The University of Queensland

1. Purpose of the collection

The goal of the Law Library is to provide access to legal information in all its formats to the University of Queensland community for teaching, learning and research in the discipline of law in accordance with the University's mission statement, and those of the University of Queensland Library and of the T.C. Beirne School of Law.

2. Primary user groups served

The Law Library's primary clientele is the staff of the T.C. Beirne Law School and its students, as well as staff and students from the Business, Economics and Law Faculty and students studying law-related subjects. The Law Library also endeavours to meet the University's goal concerning good relations with the external community, which, in reality, in this instance, is comprised of students, & teaching staff of other institutions and sometimes members of the profession.

Student research is undertaken at masters and doctorate level. In 1999 there were 149 post-graduate students plus 30 Ph D students. Staff research covers many areas of the law with emphasis on commercial law, constitutional law, equity, intellectual property, cyber law, maritime law, Islamic law, and international and comparative law.

The Faculty of Law has a number of centres attached to it. Those associated with the School of Law are: the Australian Institute of Comparative and Foreign Law; the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy, The Centre for the Legal and economic Study of Institutions, The Centre for Technology Law and the Centre for Maritime Law.

3. Description of the collection

The collection is preponderantly material from common law jurisdictions with an emphasis on Australian, especially Queensland, and British material. The University of Queensland Library collection, across all branch libraries, has respectable holdings in international law. Recently the Law Library has been strengthening holdings for jurisprudence, intellectual property, and Asian and comparative law. Following the establishment of the European Document Deposit Centre in the Library, there has been a significant increase in European holdings.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Library has significant holdings of interest to the Law Library including parliamentary support material.

4. Interdisciplinary relationships

Medico-legal material is held in both the Health Science libraries and the Law Library. There is also subject overlap with social work, government, media, business, taxation and industrial law. The web catalogue and efficient intra library loans provide users with ready access to such material.

Informal consultation is in place with the Supreme Court Library. There is a more formal collaboration among universities in the region with the establishment of the Cooperative Resources Working Party under the auspices of the Queensland University Libraries Office of the Collaboration.

The Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) exchange agreement provides for the exchange of Australian and New Zealand University law reviews between Australasian academic law libraries.

Apart from the ALTA agreement, exchange agreements are acceded to at the discretion of the Collection Development Librarian and the Law Librarian, based on the balance of the exchange.

5. Scope of current collecting

1. Languages collected

The collection has an emphasis on English language material. For items from non-English speaking jurisdictions, English language translations are preferred. Publications in language of origin will be collected when this is necessary to (i) understanding or (ii) for research or reference purposes.

2. Geographical areas collected

The priority given to common law countries currently is:

1. Australia (and its territories)
1. Great Britain
2. Canada
3. New Zealand
4. United States
5. Other common law countries including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong

Material relating to non-common law jurisdictions is collected as appropriate to teaching and research emphases such as for Asian legal studies.

The law collection also includes areas, which cross jurisdictional boundaries:

• International law
• European Community law
• Antarctica
• Indigenous law
• Jurisprudence
• Comparative law
• Maritime law
• Asian legal studies

The University of Queensland Library was granted the EDC Statute in November 1995 with supply of EDC deposit material commencing in January 1996. This material is housed in the Law Library.

3. Chronological periods collected

Emphasis will be given to collecting recent and contemporary publications. Rare books will not be collected, except by gift.

4. Types (formats) of material collected

The Law Library's print collection includes monographs, journals, report series and statutes with particular emphasis as follows for primary resource material in law:

Statutes:
Australia and its States	Collected comprehensively. Some reliance on databases and the Internet for subordinate legislation
Great Britain	Comprehensively in annual volumes, & Statutes in Force
Canada, USA & New Zealand	Selectively. Emphasis on federal legislation, Ontario & British Columbia held. Access to Lexis/Nexus, Westlaw, and Quicklaw for Canada.
Reports:
Australia and its States	Published reports comprehensively collected. Unreported decisions held for some Queensland Courts. Database access to Supreme Court and Court of Appeal decisions for all Australian jurisdictions.
Great Britain	Emphasis on authorised reports of superior courts. Subject specific report
Canada, USA & New Zealand	Series collected where relevant to courses and research. Access to Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw, and Quicklaw for Canada.

Microform material is not collected unless the material is unavailable in any other format. Multimedia material is collected on the advice of academic staff for teaching purposes. The Library subscribes to full text and other electronic services.

5. Special considerations

Due to heavy usage, multiple sets of many law reports series, Australian and Queensland legislation, and some law journals are required though the increased availability of electronic alternatives may change the balance.

6. Conspectus

The strength of the collection is in the common law jurisdictions, with a Conspectus level of 3b assigned to Australian and Queensland material. Other Australian jurisdictions, international law and conflict of laws have a Conspectus level of 3e.