Boston University Law Library
General Collection Policy

LAST REVISED - January 10, 2003

Index

I. Goals of this Policy Statement

1. To provide a means of analyzing present collecting practices.
   
   
2. To provide guidance to all those involved in developing the collection in the future.
   
   
3. To inform law school administrators, faculty, students, and library staff of the collection emphases and criteria for evaluating new materials.

This policy statement is intended to be an organic document and will be modified as appropriate to reflect any changes in policy or subject emphasis.

Separate collection policies are available for foreign/international material and for electronic resources.

II. General Selection Philosophy

The law library's principal objective in collecting and maintaining print and electronic information is to support the research and instructional needs of this law school, which is comprised of 1,075 students and approximately seventy five faculty, offers eight dual-degree programs, three LL.M. degree programs, seven J.D. concentrations, and supports six student-edited journals. The law library is also aware of its place within the general academic community and attempts to respond to the research needs of other Boston University students enrolled in law-related courses. As one of several libraries at Boston University that are linked through an online catalog and shared web resources, the law library also considers the collections of those other libraries in determining appropriate areas of subject emphasis. Mugar Library, the main university library, is located next to the law school and its collections are available for use by law school students, faculty, and staff.

III. Selection Responsibility

The Collection Development Committee meets weekly and is responsible for reviewing and selecting print, microform, AV, and electronic material for the Law Library. Permanent members of the committee include the Collection Development Librarian, the Associate Director, and the Head of Technical Services. In addition, each reference librarian (except the Reference and International Law Librarian) rotates onto the committee as initial selector for two month intervals. The Reference and International Law Librarian, while not attending weekly meetings, is an integral part of the collection development process and reviews all international, foreign, and comparative law material. Each reference librarian has also developed specific areas of subject expertise upon which the committee draws when appropriate. Faculty members may also be consulted in areas pertaining to their subject specialties.

IV. Selections Process

The Collection Development Librarian sorts all incoming selections mail and email. One copy of each brochure, catalog notation, slip, book review, or email notification is searched against the online catalog to eliminate titles already owned or on order. Notation is also made of titles owned by other campus libraries and the number of times an earlier edition was checked out. Review or catalog descriptions are attached if readily available. Annotated materials for foreign, international and comparative law are forwarded to the Reference and International Law Librarian. All other annotated sources are then forwarded to the initial selector who makes a recommendation whether or not to purchase.

Recommendations to purchase are given to the Associate Director for final approval and are then passed to the Collection Development Librarian for ordering, noting numbers of copies and final locations. The Collection Development Librarian reviews these to check prices, any duplication or discrepancies. Orders are then given to the acquisitions assistant to order.

Recommendations not to purchase are given to the Collection Development Librarian, who reviews them, holding brochures for titles which may merit further consideration, and filing the rest in a rotating file. Titles that merit further consideration are returned to the Associate Director with comments. These are returned to the Collection Development Librarian with a yes/no decision.

The library has an active program of notifying faculty of new titles purchased in their known areas of interest. Names are noted on slips during the order process and/or when books have actually been received by the library and the content has been reviewed by the Collection Development Librarian. Faculty are notified of the acquisition after titles have been cataloged, processed, and are available to circulate.

Collection Development Committee members meet weekly to review and make final decisions on titles which any member held for discussion. Gifts, government documents, new editions, and titles for possible return are also discussed. The Associate Director or Collection Development Librarian may consult with the Library Director on very expensive purchases and items involving changes in policy, e.g., new topical areas, purchase of non-legal materials, materials in new format, cancellations, withdrawals, etc. As a general rule, items are continuously and expeditiously moved through the selections process.

V. Sources of Information

A. Faculty Requests for Library Copies

Specific requests made by faculty members are honored unless the cost or subject matter of the item is significantly beyond the scope of regular library purchases, or the request duplicates materials already owned or readily available. In some cases, the Director discusses the request with the professor and makes the final decision. All faculty requests receive expedited processing unless the request is just a general suggestion for library purchase. In all cases, titles are purchased and processed as library copies. Under special circumstances, and with the Director's approval, a particular title may be located in a faculty office.

B. General

The library reviews a wide variety of sources to learn of the availability of new materials. These include publishers' and vendors' brochures, catalogs and websites; approval plan slips from law and academic library jobbers; recommendations from faculty, patrons and staff; major bibliographies; and titles recommended on listservs and websites. The Collection Development Librarian and Associate Director also regularly check major newspaper book review sections, including the New York Times and Boston Globe. In addition, Choice, the Chronicle of Higher Education, legal newspapers and periodicals, Bimonthly Review of Law Books, Current Index to Legal Periodicals, Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly are also consulted for additional information. Sample issues are often requested for new journals and current awareness services. Titles requested through interlibrary loan are periodically considered for purchase.

VI. Selection Standards

The following general criteria are used to evaluate all new proposed purchases:

A. Monographs

1. Importance of the topic to the law school curriculum and program emphases, as well as areas of faculty scholarship.



2. Scholarly treatment of the subject is preferred over a practitioner-oriented approach.



3. Strong preference is given to university-press materials and titles from reputable publishers.



4. Author or editor of the publication is known for the quality of previously published work or has an established reputation in the field.



5. Extent to which the subject matter of the item may be covered by the existing collection, or may be complementary to materials already owned.



6. Extent to which other Boston University libraries may own the item or be expected to purchase it.



7. Bibliographies, anthologies, handbooks, and repetitive compilations of treaties, laws and other primary material normally are not collected.



8. Circulation or usage of previous editions or similar titles.
   

Looseleaf publications are collected selectively after evaluating comparable titles in the collection, the importance of the topic to our curriculum and faculty, the ongoing cost of the publication and time required to maintain it, availability of the title online in Lexis, Westlaw or a proprietary database, ease of use and other relevant factors. Types of looseleafs include:

1. Current awareness looseleaf services from publishers like the Bureau of National Affairs are purchased selectively, especially if there is faculty interest.
   
   
2. Looseleaf services from publishers like Commerce Clearing House provide comprehensive coverage of a specific topic regulated by an administrative agency. The library collects many of these services because they include administrative regulations, rules, decisions, etc. issued by the agency. Tax publications often appear in this format.
   
   
3. Treatises on specific topics may be issued in looseleaf format so they can be updated frequently and these are collected selectively according to the criteria listed above.
   
   
4. Some monographs are issued in looseleaf format in binders even though no supplementation is planned. These are evaluated like regular monographs.

Most current awareness and administrative looseleaf services are located in the “Looseleaf” collection and Tax Library in the lower level of the Pappas reading room. Treatise-type looseleafs are incorporated into the Annex, Reserve, State, or other collections as appropriate.

C. Journals

1. Degree of scholarship - the library generally subscribes to all new substantive journals produced by American law schools and high quality English-language law reviews from other countries. New non-academic law journals within the collection parameters are considered if they demonstrate a scholarly rather than practice-oriented approach. Practice-oriented journals are purchased only if they are very high quality; interlibrary loan requests are not considered an indication that the library should purchase a practitioner journal. Journals consisting of reprinted articles are not purchased. Non-legal scholarly journals are considered if they focus consistently on topics collected at instructional or research levels.



2. Specific focus upon the subject matter - the library prefers not to subscribe to those journals that are so specialized that a very limited number of patrons would use them, e.g., a journal dealing with an aspect of law and technology that is aimed towards the scientist rather than the public policy maker, or a journal that covers a narrow aspect of a subject where that aspect is already covered by other journals with a greater breadth of focus. Specific faculty requests are evaluated on an individual basis. The library also considers the extent to which other Boston University libraries may own or be expected to purchase the item.



3. Level of indexing - the library selectively collects scholarly titles indexed in Index to Legal Periodicals and Current Law Index. Other indexes checked include ABA Banking Literature Index, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Legal Journals Index and European Legal Journals Index.



4. Long term research value - the library prefers journals that are not aimed towards providing "current awareness." For those titles that do serve primarily as current awareness (generally purchased upon faculty request), the library tends to retain issues for a limited period of time.



5. Electronic Access - the library will consider whether non-academic, practitioner, and specialized journals are available on Lexis and/or Westlaw, Hein Online, the Internet, or through other electronic services as part of the selection process, as well as whether journals are available in image format (PDF, TIFF, etc.).

The Library maintains print and microform subscriptions to selected major national/daily papers including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The Library keeps the current two months of the Financial Times (until Mugar Library receives their microfilm) and the current two weeks of the Boston Globe, which Mugar Library collects archivally. The Library relies on Mugar Library or Boston Public Library to collect other national, state and local newspapers. The Library does not maintain paper indexes since our newspaper collection can be searched in Westlaw or Lexis. Mugar Library maintains paper copies of the Boston Globe, NYT and WSJ Indexes.

Major national and local legal newspapers maintained in print and microfilm include: National Law Journal, Legal Times, New York Law Journal, L.A. Daily Journal, and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. American Lawyer is retained in print only. Lawyers' Weekly USA is kept for two years. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is available in print for one year and in microfilm from 1972-1996, when production ceased and an online archive became available. Newspapers produced by BU Law students are collected, bound and kept in the archives.

Additional subscriptions of legal newspapers may be obtained for routing to multiple faculty and administrators. The Library does not pay for office copies of newspapers.

E. Updated Material

1. Degree of scholarship and reputation of publisher and author



2. Frequency, manner, and cost of updating



3. Comprehensiveness of subject coverage



4. Availability and ease of use of the same information in other print or electronic sources.

F. Language

The library purchases material in English unless another language is specifically requested by faculty or needed for instructional purposes.

VII. Choice of Format

The library collects material in print, microform, and electronic formats. Selection criteria for format type include the following:

A. Print
The library, when given the choice, will select a print version of a title when:

1. The frequency and/or nature of the use of the material makes a non-print format particularly inconvenient or unwieldy - e.g. when users find it necessary to browse through many pages in a volume.



2. Previous volumes of the same title have already been acquired in print.



3. The item is heavily used.



4. The titles have tables, charts, statistics, images, etc., which are most clearly presented and copied in paper format, or are unavailable online in an image format (PDF, TIFF, etc.).



5. The items should be permanently available in the law library's print research collection.

B. Microform
The library, when given the choice, will select a microform version of a title when:

1. The size, expense, infrequency of use, or unavailability precludes its addition in print or electronic formats - e.g., collections of all states' attorneys-general opinions.



2. Permanent copies would be bulky or subject to deterioration in print - e.g., legal newspapers.



3. Additional titles of heavily-used items are needed, space constraints are relevant, bibliographic access to the microform version is adequate, and electronic versions are not available or suitable.
   
   

C. Online (see also Electronic Resources Collection Policy)

The library prefers titles in online format for infrequently used legal or nonlegal titles (e.g., political science or social science journals), general newspapers, nonscholarly titles (e.g., newsletters), and when resources are only available online. Online sources may provide enhanced searchability (e.g., some looseleaf services) or currency (e.g., court decisions) over their counterparts in other formats.

Online sources in image format (PDF, TIFF, etc.) may be preferred over microform as a backup copy for certain types of material (e.g., law reviews) when the library's print copy is unavailable. Print is preferred when the text of the document is lengthy and reliance on an online source would require frequent and extensive printing.

Permanent access to information is one primary consideration in selection of online resources. Many titles formerly accessed through Lexis and Westlaw are now only available through proprietary subscription vendor databases; we expect this trend to continue.

Other selections considerations include content, faster access to new legal documents and materials, ease of use, enhanced searchability, duplication of content (with other formats or titles, and access on Lexis or Westlaw), cost (including pricing packages with print and online), remote access from offices and homes, and the ability to easily print tables, charts, statistics, etc.

D. CD-ROM (see also Electronic Resources Collection Policy)

The library prefers not to purchase CD-ROM titles unless the information is unavailable in print or online formats. Selection considerations include the ease of use of CD-ROM materials, enhanced searchability, duplication of content, cost, and the ability to easily print tables, charts, statistics, etc. from the CD-ROM product.

CD-ROMs which accompany and are an integral part of printed material are acquired with the printed material and are generally retained with the books.

Products which can be networked and available on multiple workstations are preferred over those with licensing limitations for CD-ROMs issued as electronic titles only.

E. Computer Disks and Software

Computer disks which accompany and are an integral part of printed material are acquired with the printed material and made available to patrons. Computer disks and software are not acquired per se.

F. Audio and Video

Audio and video are occasionally acquired, often at the special request of faculty members. Most material is added to the permanent library collection and shelved in the Reference area media cabinet.

VIII. Scope of Coverage Within Collection -- By Format & Jurisdiction

These sections refer to print and microform materials collected by the library. Many materials are also available electronically on Lexis and Westlaw, official government websites, and other commercial products.

State materials may be collected selectively, or states may be considered major/core states or important states as defined below:

1. Major/core states are those for which we try to collect most primary material, some practice materials, etc. They are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, and New York.

2. Important states are states where the law is unique for some reason or states that are often used by the First Year Writing Program for research problems. These include:

Delaware - Corporate Law Emphasis Florida Illinois Louisiana - Civil Law Jurisdiction Maryland Michigan

New Jersey Ohio Pennsylvania Texas Virginia

A. Session Laws

1. U.S. - comprehensive, including complete sets of Statutes at Large and U.S.C.C.A.N.

2. States

1. Massachusetts - comprehensive, including multiple copies of Acts and Resolves in print and microform, as well as West's unofficial M.G.L.A. Session Laws in bound volume.
   
   
2. Other States - The library collects session laws for all states in microfiche. The library does not collect session laws from other states in print format, official or unofficial, except for McKinney's Session Laws of New York.
However, if there is no advance legislative service, the Selections Committee will consider purchasing print session laws to retain until microform sessions laws are received.

B. Statutes and Codes

1. U.S. - comprehensive, including multiple copies of official and unofficial codes and court rules. The library also collects superseded editions of the U.S.C. in print and superseded editions of the U.S.C.A. in microfiche.

2. States

1. Massachusetts - comprehensive, including multiple copies of annotated and unannotated codes and court rules. The library also collects superseded editions of the G.L.M. in print and superseded editions of the M.G.L.A. in microfiche.
   
   
2. Other - comprehensive, with a preference for annotated codes, where available. The library also retains superseded editions of McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated (1916-2001) and superseded editions of West's Annotated California Code (1954-2002), both in microfiche.

C. Updating Statutes and Codes

1. Advance legislative services - comprehensive for all jurisdictions where available. For Massachusetts these are retained for five years; for other states, they are kept until the microform session laws are received.

2. Interim code annotation services - the library subscribes to interim annotations for USCA, USCS, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont code sets. The library also collects interim annotation services when received without an extra charge as part of a code subscription. These services are retained until superseded.

D. Legislative History Materials

1. U.S. - extensive, including all major current and retrospective finding aids. Congressional Universe online includes CIS Index (1970- ) and Congressional Indexes (1789-1969). Print sources include CIS Index (1970-), U.S. Serial Set Index, U.S. Congressional Hearings Index, U.S. Congressional Committee Prints Index, and CCH Congressional Index. The indexed materials are available as follows:

1. Congressional Universe (online) - Full text of congressional reports, documents, prints, bills, testimony from hearings, and the Congressional Record from 1985-present. Dates of coverage vary by document.



2. Congressional Record - complete set in micro and complete set (with gaps) in print from 1979
- present.


3. Congressional reports and documents (Serial Set) - complete set in print 1980 - 2001. Complete set in CIS micro from 1817 - present.



4. Congressional hearings - selected committees in print from 1980 - 2002. Complete set in CIS micro from 1935 - present.



5. Congressional bills - in microform from 1975 - present. Online in Congressional Universe from 1989 and on GPO Access from 1993.
   

2. State

1. Massachusetts - to the extent possible, the library collects all current and retrospective indexes and finding aids to materials which indicate legislative intent. The library collects bills on microform (from 1967). The library also collects in print format the journals and reports from the General Court.
   
   
2. Other - the library does not collect print materials comprising legislative history for states other than Massachusetts.
   
   

E. Administrative Rules and Regulations

1. Federal - comprehensive, including current subscriptions to the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register in print, and the complete Federal Register in microform; the Code of Federal Regulations is retained in microform from 1938-1999.

2. State

1. Massachusetts - comprehensive, including current print subscriptions to the Code of Massachusetts Regulations and Massachusetts Register, as well as a current electronic subscription via the Social Law Library On-Line Databases. The library also maintains complete historical holdings of the CMR and Massachusetts Register in microform and print.



2. Other - the library collects state administrative codes for selected important states if the sets can be easily updated. Current states include California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Vermont.
   

3. Municipal - the library collects the current print editions of the city codes of Boston and New York City only.

F. Administrative Decisions

1. Federal

1. Official - selective in print or microfiche, depending on importance of agency. Many agency decisions are available on the Internet from official agency websites.
   
   
2. Unofficial - many administrative decisions are available in the library's looseleaf collection and online services.
   

2. State

1. Massachusetts - selective in print, depending on importance of agency. Many administrative decisions are included in the Social Law Library On-Line Databases.
   
   
2. Other - the library does not collect administrative decisions for states other than Massachusetts. Some administrative decisions are included in substantive looseleaf and online services.
   
   

G. Court Reports

1. U.S. Supreme Court- comprehensive, including multiple complete sets of official and unofficial reports in print.

2. Other Federal - comprehensive, including multiple complete sets of Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement and Federal Rules Decisions, and complete sets of other federal court reports, in print.

3. Regional - comprehensive.

4. State

1. Pre-National Reporter System - comprehensive reports from the highest state court for all states. Selected intermediate appellate court reports for major and other important states.
   
   
2. Parallel to National Reporter System - complete sets of official reports for the highest state court for all states. Selected intermediate appellate court reports for major and other important states.
   
   
3. Lower courts - Selective for major and other important states, as available.
   
   

5. Records and Briefs

1. U.S. Supreme Court - comprehensive as available in microform from 1832 - present.
   
   
2. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - comprehensive as available in microform from 1918 - present.
   
   
3. Massachusetts Appeals Court - comprehensive as available in microform from 1972 - present.
   
   

H. Digests

1. General - comprehensive, which includes the Centennial, Decennial, and General Digests

2. Federal - comprehensive, which includes the Federal Practice Digest and its predecessors

3. States - the library selectively collects individual digests for the states that are important to the curriculum and states for which there is no current regional digest. These states are:

Alabama Arkansas California Connecticut Florida Illinois Indiana Kentucky

Louisiana Maine Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi Missouri New Hampshire New Jersey

New York Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Vermont

4. Regionals - comprehensive, as published, namely the Atlantic, Northwestern, Pacific and Southeastern digests

I. Shepards Citations

Selective for federal, regional, state, and special subject areas, taking into account online availability. Multiple copies are maintained for Massachusetts only.

J. Court Rules

1. Federal - comprehensive

2. States - comprehensive. Massachusetts rules are retained permanently. California, Florida, Illinois, New England States, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas are retained for two years. For other states, only the current year is kept. Where the state's court rules are published in a statutory set, the library relies on that publication for access to court rules of that state. Otherwise, the library collects West's republication of those court rules in annual softbound volumes.

K. Attorney General Reports and Opinions

1. U.S. - comprehensive collections of reports and opinions in print and microform.

2. States

1. Massachusetts - comprehensive collection of opinions in print and microform. Comprehensive collection of reports in print, as well as online via the Social Law Library On-line Databases from 1985.
   
   
2. Other - comprehensive collection of opinions in microform.
   

L. Legal Encyclopedias & Jurisprudence Sets

1. National - comprehensive - American Jurisprudence 2d, Corpus Juris Secundum and their predecessors

2. State - selective for California, Florida, Massachusetts and New York only, as published.

M. Restatements & Uniform Laws

1. Restatements: The library collects all softbound Tentative Drafts and Proposed Final Drafts, as well as bound final restatements with updating. Preliminary Drafts and Discussion Drafts are acquired as they are identified. All working and final drafts are also included in the American Law Institute archival set in microfiche.

2. Uniform Laws: The library collects the Uniform Laws Annotated in print; also model acts and uniform laws as included in the American Law Institute archival set in microform, and other materials dealing with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws as available.

N. Practice Material

1. Generally - all practice materials are evaluated according to the criteria outlined in Selection Standards.

2. Federal - the library subscribes to several major practice sets.

3. States

1. Massachusetts - the library subscribes to selective practice materials, especially materials supporting the law school's clinical and trial advocacy programs.
   
   
2. Other - the library subscribes selectively to major practice sets from California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York. The library generally does not collect practice material from other states.
   

O. Continuing Legal Education Publications

1. Massachusetts - the library purchases significant titles in selected areas of law generally, as well as those specific titles requested by the school's clinical programs and faculty members.

2. Other - the library purchases selected titles in developing areas of the law or where little else is currently available.

P. Substantive Law of a Particular State

The library purchases selected titles in those subject areas important to the curriculum for Massachusetts. Substantive titles for the other New England States, California and New York are collected selectively. As a general rule, the library does not collect treatises on the substantive law of other states unless the topic is highly significant and relevant.

Q. State Guides

1. Law Finders - The library collects law finders for Massachusetts (retained permanently) and New York (current only).

2. Legal Research Guides - The library collects substantial legal research guides from reputable publishers for the reference collection. Collected states include Massachusetts and the other New England states, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

3. Constitution Reference Guides - The library will purchase available guides for major and other important states.

R. Legal and Law-Related Periodicals

Within the parameters set in Choice of Format:

1. Law School Publications - The library subscribes to all substantive journals published by American law schools. Newsletters and alumni magazines are generally not purchased unless specifically requested and favorably evaluated by the Collection Development Committee.

2. General Focus - the library maintains an extensive collection of scholarly titles indexed in Current Law Index and the Index to Legal Periodicals. Multiple subscriptions, in both print and occasionally microform, are maintained for those titles most frequently cited. Online access to retrospective law journals is available in PDF format through Hein-on-Line. Bar journals are maintained in the Hein Bar Journal microfiche collection rather than in paper, except for New England states, New York, New Jersey, California, and the Federal Bar News and Journal.

3. Topical - the library subscribes to those subject-oriented journals that complement the subject concentrations of the treatise collection. The library subscribes to the ABA package plan, which includes various topical journals and newsletters. Other newsletters are generally not collected unless the topic or issuing organization is of particular interest to a faculty member or law school affiliated program.

IX. Scope of Coverage Within Collection -- By Subject

Current material is purchased in the following subjects at the levels indicated. Out-of-print nineteenth and twentieth century English-language monographs of enduring value in subjects collected at Level 3 or above are purchased as they come on the market. An effort is made to review catalogs of older material to supplement the collection. Special consideration is given to the AALS recommended titles. See the detailed Foreign and International Collection Policy for current collecting levels in those areas.

Explanations of Collecting Levels:

In the following discussions of scope of coverage by subject and jurisdiction, Research Libraries Group-based collection intensity levels are used. These levels are defined for Boston University Law Library as:

0. Out of Scope: The library does not collect in this area.

1. Minimal level:

A subject area in which few selections are made beyond selected important works.

2. Basic Information Level:

A collection of current general materials that serve to introduce and define a subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. In addition to important works, it may include selected treatises and a few major periodicals. A basic information collection is not sufficiently intensive to support any law school courses or independent study in the subject area involved.

3. Instructional Support Level:

A collection that is adequate to support most graduate instruction, or sustained independent study; that is, adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or generalized purposes, of less than research intensity. It includes a wide range of basic monographs, complete collections of the works of more important writers, selections from the works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographical sources pertaining to the subject. It includes as many multi-jurisdictional treatises on a subject as possible, selected student texts, looseleaf services of unduplicated coverage, and a wide selection of periodicals, subject reports, and important government documents.

4. Research Level:

A collection that supports journal students, seminar students, and most faculty research needs. It includes most (if not all) multi-jurisdictional treatises, current and historical, representative looseleaf services, and an extensive collection of periodicals, subject reports, and government documents. If materials dealing with a comparative perspective are appropriate, foreign law materials may be collected.

X. Documents

A. Federal Documents

The library purchases federal documents or obtains them directly from agencies in accordance with the policy outlined in Scope of Coverage by Subject.

The library was a selective depository library for United States government documents from 1979 through Sept. 2002. Materials deemed to be of permanent research value were cataloged and classified into the regular collection. URLs for online versions of titles are added to catalog records on INNOPAC as they are identified. The library is currently working with Boston Public Library, the regional depository, on final review of items acquired through the depository program.

B. State Documents

1. Massachusetts - Massachusetts has no depository program. The library collects documents relevant to the curriculum but does not attempt to collect Massachusetts documents comprehensively. The library collects the microform compilation of state documents issued by the State Library.

2. Other States - The library buys documents from other states very selectively.

XI. Graduate Programs, Clinical Programs, JD Concentrations, & Specialized Centers

A. Graduate Programs

The law library selects materials in tax law, banking and financial law, and intellectual property law to support the LL.M. programs offered by the law school. Major sets of primary tax materials and tax journals are housed together in the Tax Library in Pappas.

B. Clinical Programs

The law library, in coordination with the Director of Clinical Programs, maintains a small collection of Massachusetts practice materials and other items that are relevant to these programs. Materials are housed in the clinical libraries on the twelfth floor and/or in the Boston University suite of offices at Greater Boston Legal Services downtown. Selection of titles is done by clinical faculty and the program directors within a budget amount allocated by the library director.

Books and serials for the Pappas library collections, including duplicate copies for the reserve collection, are purchased as suggested or required by clinical faculty in support of course work.

C. J.D. Concentrations

The law library supports subject concentrations available in the J.D. program by acquiring substantive material more comprehensively, as reflected in the Scope of Coverage by Subject.

D. Specialized Centers

Several specialized centers and institutes are affiliated with the law school and encompass such subjects as banking law, health law, law and technology, and Jewish law. The existence of these centers, along with the research needs of faculty, seminar students, and student journal members, are factors considered in determining the collection emphases outlined in Scope of Coverage by Subject. The library does not, however, purchase additional materials based solely upon the existence of a particular center.

XII. Reserve

The law library automatically places certain types of materials in the reserve collection, e.g. current editions of West nutshells and hornbooks, classic and standard treatises in subjects emphasized in the curriculum, current Restatements, and current MCLE publications which have general interest to the BU community. The Reserve collection includes the majority of legal research and writing materials acquired by the library.

Additionally, the library maintains a rotating course reserve collection. These materials are temporarily housed in the reserve collection to support the direct needs of course instruction. Materials are requested by faculty through direct communication with library staff or through bookstore booklists for required and recommended materials. Quantities are determined by class size and anticipated faculty use. Current supplementation is purchased for casebooks, if available. Statutory supplements are purchased selectively. Unless expressly requested by faculty, teacher's manuals are not acquired; West blackletters are acquired selectively.

Library materials removed from course reserve are sent to the general collection and multiple copies are evaluated for retention when new editions are acquired. One copy of superseded casebooks with the most recent supplementation acquired are retained. Additional copies may be retained for works by important authors and BUSL faculty.

Personal copies (non-library owned materials) are placed on reserve at the request of faculty. Loan periods and usage restrictions on these materials are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. All personal copies are returned to the faculty member at the end of the course.

The Annex Reserve collection is limited to materials needed for Jessup Moot Court and the undergraduate Capstone Research Project. It includes a copy of Black's Law Dictionary, the current volume of US Law Week, and the current year of Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly.

XIII. Reference Collection

The library selectively collects legal and non-legal resources that are valuable for historical and current academic and scholarly legal research. These resources include directories, encyclopedias, biographical sources, etc.

The library continually monitors current awareness resources in the reference collection to insure that the library holds the most recent edition of a particular item. For resources not updated by the publisher, the resource is evaluated for withdrawal no later than five years after publication. Where appropriate, a more up-to-date alternative published resource is sought. Online resources are considered in evaluating titles, as they are often more up to date than published materials, particularly for materials such as directories.

All items withdrawn from the reference collection are evaluated on a case-by-case basis for inclusion in the library's main collection. Those resources that possess significance for later historical research are retained.

When selecting or weeding non-legal resources, the library considers what is available elsewhere on campus as well as elsewhere in the collection or in online resources.

Duplicate copies of selected standard reference titles, and also international reference materials (some of which may duplicate Pappas Reference materials) are purchased for the Annex Reference collection on a limited basis.

The library maintains a small collection of ready reference materials behind the Pappas reference desk. This material consists of directories, citation manuals, dictionaries and other popular sources that reference librarians use frequently. Selected titles may be duplicated in the regular reference collection or other sections of the library.

XIV. Law Dictionary Collection

The library collects general English dictionaries and major foreign language-English dictionaries. The library also selectively collects subject-specific dictionaries, including dictionaries on law, economics, business, banking, finance, and other relevant subjects. Encyclopedic dictionaries and encyclopedias on relevant subjects are selectively collected for the reference collection rather than the dictionary collection.

In support of the law school's LLM in American Law program, the library collects major foreign-English legal dictionaries for the dictionary collection. Whenever possible, the library collects versions of these legal dictionaries that are both foreign language-to-English and English-to-foreign language.

To make legal citation manuals readily available in the library, the library collects multiple copies of currently used legal citation manuals for inclusion in the law dictionary collection. These copies supplement additional copies of manuals also available in the reserve and reference collections.

XV. Archives

The library collects law school archival material selectively; no more than 3 copies are retained for the Archives, although an additional copy may be added to the circulating collection. Historical material forwarded to the library by the Dean's Office, law school publications, and student publications which are of value for law school history make up the bulk of the collection. Archived materials include, but are not limited to: yearbooks, newsletters, commencement programs, alumni magazines and directories, course listings, law school catalogs, faculty bibliographies and law school photo books. Limited memorabilia, such as programs for memorial services and law school events, are also collected.

Faculty and alumni writings are in the main library collection and not in the Archives, unless the physical condition lends itself to archival treatment.

XVI. Rare Books

Rare books are generally not purchased. Rare materials in the collection are protected and preserved (e.g., phase boxed) and shelved in the Archives Room. There is an ongoing project to catalog these materials and to move those still in the stacks to the Archives Room. These materials are made available to patrons on a supervised basis by the Associate Director and Reference staff.

Factors in determining whether a volume is shelved in the rare books collection include price, condition, content, and availability. Age is also an important consideration. Monograph volumes published in 1850 or earlier are considered rare. Serial sets published before and after the 1850 date are kept together as a set in the main library collection. As needed, archival boxes are obtained for older material in a set that may be in fragile condition.

XVII. Gifts

The library accepts gifts of new research materials that fit within the collection guidelines. Duplicate copies or replacement copies are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Factors considered in determining whether to accept gifts include the affiliation of the donor, the titles and condition of the materials in terms of the needs of the collection, space considerations, whether the gift will require special care or preservation, updating or other expenditure of funds, etc.

Usually the library accepts donations with the understanding that no conditions be attached to the donated materials. The library will determine the classification, housing and circulation of all gift items and retains the flexibility to dispose of gifts at any time and in a manner deemed appropriate. Gift items can be bookplated as requested by the donor. Under tax law, the library cannot provide a monetary valuation statement to the donor for tax purposes.

Monetary donations are also welcomed and can be used to develop the collection in specific areas (e.g., labor law). All inquiries about gift donations, policies and procedures should be referred to the Collection Development Librarian.

XVIII. Weeding

The library is committed to building a current and retrospective scholarly legal research collection. The collection development process involves decisions not only about what to acquire, but also what to retain, discard or move from "active" areas of the collection to storage. A systematic, ongoing program of collection review to decide what can be discarded or relocated can reflect changes in institutional goals or programs, space limitations, increasing collection size and cost, accumulation of unneeded duplicates or obsolete materials, and the aging and deterioration of materials.

Factors that may be relevant in deciding which items should be weeded include qualitative value; level of use; publication date; date of acquisition; criteria similar to those for book selection; continuing need for duplication; physical condition; and availability in other libraries and in other formats.

XIX. Replacements/Missing

Missing items identified by staff and patrons in a variety of ways go through a "search and save" process to see if they have been misshelved or are truly missing. Records for missing items are reviewed to determine if titles should be reordered, withdrawn, put on hold for a future decision if the item is not returned, etc. These decisions are based on the importance of the title; other titles in the collection on the same topic; whether additional copies are in the collection; availability of the title in other formats in the library; availability of the title elsewhere on campus, etc. Availability, cost, and the possibility of forthcoming newer editions will be determined by Technical Services after a decision has been made to replace the title.

If a decision is made to replace an important title that is out of print, the library will use an out of print search dealer or online vendor. Decisions are made on a case-by-case b