The debate of vendor-neutral citation forms and ownership of case law led me
to thinking about not only who owns the law, but who preserves the law. With
the availability of legal materials in electronic format, we're tossing print
copies of reports, selling or giving them to other libraries. Or because of
budget or space crunches, we sell, give away, or toss (because it's much
easier) materials that are not used or are out of scope for our collections.
I'm concerned about what we're discarding. Is there a need for
originals/print versions of materials? Should we be keeping some materials
in print for legal history and other scholars? If so, who should be keeping
print copies? And how do we educate each other to know when we have
something that should be preserved and not tossed?
Lyo,
I'm currently reading a book that addresses the issue ... at
least academically. Since I haven't finished reading it, I don't know
if it offers any practical advice for weeding collections, but it
does discuss the preservation of law.
It is Ethan Katsh's _The Electronic Media and The Transformation
of Law_ (1989). Katsh placed the introduction to his book on Internet.
I found it via URL:http://freenet.vcu.edu/science/lawtech/lawtech.html.
So far, I have found it to be quite interesting and thought-provoking.
Enjoy!
Genie
Genie Tyburski
Research Librarian Voice: (215) 864-8151
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll Fax: (215) 864-8999
1735 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103 tyburski@hslc.org
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