‖‖ E-Books in Canadian Law Libraries ** By Olcay Atacan* Abstract E-books bring unique opportunities and challenges to law libraries. This article presents a synthesis of literature on incorporating e-books into Canadian law library collections and services. It further describes how e-book platforms, formats, and reading devices for Canadian law libraries affect collection development and cataloguing policies and it discusses vendor license agreements and copyright issues in the e-book context. The author recommends flexibility in licensing, use, and integration into library systems as main factors that will be critical to the success of e-books in the library environment. Sommaire Les livres numériques apportent des opportunités et des défis uniques aux bibliothèques de droit. Cet article présente une synthèse de la littérature sur l'intégration des livres numériques dans les collections et les services offerts par les bibliothèques de droit canadiennes. Il examine en outre comment les plates-formes pour livres numériques, les formats et les appareils de lecture utilisés par les bibliothèques de droit du Canada affectent le développement des collections et les politiques de catalogage ainsi que les accords de licence avec les fournisseurs et les droits
d'auteur. L'auteur recommande une flexibilité en matière de licence, d'utilisation et d'intégration dans les systèmes de bibliothèques comme principaux facteurs qui seront essentiels au succès de l’utilisation des livres numériques dans l'environnement des bibliothèques. In 1821, US Supreme Court justice Joseph Story said “the mass of law is to be sure, accumulating with an almost incredible rapidity.”1 This is the reality for today’s legal environment. The systematic dissemination of cases and legislation is integral to understanding and practicing law. In addition, legal commentary is an essential tool for lawyers and judges seeking to organize and understand the growing quantity of published laws.2 Legal treatises, written by subject experts who are often lawyers or judges bring together leading cases and relevant primary law and supplement them with expert commentary. These treatises are a helpful starting point when confronting an unfamiliar, novel, or complex situation. Treatises save time and improve the quality of legal analysis and decision-making, when they work as intended, by enhancing understanding of primary authority.3 They are important for legal research, and their contents need to be
*© Olcay Atacan 2016 **Olcay Atacan is Head of Library Systems and Technical Services at Law Society of Upper Canada’s Great Library 1 A W B Simpson, “The Rise and Fall of the Legal Treatise: Legal Principles and the Forms of Legal Literature” (1981) 48 U Chicago L Rev 632 [Simpson]. 2 Ibid 3 Peter W Martin, “Possible Futures for the Legal Treatise in an Environment of Wikis, Blogs, and Myriad Online Primary Legal Sources” (2016) 108:1 LLJ 10.
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2016 Canadian Law Library Review/Revue canadienne des bibliothèques de droit, Volume/Tome 41, No. 3