Mission
The Temple University Beasley School of Law Library’s mission is to actively support the goals of the Temple University Beasley School of Law by providing exceptional library and research services through its knowledge, expertise, and resources. The Law Library will also meet the legal information needs of Temple University, our alumni, and the public.
Commitments
The Law Library collects materials to support our users’ needs, including a commitment to collections that reflect and support the Law School’s priorities:
- The library is committed to collecting materials that will enhance and ensure student success.
- The library is committed to collecting materials that will grow Temple Law School’s national reputation and national impact.
- The library is committed to providing a collection that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible. The library follows the Diversity Standards established by the Association of College & Research Libraries:
Standard 4. Development of collections, programs, and services
Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.
General Guidelines
The Law Library’s goal is to build an enduring, perpetually accessible collection. When evaluating additions to the collection, regardless of format, the Law Library will use the following criteria:
- Usefulness to current Law School curriculum, programs, research interests, and/or enduring value to the collection;
- Likelihood and ease of use by the Law School community;
- A preference for materials in English;
- Initial cost, ownership model, and access restrictions, with a preference for outright ownership instead of subscriptions;
- Format, with a preference for print materials over electronic; and
- Continued cost, including maintenance or other fees and staff time. These are general practices; exceptions may be made in appropriate circumstances.
Format and Duplication Guidelines
Serials
The Law Library collects serials primarily in licensed digital format. Select titles supporting core research or curricular areas are collected in print when digital access is unavailable or embargoed. The Law Library cooperates with Temple University Libraries to maintain access to legal titles in multidisciplinary publisher packages. The Law Library collection includes relevant indexing resources in digital format.
Monographs
The Law Library maintains and develops a robust monographic collection. Active development occurs in support of Law School priorities, as discussed above, as well as legal education and industry topics. In addition to scholarly legal works, interdisciplinary and practice titles are collected following curricular and research needs. Multiple copies may be collected to meet demand, as with citation manuals and textbooks adopted by several courses or sections.
Databases
Federal and state primary legal materials are collected through electronic resource subscriptions to leading industry platforms. These same platforms also provide access to current secondary, practice, and foreign and international materials.
Multimedia/video
Temple University Libraries provide access to several streaming video platforms. The Law Library does not purchase physical data storage media, such as DVDs, or arrange for public performance or viewing rights.
Duplicate copies of materials in Temple University Libraries collection
The Law Library may acquire its own copies of materials in the collection of Temple University Libraries based on the Law School community’s needs. Factors include whether the material is important to the area of law, used in a law school course, supports a Law School priority, is requested by a Temple Law faculty member, or for which accessibility is important.
Guidelines for Specific Materials
Periodicals
In accordance with the serials guidelines, the Law Library maintains a current collection of legal journals, law reviews, and reporters, primarily in licensed digital format. The Law Library cooperates with Temple University Libraries to maintain access to legal titles in multidisciplinary publisher packages. The Law Library collection includes relevant indexing resources in digital format.
US Government documents
The Law Library is a Federal Depository Library and maintains in print official versions of the United States Code, the Code of Federal Regulations, and other relevant federal material. Annotated versions of federal material are available in several electronic databases. The Law Library maintains print copies of federal statutes and the Code of Federal Regulations.
Pennsylvania materials
The Law Library maintains a significant print collection of historic Pennsylvania primary and secondary source materials, and collecting may be done to fill historical gaps. The Law Library also collects current Pennsylvania materials to support the needs of our community, particularly in response to faculty and clinic needs.
Foreign, comparative, and international materials
The Law Library does not actively collect print foreign or comparative law materials, or primary international law materials, but it maintains a historic collection in these areas and collects monographic international materials on request. The Law Library cooperates with Temple University Libraries to maintain access to some foreign, comparative, and international resources in digital format.
Textbooks and legal education materials
The Law Library collects a copy of all required course books and makes them available on reserve. Older editions of textbooks or study aids are shelved in the closed stacks. Statutory supplements to textbooks are not purchased. The Law Library also provides access to print and electronic study aids, with current print study aids made available on reserve. Subject to budgetary constraints, tools to help students and faculty, such as teaching tools and legal editing tools, will be collected based on the value the tool adds to teaching, research, learning, and/or improving legal technology skills.
Temple Law faculty publications
In addition to acquiring a copy for the circulating collection, the Law Library collects one copy of books authored or edited by Temple Law faculty for the Templana collection, with a preference for print books. Faculty-authored articles are not collected except through current serials subscriptions. Books with a section or chapter authored by a Temple Law faculty author will be reviewed by the Law Library’s Collections Development Committee to determine whether the contribution merits purchase for the collection.
Non-traditional legal materials
The Law Library is committed to collecting non-traditional materials for student success and patrons’ convenience, such as wellness items, office tools, and computer accessories.
Special Collections
In addition to our regular circulating collection, the Law Library has several special collections. With the exception of some materials in the Kairys Collection, these are non-circulating collections.
Templana
Templana includes archival materials related to the law school from its founding in 1895 through today, including yearbooks, student theses, and graduation programs. As discussed in the Temple Law faculty publications section above, the Law Library collects two copies of books authored or edited by Temple Law faculty: one for circulation and one for the Templana collection. The Law Library also collects print copies of Temple law journals and Law School publications for Templana.
Temple Trial Collection
The Temple Trial Collection contains several hundred Anglo-American trial transcripts from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries.
Hirst Collection
The Hirst Collection is derived from the Hirst Free Law Library, which was founded in 1882 by a bequest from Lucas Hirst. The library became part of Temple Law Library in 1948 and consists of a few thousand historical volumes.
Rawle Collection
Donated by Rawle & Henderson LLP, a Philadelphia firm that is also the oldest law firm in continuous practice in the United States, the Rawle Collection has approximately 4,000 volumes reflecting the contents of a 19th-century American law firm’s working library.
Rare Books
The rare books collection consists of books and other print materials (not already in one of the collections named above) that were printed before 1850, have fewer than 50 copies extant in North America, or are otherwise considered of special interest sufficient to merit specialized storage conditions and limited circulation and access.
Kairys Collection
The Kairys Collection is a small collection of monographs and archival materials collected over the course of Professor Emeritus David Kairys’s long career. The collection is focused on civil rights and criminal law.
Eilberg Collection
The Eilberg Collection is a series of archival papers related to the impeachment of Richard Nixon assembled by Joshua Eilberg, a Pennsylvania Congressman who sat on the House Judiciary Committee. Much of the collection consists of materials that are part of the public record, such as copies of Congressional publications regarding the impeachment proceedings.
Criteria for gifts
The Law Library considers offers of gifts and materials. Items will be accepted if it is determined, after evaluation by a librarian, the item will serve to complete or enrich our collections. In general, old editions of textbooks, state or federal codes, or study materials will not be accepted. The Law Library does not offer valuations of donations or provide gift receipts.
Replacement of lost items
Lost or damaged materials may be replaced. Replacement decisions are based on the importance of the title, other titles in the collection on the same topic, demand, and duplication of the title in other formats or campus locations. The borrower may be charged replacement cost and a processing fee, as determined by the Law Library.
Purchases for faculty
The Law Library is committed to creating a collection accessible to the maximum number of users. For this reason, it does not purchase subscriptions to databases or other electronic materials that only can be used by a single user. Instead, whenever possible, the Law Library prefers multi-user access e-books that are free from Digital Rights Management technology limitations on access and copying. The Law Library may acquire requested print material and circulate the material to the faculty or department that has requested it. Such materials are part of the library’s circulating collection and can be recalled when needed by other library users.
The Law Library will facilitate the purchase of personal print material or single-user databases with chair funds or professional development funds. Faculty should contact their library liaison or the Law Library’s director for assistance with such purchases.
Preservation
The Law Library works to prolong the usable life of print and electronic material to ensure continued access to information located in the collection. Preservation decisions will be determined by the value of the resource to the collection, weighed against the time and expense associated with preservation activities and the availability of replacement or suitable alternative resources.
Deaccessioning criteria
Periodically, the law librarians will evaluate the continued value of print and electronic material to the current collection and the Law School’s goals. Print material may be removed if it is out-of-date, in unusable condition, or otherwise deemed no longer useful. Electronic material may be removed if it does not receive sufficient use, becomes out-of-date, is no longer deemed an appropriate use of library funds, or is otherwise deemed no longer useful.
Approved and posted July 2023