Collection Development

Part I: Goals and Operating Principles

Purpose

The main purpose of the University of San Francisco Zief Law Library collection is to provide the USF School of Law with an adequate, well balanced collection of legal materials to support the curriculum and faculty scholarship. This policy provides the collection development (CD) team, composed of most of the law librarians, with a set of selection guidelines. The policy also provides law library patrons with information about the criteria upon which selections are made. The policy seeks to be flexible and adaptable to technological changes in the acquisition, storage, retrieval and preservation of information. The policy will be periodically reviewed to determine the validity of stated principles and procedures, to incorporate curriculum and scholarship changes and to assess fiscal considerations influencing collection development.

Patrons

The Zief Law Library's primary patron base consists of current USF law faculty and students. As staff, budget, and other resources permit, the law library will also attempt to accommodate the needs of the USF University community, alumni, and members of the local bar.

Government Depository Status

The law library has a selective housing arrangement with USF's Gleeson Library-Geshcke Center (“Gleeson” or “University” library), a federal government document depository. Under the shared housing agreement, the law library houses federal depository materials pertinent to the needs of the law school community. The law library is also a selective depository for California state documents. As a result of these arrangements, the law library makes available to the general public, as required by law, the federal and California state government documents received through depository status.

Part II: Collection Access

Access

Access is defined as the continuing ability of the library and its staff to provide users with identifying information about the titles of materials held on-site in a variety of formats, available through online subscription, or procurable through other means.

Methods of Access

The ultimate goal of the law library staff is to provide continuing access to the information needed by the patron whether or not encompassed within the library's physical collection. The library and its staff assist users in obtaining desired information in a variety of ways, including the use of databases or other technological means, interlibrary loan, and cooperative agreements with other institutions.

The law library's reference, reserve and general collections are fully cataloged and accessible via USF's online public catalog (Ignacio). The law library had subscribed to the Research Library Information Network (RLIN) since 1984, and in 2007 shifted to OCLC with the RLIN/OCLC merger. The law library has been using Innovative Interfaces Inc.'s automated library system since 1991 (in cooperation the University's Gleeson Library) and has since been upgraded to Millennium, the Java-based Innovative system.

The library's microform and audio-visual video collections are cataloged, and patrons may view and print hard copies of the microform collection using microfiche and microfilm reader/printers. Both the law school and the law library have equipment for viewing videotapes and DVDs. The law school owns many computers available through which online materials are accessible. These materials are also accessible to members of the law school community via remote access.

The library has been a subscriber to Westlaw and LexisNexis for many years. The reference staff provides mandatory training on both systems to first-year law students as part of the first-year Legal Research, Writing & Analysis course. Westlaw and Lexis representatives offer beginning, refresher, and advanced training sessions on the legal databases to non-first year students each semester.

Periodical titles and locations are listed in the online catalog. Article level access to the periodical collection can be found using Index to Legal Periodicals (print and online), LegalTrac, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, and the Index to Legal Periodicals and Legal Resource Index databases on Lexis and Westlaw.

Part III: General Acquisition Guidelines

Collection Level

The law library collects at the Instructional Support Level in all major subject areas taught at the USF School of Law. Instructional Support Level is defined as a collection or access capability that is sufficient to support instruction and research at the J.D. level, and at the LL.M level in subject areas where the LL.M degree is available. This level consists of a selection of (1) reference tools; (2) primary materials and documents, extensively; (3) significant monograph titles; and (4) the significant journal titles in the field. Basic legal research and bibliographic tools are included. Superseded material need not be retained. The emphasis is on building and maintaining current and representative collections adequate to provide knowledge of a subject for generalized purposes.

Criteria for Recommending Acquisition

• Authoritativeness of publisher or producer
• Significance of the subject
• Importance and expertise of the author
• Accuracy of the information and data
• Potential for known use by patrons
• Importance to the total collection
• Appearance of title in important bibliographies, lists, and reviewing media
• Current and/or permanent value
• Scarcity of material on the subject
• Availability of material elsewhere in the region
• Cost
• Format (print, microfiche, digital, etc.)
• Longevity of format
• Physical quality (binding, print, margins, etc.)
• Duplication
• Available space
• Maintenance (actual and staff costs)

Format

Decisions about format are made based upon the reliability and permanence of access, within acceptable cost limits. The preferred format is print for core materials; microform is acceptable for historical treaties, statutory & other legislative history and historical administrative materials, historical case law, court records and briefs, bar journals and other infrequently used historical or non-U.S. materials. Electronic resources are used to supplement print materials, and in some cases, replace, print formats.

Imprint Dates

In general, the law library acquires current material (i.e., having an imprint date within the last ten years) as a higher priority than acquiring retrospective material. Retrospective material is acquired if it constitutes a part of a back file of a current title, if it is likely to receive a high degree of use, or if it is received through donation.

Duplication

Duplication within the collection is avoided unless there is a demonstrable need for additional copies based on student and faculty use. Additional copies of the same title are not purchased unless class size or heavy demand warrants purchase.

Duplication of large sets may occur through micro format or through access on Lexis and Westlaw. Availability of materials in other Bay Area libraries, particularly those in the members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) consortium to which the USF law library belongs, is taken into consideration to avoid duplication of expensive or rarely used items.

The law library does not duplicate materials housed in the University library collection unless duplication is warranted because of the volume or nature of use. The law library relies on the University library to provide interdisciplinary materials unless requested by a law faculty member, or other factors justify purchasing additional copies. An example of a title that would be duplicated is the Code of Federal Regulations, since this title is heavily used in the law school. The law library will rely on the University-wide automated library system to ascertain the holdings of the University library during the selection process.

Depository Materials

At present the University library is a federal depository, and the law library is a state law depository. The law library sends non-legal state documents to the University library. The law library receives some federal government document titles from the University library and purchases the remainder. See above under Government Depository Status.

Micro Formats

Microfilm and microfiche, with preference for microfiche, will be acquired primarily to:

• Acquire retrospective back files
• Reduce shelf space required for hard copy
• Provide duplication of large sets
• Provide research materials
• Replace deteriorating materials
• Save costs in acquiring materials
• Provide desired material not available in other formats

Audiovisual Materials

Audio and video materials are purchased upon the recommendation of a faculty member for use in a specific course. Video materials are purchased in DVD format, if available; otherwise library purchases the VHS format. If possible, the requesting faculty member should preview video materials before purchase. The CD team also purchases law-related DVD materials to support certain courses as requested by faculty, or if, in the judgment of the CD team, the purchase is warranted to support the curriculum.

Digital Materials

The CD team subscribes to digital materials such as CALI exercises, LLMC Digital, HeinOnline and similar legal resources when the online subscriptions meet the collection development criteria.

Accessibility in Lieu of Acquisition

The Zief Law Library uses the OCLC bibliographic utility. The library staff also accesses other library catalogs such as those of the University of California and California State Library systems, Stanford Law Library, etc., via the Internet. The law library maintains reciprocal access agreements for faculty and students with private academic law libraries in the Bay Area. If USF library staff is able to ascertain through OCLC or other means that the desired material is available through interlibrary loan, preferably from a local academic law library (Berkeley, Golden Gate University, or Hastings) or the Santa Clara School of Law (a member of the Jesuit Law School Consortium to which USF belongs), the law library may avoid duplicating the purchase of expensive and rarely used titles. USF's geographic proximity to county law libraries in the Bay Area means that this law library may have less need to purchase practice oriented works to meet the clerking needs of our students.

Part IV: Specific Acquisition Guidelines

Subject Areas Collected to Support Curriculum

• Administrative Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (U.S. and Foreign/International)
• Animal Law
• Antitrust Law
• Appellate Advocacy
• Arbitration
• Art Law
• Bankruptcy
• Bioethics
• Business Planning
• California Law, Generally
• Children's Rights
• Chinese Law and Legal System
• Civil Litigation Practice
• Civil Procedure
• Civil Rights Law
• Commercial Transactions
• Community Property
• Comparative Law
• Conflict of Laws
• Constitutional Law
• Construction Law
• Contracts
• Copyright Law
• Corporate Taxation
• Corporations and Partnerships
• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Cyberspace Law
• Death Penalty Law
• Discovery
• Discrimination Law
• Education Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment La
• Entertainment Law
• Environmental Law: California, Federal and International
• ERISA
• Estate Planning
• European Union Law
• Evidence
• Family Law
• Federal Courts
• Forensic Evidence
• Gender & Sexuality Law
• Health Care Law
• HIV/AIDS Related Issues
• Housing Discrimination
• Human Rights
• Human Rights Law
• Immigration & Refugee Policy
• Information Technology Law
• Insurance Law
• Intellectual Property
• International Business Transactions
• International Economic Relations
• Jurisprudence
• Juvenile Law and Justice
• Labor Law
• Land Use
• Legal History
• Legal Research, Writing & Analysis
• Legal Scholarship
• Local Government Law
• Marine Insurance
• Maritime Law
• Native American Law
• Negotiation
• Occupational Health and Safety Law
• Patent Law
• Predatory Lending Law
• Privacy Rights
• Professional Responsibility and Ethics
• Public Interest and Nonprofit Organizations
• Public International Law
• Real Estate Transactions
• Real Property
• Remedies
• Securities Regulation
• Secured Transactions
• Sports Law
• Street Law
• Supreme Court
• Taxation (Federal and Foreign/International)
• Telecommunications Law
• Torts
• Trademark
• Trial Advocacy and Practice
• Uniform Commercial Code
• Venture Capital Law
• Water Law
• Wills and Trusts
• Workers' Compensation Law

Part V: Collections Maintained

The law library maintains the following collections:

National Materials - General

• American Digest System
• Corpus Juris Secundum and American Jurisprudence, first and second editions
• Words and Phrases
• ALR Complete
• ALI Restatements
• Uniform Laws Annotated, Master Edition

Federal Materials

U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, U.S. Supreme Court Reports (L. Ed.)

• U.S. Law Week
• Federal Reporter (complete)
• Federal Supplement
• Federal Appendix
• Federal Rules Decisions
• Federal Cases
• Tax Court Reports
• Board of Tax Appeals
• Federal Digest sets
• Statutes at Large, U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements
• U.S. Code, USCA, USCS
• Code of Federal Regulations
• Federal Register
• Administrative Agency Reports
• Attorney General Opinions
• Congressional Information Service Set
• CIS Serial Set
• Supreme Court Records and Briefs
• Shepard's Citations, U.S. and Federal

California Materials

• Official state reports and California Reporter
• Annotated code compilations and earlier state laws and codes
• Session laws and legislative journals
• State digest sets and legal encyclopedia
• Attorney General Opinions
• California Code of Regulations
• Shepard's Citations
• Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) publications (practices and program guides)
• Rutter Group publications
• Matthew-Bender practice guides
• Form and practice books
• Legal treatises on a comprehensive scale
• Selected legal periodicals, newspapers, and newsletters published in California
• Court rules
• Nolo Press California self-help materials

Other States

• Current compilations of all state statutes or codes
• Shepard's state citations (online)
• State session laws (microform and online)
• Research guides (selectively as available)

Additional Materials

• National Reporter System, complete [Only Pacific Reporter Digest is updated] Shepard's regional reporter citations
• Reports of the state courts of last resort published prior to the National Reporter System
• Specialized reports whose subject matter is relevant to the curriculum (i.e. criminal law reports, bankruptcy reports, environmental reports, etc.)
• General and specialized bibliographies to support the curriculum
• CALI exercises
• Foreign, Comparative and International materials [See discussion below for library's approach to collection of these materials]

Texts, Treatises, Looseleaf Services

Generally recognized texts and treatises and loose-leaf services to support the curriculum

At least one copy of all hornbooks and nutshells relevant to the collection.

Law Reviews and Journals

• Publications of the State Bar of California, except ephemeral newsletters American Bar Association Journal and the publications of the ABA, except ephemeral newsletters
• Publications of the American Bar Foundation
• All scholarly journals published by ABA-accredited California law schools
• Primary law reviews or scholarly journals published by ABA-accredited law schools
• Selected scholarly specialty journals published by ABA-accredited law schools
• Most law periodicals indexed in Index to Legal Periodicals or in Current Index to Legal Periodicals
• Many periodicals indexed in Foreign Index to Legal Periodicals
• Local and national legal newspapers
• Specialized journals whose subject matter supports the curriculum

Indexes

• Index to Legal Periodicals
• Foreign Index to Legal Periodicals
• Legal Resource Index on LegalTrac and as supplied by Lexis and Westlaw

English and Commonwealth Materials

• English Reports and Law Reports
• Halsbury's Laws of England
• Halsbury's Statutes of England (on Lexis after 1985)
• English and Empire Digest (now "The Digest")
• Selected Commonwealth reports

Part VI: Selection Criteria – U.S. Law Collections

California Materials

The Zief Law Library maintains a comprehensive collection of California legal materials, with duplicate copies of state codes, various case law reporters and finding aids. The law library collects all scholarly periodicals produced by ABA-accredited California law schools and retains depository status for selected California documents. The library has a standing order to receive all print materials from the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) and Nolo Press legal self-help materials. The law library subscribes to California administrative codes, and acquires most treatises and loose-leaf materials that cover various aspects of California law.

Reference Material and Open Reserve

The law library maintains a separate reference collection located near the entrance of the library. For cost-efficiency reasons, the library generally does not purchase new editions of expensive reference tools (e.g., Gale publications) every year.

The law library also shelves heavily used treatises, practice guides and study aids near the reference desk in an open reserve area. Having these materials in an easily accessible location greatly benefits the students and other library users, and the reference desk staff regularly utilizes this collection when helping students get started on their research or find information to support their coursework.

Treatises

Acquisition of treatises is made at the Instructional Support Level. The CD team continues to replace older editions with new editions; however, if a decision is made not to purchase a more current edition, the older edition should be flagged as superseded and put into storage, or, where appropriate, removed from the collection. Supplementation and maintenance costs are strong factors in the decision of whether or not to purchase a treatise title. Authoritativeness of the author, quality of the information, and institutional affiliation are also major criteria to consider in the selection of treatises.

Loose-leafs & Continuations

Loose-leaf services, where available, are purchased in those highly regulated areas of law regularly addressed by the curriculum. In the selection process, special attention is given to cost of the material and duplication of the coverage. The law library endeavors to expose law student patrons to as many different services as possible as part of their legal research education. Continuation treatises and practice guides are purchased and maintained in as many areas of the curriculum as library resources permit.

Case Reporters (non-California)

The law library relies on the West regional reporters to provide coverage for states other than California as they are timelier than official reporters and are produced under high quality control standards. The law library retains the pre-National state reporter system either in hard copy or on microfiche. The reputation of the publisher for quality control and timeliness should come into play in the selection of reporters.

Periodicals

The law library subscribes to all primary law reviews/journals published by law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. The library also subscribes to select specialized law journals affiliated with ABA-accredited law schools so long as they support the curriculum and scholarship of the USF School of Law. The library does not purchase new subscriptions to foreign law reviews listed in the Index to Legal Periodicals and instead relies on HeinOnline, Lexis, Westlaw or interlibrary loan for the occasional request for the foreign law review article. Bar journals are purchased in micro format. Cost and format play a significant role in the selection process.

State and Federal Documents

The CD team selects legal materials that support the curriculum or are desirable as reference resources. The library coordinates these selections with the Government Documents librarian at the University library to take advantage of the depository status. If materials are available on CIS Congressional hearings, reports, documents, etc., the library does not purchase duplicates from the GPO. The library generally does not purchase items available via GPOAccess unless the demand wants a better print copy than can be obtained by downloading the file from the web. The law library acquires state documents that support the curriculum and passes other materials to the University library.

Professional Materials

The law library collects library-related management titles as needed to support the work of the law librarians.

Gifts

The law library accepts gifts and donations of materials only if the proffered material can be used to enhance the collection or replace worn out volumes. The library does not have enough staff to process the gifts; limited space also precludes the acceptance of gifts as a gesture of goodwill or political expediency. Gifts of library materials are accepted provided no conditions are attached and materials conform to selection guidelines. Cash donation offers are negotiated if conditions are attached. No commitment to accept gifts is made until after consultation with the collection development librarian or law library director. An acknowledgment of receipt and thank you letter to the donor is sent with a copy to Alumni Relations/Development.

Conditions under which gifts are accepted are as follows:

• The law library determines the classification, housing, and circulation of all gift items.
• The law library retains the right to dispose of gifts at any time and in any manner deemed appropriate.
• The law library does not evaluate the value of the gift for tax purposes.
• The law library may refer donors to used book dealers who can help them determine the value of the books.

Part VII: Guidelines for Collection of Foreign, Comparative and International Law Materials

The Zief Law Library's foreign, comparative and international law collection includes materials that are selected to complement the law school curriculum and scholarship interests of the law school faculty and patrons. New materials are acquired based on the following guidelines.

General Criteria – All Areas

The Library collects primarily English-language materials.

Factors to consider in selecting materials are:

• Relevance to courses being offered, and/or special USF Law programs such as the Center for Law and Global Justice and the International Human Rights Clinic
• Relevance to current faculty research interests
• Relevance to topics of current interest ("hot" topics), about which there are frequent reference questions

Specific Areas

Public International Law

Public international law deals with relations among sovereign nation states. The Library collects materials that address the following:

• United Nations and its operations
• Organization and operation of other international government organizations (IGOs)
• Location and interpretation of treaties
• International trade (as regulated by treaties such as NAFTA or the GATT, and by bodies such as the WTO)
• Law of "commons," which are spaces/regions that are not under the sovereignty of any nation (e.g., the high seas, outer space, and Antarctica)
• Human rights, including refugee law, children's rights, and women's rights
• Law of war and war crimes tribunals and of dispute resolution among nations
• International criminal law (core materials only)
• Environmental law (core materials only)
• Labor law
• Theoretical and jurisprudential issues (if written by a respected author or scholar)
• Arab-Israeli peace process and current literature on the Middle East conflicts
• International law relating to terrorism

Private International Law

Private international law involves rules which govern the choice of law in private matters, such as business contracts, family law, and the like. The Library collects in this area to the extent the materials deal with:

• Conflict of laws
• Transnational business arrangements
• Dispute resolution among private parties in multi-national transactions
• Litigation of cases with multi-national aspects

Where potential purchases have a focus on certain jurisdictions or regions, collection efforts should be toward materials involving the Pacific Rim, North America, Europe, and the nations listed below in the "Foreign Law" section. Materials with a strong practitioner orientation (e.g., how-to manuals, form books, etc.) are generally beyond the scope of the collection, unless they support a course taught at the law school.

Comparative Law

Comparative law is the study of laws and legal systems of different nations. The law library collects comparative law-related materials in the following areas:

• Theories of comparative law, if written by a respected author or scholar, or the source is favorably reviewed
• Intellectual property and technology
• Trade regulation and antitrust law
• Environmental law
• Biotechnology and bioethics
• Business organizations and transactions
• Privacy and data protection
• Constitutional law
• Family law
• Labor and employment law

Foreign Law

Foreign law refers to the law of an individual foreign country, or a supranational entity, such as the European Community (EC)/European Union (EU). This includes both primary and secondary sources. Generally, the Library does not collect primary foreign law, except as it is found in English translations and deals with subjects of interest to our patrons.

Materials collected include:

• Translations of major codes (civil, commercial, penal, procedural). European countries whose codes would be considered for collection are France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia, and other EU member nations. Asian countries whose codes would be considered include, but are not limited to, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Codes from Mexico will be considered due to the relationship between Mexico and the United States arising from NAFTA and other trade agreements, treaties and conventions. Codes of other nations may be collected if they support the curriculum of the law school or the research needs of the library's primary patrons.
• Overviews of the laws/legal system of an individual jurisdiction
• Resources about doing business in a single foreign country (secondary sources or translations of laws)
• Intellectual property laws of a foreign state

Country-specific materials with a strong practitioner orientation (e.g., how-to manuals, form books, etc.) are generally beyond the scope of the collection, unless they support a course taught at the law school.

Note: This policy does not cover Commonwealth jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These jurisdictions are a special case, because of their closer relation to the United States legal system. The law library collects English case and statutory law, Canadian federal case and statutory law, core treatises in English law, and other secondary sources on English and Canadian law that support the curriculum or relate strongly to faculty research interests. The library collects minimal, core secondary works on Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Australian and New Zealand law.

Part VIII: Collection Methods

Purchase of Materials, Generally

The law library maintains standing orders for case reporters, statutes, Nutshell series books, Continuing Education of the Bar of California (CEB) materials, Nolo Press self-help materials, and other continuation-type material provided by major legal publishers such as Thomson/West, Wolters-Kluwer/Aspen, BNA, LexisNexis, etc. The law library also employs an academic press preview plan for monograph selection.

The law library maintains subscriptions to law reviews and journals through William S. Hein & Co. Hein also maintains standing orders on particular titles for the law library. The library subscribes to the “green slip” service through Hein, and most monograph orders are placed through Midwest or other academic press preview plans.

The library maintains loose-leaf services and other continuations through service representatives of various publishing companies. The technical services librarian maintains contact with the representatives so that the library may review continuations and make renewal decisions regarding the services prior to yearly price increases.

The library maintains law-related government documents forwarded by the University library, which is a federal depository, and processes and counts the official legal reports received through the University's depository status. The law library purchases those documents not received from the University library through a law book vendor or in micro-format from microform vendors, or where the documents are available for downloading from U.S, government web sites, by downloading, printing, and binding the documents, provided that the format suits the needs of the library's patrons.

The library maintains the microform collection through direct order, plus standing orders on open-ended titles.

The library acquires treatises through an ongoing selection process involving the CD team. These individuals also make decisions and recommendations about new periodicals, loose-leaf reporters, other serials, microforms and digitized material.

Selection Process

The CD team works collaboratively to review and identify various materials for acquisition by the law library. The collection development librarian initiates the review process by screening slips, catalogs, brochures, book reviews, and other sources. She then makes these materials available at the reference desk for review by the other members of the CD team. The team members provide feedback and reasons why they would or would not recommend particular titles for purchase.

Law faculty, students, and other library staff assist in the selection process by keeping the team informed as to patron requests, gaps in the collection, and deficiencies of coverage of materials in the collection. In addition, the reference librarians, via the faculty liaison program, regularly evaluate specific subject areas of most interest to the law professors to ensure that the library collection complements teaching and scholarship needs. Recommendations from faculty and students are also encouraged. A "New Acquisitions" list is produced bimonthly to inform the faculty of new titles in the library.

The library continues to make the selection process a joint effort to maintain a balanced, well-rounded collection. The librarians remain cognizant of ABA and AALS standards and have in place the requisite core collection of primary materials and secondary materials. The library will continue to add texts and treatises in substantive fields relevant to the school's curriculum and areas of faculty scholarship.

Retention of Superseded Materials

Some superseded legal materials retain value for historical research purposes. Print materials that fall into this category may be removed from the collection if they can be accessed through Lexis, Westlaw, or other electronic means.

The law library currently retains:

• One copy of superseded editions of all authoritative treatises collected.
• One copy of superseded significant multivolume treatises and encyclopedias.
• Copies of some BNA, CCH, etc. sets.
• All superseded California primary materials (West in microform and Deering's in print).
• One copy of superseded CEB handbooks.
• Superseded editions of Halsbury's Laws.
• Former editions of the United States Code on microform.
• Superseded copies of USCA on microform.
• The California volumes of Martindale-Hubbell.

At present the law library discards superseded volumes of the following sets:

• Am Jur 2d & Corpus Juris Secundum
• Am Jur Legal Forms, Proof of Facts, Pleading and Practice
• ALR 2d Later Case Service
• Shepard's Ordinance Law Annotations
• Lawyer's Edition Digest
• All West Digests
• West's California Code Forms
• USCS
• All state code volumes, except California
• Shepard's citators
• Cal Jur
• Uniform Laws Annotated
• Nichols form books
• West form books
• UCC case digest and reporting service
• English and Empire Digest (now "the Digest")
• Halsbury's Statutory Instruments, Statutes of England
• Canadian Encyclopedic Digest, Canadian Abridgement

Weeding

Judicious and systematic weeding is recognized as important to keep resources current and viable. The law librarians re-evaluate the library collection on a continual basis in conjunction with the selection of new and replacement volumes. Faculty members are also consulted to make weeding decisions in certain subject areas.

Materials weeded include:

• Superseded volumes, in current sets, as volumes are replaced. (Exception: California materials that are retained for historical purposes).
• Materials that contain obsolete or misleading information
• Surplus copies of standard works no longer in demand
• Worn out or extensively mutilated books that have been replaced
• Material that has been converted to microform or other format
• Pocket parts, newspapers, and other supplementary material that has been superseded by hard copy or other format
• Legal education program materials that are outdated
• Outdated practice handbook

Binding

The technical services assistant is responsible for sending periodic shipments of law review and periodical issues, and other materials to be bound. This individual or another staff member is also responsible for doing minor book repair and notifying the technical services librarian if material is beyond repair.

Part IX: Future Collection Development at Zief Law Library

Challenges and Opportunities

Primary collection development challenges include allocating professional time to perform a systematic and thorough collection analysis (e.g., researching new and needed titles, surveying faculty and student research needs, analyzing the current collection levels in various subject areas, etc.) and devoting time for a systematic and thorough selection of materials on an ongoing basis.

Another challenge for the library staff remains generating enthusiasm for, and offering education about, the emerging and realistic technological possibilities of information access, management, and delivery among students and faculty. There exists the opportunity for the librarians to assume more of this educator role with regard to technology. While all of the librarians play a role in this effort, one position -- the online research services librarian -- is predominantly responsible for promoting library technology.

Another opportunity lies in the increased faculty scholarship supported by the library resources and staff research and reference services. The faculty-librarian liaison effort is the first step in this supportive endeavor.

Law School Mission and Role of Library Staff

In order to support the educational mission of the law school, the library staff has attempted to respond to the curricular changes that have revised the teaching mission of the law school. Library staff also has given increased attention to collection analysis and resources and to streamlining and documenting collection development and maintenance decisions. A prime example of this is the result of the law school's LLM program for foreign nationals, which has precipitated an increased need for foreign, international and practice-oriented legal materials. The LLM students engage in comparative studies, often using their native country as the basis of comparative study. The library has streamlined its process for international, foreign and comparative materials, and has documented agreed-upon guidelines for collection goals. Staff has been working to make sure that limited acquisition funds are used to ensure basic materials are purchased in each of these areas. The library's senior reference librarian has taken the lead in this process, evaluating titles for selection and using her expertise to assess collection needs.

Future Trends: Print Collection

Despite the increase in publication of legal materials in digital and multimedia formats, book collections will continue to grow, but at perhaps a slower pace. Analysis of past ABA data reveals that book collections have doubled every twenty years. In 1971-72, the average collection size of academic law libraries was 110,000 volume equivalents. In 1991-92, the average collection size was 220,000 volume equivalents. In 1999-2000, the average collection size of academic law libraries was 416,278 volume equivalents.

The number of print titles owned by the law library should increase to better meet the changing research needs of the faculty and the curriculum, to provide our students with expansive and multiple formats, and to provide access to materials that are not available in digital formats. In the past, lack of shelf space and an inadequate acquisitions budget were hindrances to the addition of print titles. Lack of space is no longer an issue, and regular increases to the library budget provide some opportunity to develop the collection.

Future Trends: Microform Collection

Micro format will continue to be available both to duplicate little-used materials that are currently published in print, but also to provide a means to acquire specialized titles that are not widely disseminated in print. Microforms will continue to serve an archival function for rare and deteriorating materials. The micro format is currently preferred over digital format for preservation of little-used but essential historical materials due to the proven longevity of microforms and the relative ease and reliability of retrieving microform data as compared to continued lack of assurance for future retrieval of digitized material.

Future Trends: Electronic Publications

Electronic access to materials continues to grow in law libraries, often creating multiple options for accessing materials. The format of these electronic publications requires that the modern library integrate technological means for accessing, retrieving, indexing, abstracting and storing data as part of the collection development process and services procedures. The Zief staff is challenged to make wise choices among the available formats and to ensure that users find these new formats accessible and easy to use, adding another layer of work to the collection selection process. The Zief library was built with space for a digital services operation. But, with the advent of LLMC and other services, the need to utilize this space has decreased.

Given the many difficulties presented by the cumbersome and problematic nature of networking, updating and maintaining CD-ROMs, the collection development preference is to subscribe to web-based materials with Class B, IP access, when available and practical. Maintenance licensing and user acceptability are generally greater with web formats than with CD-ROM. The Zief library has built a technology infrastructure that will allow maximizing a multimedia approach to information access and delivery. Through web links staff, faculty and patrons are able to access information internationally from other law libraries. Students have adequate network connections available for accessing online subscriptions, the USF catalog and other libraries' resources. Increasingly, the CD team is acquiring online full-text subscriptions.

Part X: The Future of Zief Law Library

A concerted effort was made to plan for a multiformat approach to information delivery at the USF law school, as part of the Zief building plan (construction completed in 2000). The planning for a multiformat collection resulted in a high technology infrastructure that would support emerging technologies and specific spaces in Zief such as the multimedia presentation seminar and event rooms, the two computer teaching rooms, the digital services room, and audio/visual capability and equipment in all group study rooms.

The librarians continue to evaluate the collection in terms of curriculum support and scholarship needs of the law faculty. As a member of the faculty Educational Programs Committee, the law library director is aware of new course offerings and able to gauge the need to strengthen parts of the collection to support these course additions.

In 2003-2004, instituted a faculty liaison program to create more direct relationships with faculty members and gather information from faculty on an ongoing basis regarding their scholarship projects and teaching needs. This information is also utilized for collection development purposes.

Plan of Action for the Future

Zief library staff sees a growing demand for electronic access to information, a changing focus of libraries from collections to access, and the need to creatively develop cooperative information solutions based on a variety of media, as opposed to reliance on single media systems. Zief librarians have proven adept at acting as intermediaries in retrieving information for users; however, as the demand for electronic access increases, users have begun accessing the sources directly. Sources proliferate, each with its own interface, and retrieval sometimes involves too much complexity for users. So as electronic sources proliferate, law library staff members have shifted more emphasis to training and assumed a primary role in educating faculty and students about the resources available to support their research, teaching and learning. Librarians have designed programs to train faculty and students to integrate new and emerging resource formats into their work.

The CD team continues to gather additional information from various sources (e.g., senior administrators, Educational Programs Committee, students, faculty, etc.) to refine the areas of focus in overall collection assessment. The reference librarians are encouraged to attain greater expertise in specific subject areas (related mostly to their faculty contacts in the faculty liaison program) and depth of collection assessment in order to improve and streamline the collection development process.

The technical service librarian continues to streamline acquisitions processes to save staff time by instituting preview plans with academic presses. The library goal is to spend less professional staff time on the process and more time on the in-depth collection analysis and development areas.

The library director continues to pursue institutional commitment for additional collection development funding through the annual budget process.

The library staff has continued to collaborate with the law school and the University library to provide accessibility to online databases and networked collections both onsite and via remote access. But, our primary goal of exposing all members of the law school community to multiple formats remains in place, and the role of the librarians as educators in the use of these formats will only continue to grow.