GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY LAW LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY Last Revised June 2008 The primary collection development goal of the law library is to collect and maintain materials that support the unique curricular and research needs of the George Mason School of Law. Budget permitting, some non-law materials are acquired to support the interdisciplinary research interests of the law faculty. The law library also provides legal resources to the George Mason University community, alumni, the local legal community and the general public. I. Background George Mason University has become widely known for its cooperating network of academic programs and centers that deal with economics and market theory. The George Mason School of Law has been a pioneer in providing its students with three core competencies: the legal application of economic tools and methods, intensive development of legal writing skills, and specialized substantive preparation for practice. Students are offered the opportunity to focus their legal studies in a particular area of law through the following specialty track programs: Corporate and Securities Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Business Law, Litigation Law and Regulatory Law. Students may also specialize in Technology Law. The law school also offers LL.M. degrees in Law and Economics and Intellectual Property. There are a number of clinical opportunities offered to students including the Clinic for Legal Assistance to Service members, the Domestic Relations Legal Clinic, the Law and Mental Illness Clinic, and the Immigration Legal Clinic. The law school sponsors four student-edited law reviews: the George Mason Law Review, the Federal Circuit Bar Journal (moving to another law school in 09/10), the Civil Rights Law Journal, and the Journal of Economics, Law and Policy. Two faculty edited journals are sponsored by the law school: The Green Bag and the Supreme Court Economic Review. II. Selection Responsibility The selection of materials is carried out by the law library’s collection development committee, which is comprised of the law library director, the collection development librarian and all members of the law library professional staff. III. Selection Tools The law library utilizes various resources to keep abreast of newly published materials. These resources include Hein GreenSlips in electronic and print formats, Yankee Book Peddler (YBP) 1 notification slips (Gobi), publisher catalogs, email notifications, brochures, notices and book reviews from library and law journals. The collection development committee also reviews recommendations and requests from law faculty and students IV. Selection Process a. General The collection development librarian reviews and sorts all incoming selections and presents a final list of recommended titles to the collection development committee for final approval at monthly meetings. b. Faculty & Student Requests Faculty recommendations of new and relevant titles are actively encouraged and solicited for purchase. Requests for book purchases by law faculty are submitted to and reviewed by the collection development committee only when the cost of the item is considered higher than most regular book purchases (the current ceiling is $200). The committee then makes a determination in consultation with the law library director as to the ability of the library to make the purchase, bearing in mind budget considerations. All approved purchases are processed as library copies and routed to the requesting faculty member. The law library also solicits book recommendations through its online book suggestion form. Occasionally, the law library receives book purchase requests from students. A final determination on these requests is made by using the existing subject coverage criteria, and cost factors. V. Selection Criteria The following criteria are used in the evaluation and selection of new acquisitions: 1. Relevance and importance to the current Law School curriculum, current faculty scholarship and research. 2. Scholarly treatment of subject areas will be given preference over practitioner oriented treatments. 3. Reputation of the author or editor in the subject matter area will be given high credence. 4. Publications must emanate from reputable and established publishers. 5. Demand for prior editions will also be factored into the selection process. 6. Availability of the item at other GMU university libraries, especially at the Arlington Campus Library. 2 7. Coverage of subject matter in existing titles in the collection. 8. Electronic availability of the title or subject matter. 9. Materials which tend to replicate or compile existing primary materials, for example bibliographies and deskbooks will not ordinarily be considered for acquisition. Reprints and collections of articles and essays also fall into this category. 10. Continuation costs. 11. Durability and longevity of format will be taken into consideration. Hard bound copies are generally preferred to paper back when available. Pamphlets and other non-durable formats will not be selected unless the subject treatment is considered important to the collection. 12. Space considerations. VI. Material Formats 1. Monographs Monographs that support the existing law School curriculum, faculty scholarship and research will be considered for selection. The current scope of coverage levels will also be taken into consideration in making final determinations. West Hornbooks and nutshells will be acquired on a standing order basis. Generally two copies of Hornbooks or other heavily used materials will be purchased. Casebooks will only be purchased when authored by current teaching faculty or requested by faculty for teaching purposes. The law library also maintains a complete, up-to-date set of Restatements of the Law in hardcopy and a historical set in microfiche that is current through 2000. Faculty donations of current casebooks or treatises are generally added to the collection. The law library prefers to purchase hardbound copies of monographs over softbound whenever there is an option. 2. Looseleafs Looseleaf titles will be selected when the scope and currency of the material is deemed valuable to the law school curriculum and faculty scholarship, and/or when the material is unavailable electronically or the electronic cost is deemed prohibitive. Other factors to be considered are the upkeep costs (including time dedicated to filing). Looseleafs will be withdrawn from the collection within two years of the cancellation date. 3 3. Law Reviews and Periodicals The law library selectively acquires scholarly journals indexed in the Index to Legal Periodicals and Books, Current Law Index and LegalTrac. Selection of journals hinges on the scope of coverage criteria levels, faculty scholarship, and electronic availability. The library also maintains a subscription to HeinOnline for digitized back issues of law journals and law related periodicals. Social science and interdisciplinary journals available electronically (and in PDF format) through services such as JSTOR, Kluwer, and ScienceDirect (Elsevier) and others will generally not be maintained in print. The law library retains one copy (in archives) of the print edition of Index to Legal Periodical which was cancelled in January 2006. The library subscribes to the online Index to Legal Periodicals and Books and has purchased Legal Periodicals Retrospective, 1908-1981. The law library also has an up-to-date print copy of Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. The university library subscribes to InfoTrac OneFile which is available to the law school and includes titles from LegalTrac. 4. Microforms The law library maintains an extensive microforms collection which includes titles such as the following: Federal Register, 1936-date CFR, 1938-date Congressional Record, 1853-date States and Territories Session Laws, discontinued in 2001/02 CIS U.S. Serial Set, 1789-1969 Congressional House and Senate Documents, 1970-date Nineteenth Century Legal Treatises (all inclusive for Virginia) Law Books Recommended for Libraries State Bar Journals, dates of coverage vary (discontinued 2001-2002) U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1952-date Federal Circuit Records and Briefs, 1963-date Fourth Circuit Records and Briefs, 1983-date Microform materials are added to the collection as a space saving measure and also in instances where the materials may be infrequently used, are rare, and or unavailable in electronic format. The law library currently has two microfiche reader/printers which are able to produce digitized copies. 5. Audio-Visual The law library maintains on permanent reserve two donated series of audio tapes and CDs for law student use: the Law School Legends Audio Series (Gilbert Law Summaries) and Sum & Substance Audio Series. CDs included with print titles are catalogued and kept in the reserve 4 collection for faculty and student use only. DVDs are occasionally purchased, often at the recommendation of faculty. All audiovisual materials are kept in the reserve collection. The law library will only update those CDs and audiotapes which fall within its core scope of coverage. The law library keeps CD, DVD and video players on reserve for checkout by students and faculty. 6. Electronic The Law Library subscribes to the following electronic services: BNA All Cambridge Journals CALI Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Oceana ) CCH Internet Research Network includes: Business and Finance, Health and Human Resources (to be cancelled 01/09) Eighteenth