers and books are preserved because they contain information of administrative, legal, fiscal or research value. In order to perpetuate and augment our archival holdings, a policy must be established for collection of current records from Law School personnel and offices. To this end, the following policies and guidelines are suggested:
- All documentary materials, regardless of format or characteristics, which are received, created, or maintained by Law School administrators, faculty or other employees in conducting business for the Law School are to be considered Law School records and are the property of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law.
- All material of enduring value, when no longer in current use in the office to which it pertains, shall be transferred to the Law School Archives. The person in charge of each office shall be the judge of which records are in sufficient current use to be retained in the office, and will judge what, if any, restrictions should be placed on access to these records once the records are retired to the Archives.
- The kinds of records which should be preserved in the Archives include: (though this list should not be taken as all-inclusive)
- minutes and reports produced by committees, task forces, etc.;
- all printed publications of the Law School;
- policy statements or statistical reports of any office;
- correspondence relating to policy making;
- alumni and student correspondence is particularly valuable to historians and should be preserved;
- letters of noted persons received in pursuit of Law School business are Law School property and should be deposited in the Archives;
- faculty papers, especially lecture notes, are a basic historical resource and should be kept. Faculty members and others may restrict his/her own personal papers to access for a period of years or to only certain people;
- reprints of all publications, and a copy of all books written by or about faculty members, administrators and alumni. The Archives should be notified of books or articles published by these persons so they can be added to the collection;
- minutes and papers of student organizations;
- student publications.
- Because it is sometimes difficult for individuals to judge the value of records in their custody, no Law School records should be destroyed or disposed of without first consulting the archivist.
- Proper archival practice requires that office papers should be kept in the order in which those papers were originated. To this end, groups of records should be retired periodically to the Archives, and individuals in the Law School should make an effort not to send individual items to the Archives in a piecemeal fashion if those individual items were actually part of a larger collection of materials.
- The person in charge of the Archives will take suitable measures to preserve, arrange and describe the valuable records of the Law School and shall provide information about them, copies of them, and/or the documents themselves as required for the business of the Law School or for research purposes. If the office which created the record wishes to remove files from the Archives, it does so with the understanding that the files will be returned. Preservation of records can include placing records in acid-free file folders and boxes, and taking any other necessary steps to prevent deterioration of the records over time.
Revised February 2008
