Collection Philosophy

The Law Library is one of the largest academic law libraries in the United States. In support of the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law, the Law Library’s primary collection development goals are to:

  1. Support the curriculum and skills training programs at the University and at the College of Law;
  2. Provide access to deep and rich information for legal and interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and practice to the University of Iowa community, Iowa government officials, the Iowa legal profession, and the people within this state/region; and
  3. Maintain a comprehensive collection of legal information resources that are readily available and accessible on-site by any library patron.

Collection Principles

The University encourages interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and learning, with many formal and informal bridges between departments and colleges. Because almost any field of study can have a legal component, the College of Law is an active participant in the University’s interdisciplinary programs and initiatives. As a result, the Law Library serves not only the Law faculty and students, but the entire University community. The collections provide access to a broad range of resources on law and law’s intersections with other disciplines.

The Law Library’s Strategic Collection Development Policy is intended to provide general guidelines and criteria for building and maintaining the library’s collection of legal materials in all formats. The Law Library abides by the fundamental principles that allow it to best meet the needs of its users. These principles are founded in large part upon the American Bar Association’s Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, Standard 606 (Collection) and the Association of American Law Schools’ Bylaws, Article 6 §6-8 (Library).

Collection Policies

The Law Library’s Selection Team, in conjunction with the Law Library Director, is responsible for the expert curation of the Law Library’s collections. The Selection Team may be comprised of both dual-degreed (JD and MLS) and MLS-degreed librarians working in the areas of reference/research, instruction, outreach, and collection services. The selection of materials should be congruent with:

  • The Law Library's mission and vision;
  • The teaching and curricular needs of the University and the College of Law;
  • The scholarship of the University and the College of Law;
  • Contributions to the legal profession or law-related disciplines by the University and the College of Law faculty, staff, and students; and
  • Major legal trends.

In addition to developing its own electronic and print collections, the Law Library actively participates in campus, regional, and national programs for cooperative collection sharing and development, including various consortia. Campus-wide access to legal literature, increasingly via electronic databases, is provided through cooperative arrangements with the University Libraries. The holdings and collecting goals of other University Libraries are considered when selecting new materials for the Law Library, an important selection qualifier due to the growth in interdisciplinary legal scholarship. Moreover, an effort is made to avoid duplication of materials that may be found in the wider University library system.

The Law Library's complete Strategic Collection Development Policy can be accessed here.