Two New Titles Added to Briefs in Law Librarianship Series

SURVEY ON ACCESS AND TEACHING OF ALTERNATIVE LEGAL RESEARCH USING INTERNET PORTALS AND GATEWAYS
By Sarah Hooke Lee

1 volume (paper) | $52.00 | Item #334360 | ISBN: 0-8377-9363-7
Published: Buffalo; William S. Hein & Co., Inc.;
2006 AALL PUBLICATIONS SERIES NO. 56, VOLUME 12

This survey addresses the growth of courses and other methods used to expose library patrons to the tremendous number of internet-based legal resources now available. Law librarians, more than anyone, recognize the usefulness of these alternatives to traditional print sources and the established online databases. This Brief in Law Librarianship examines how much access to these alternative sources law libraries provide to their patrons. It also considers these questions: Do law libraries teach their library users how to use alternative products, given librarians' already -crowded schedules? If so, who does this teaching, what is taught, and how is instruction offered? Have law libraries received additional funding for new staff and purchase of new products?

Two surveys were conducted, one in 2000 and the second in 2003. This offered the opportunity to identify increases or changes in teaching these resources over this time period. In 2000, there were far more independent vendors and gateway-type commercial products available than in 2003, as many of the start-up products had been acquired by the big vendors. These developments led to a few changes in the lists of choices in the 2003 survey. The surveys were distributed via listservs targeted by type of law librarian, i.e., academic, law firm and public law librarians.

SURVEY ON COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICIES AND SELECTION PRACTICES
By Vicente E. Garces

1 volume (paper) | $50.00 Item #332510 | ISBN: 0-8377-9356-4
Published: Buffalo; William S. Hein & Co., Inc.
2006 AALL PUBLICATIONS SERIES NO. 56, VOLUME 11

This survey looks at two basic topics in collection development: selection of law library materials and collection development policies. In focusing on selection, this survey provides a snapshot of the types of materials being collected and the selection processes being used in law libraries.  Collection development has evolved over the last several decades to become an increasingly complex and challenging area of specialization in librarianship. This evolution is most evident at large academic research libraries, but has impacted all libraries to varying degrees, including law libraries.

The survey questions on collection development policies cover basic issues concerning the use (or non-use), creation and content of these documents. The data in this survey comes from the answers of the 71 self-selected libraries that responded to the survey distributed to law librarians in spring 2001.