Cornell Law Library Annual Report 1939

LAW LIBRARY CORNELL LAW SCHOOL REPORT FOR 1938-ld39

LAW LIBRARY CORNELL LAW SCHOOL REPORT FOR 1938-1939

The Law Library will have completed a successful pnd progressive year for the fiscal period ending June 30, 1939.

We have been able to keep up with the demands for new

&nd unusual material.

We have managed to complete a number

of unfinished projects as well as making several important additions to our fine working library.

We have had good

fortune in obtaining a number of gifts.

We have added 3,650 volumes to our collection dur­ ing the year including 490 gifts.

Many other books have been

deceived as gifts which are mentioned specifically in the latter part of my report.

A large percentage of tnese will

be kept for trading and exchange purposes and will not be accessioned.

We shall use a number of them, however, as re­

placement volumes in our collection for those which have worn out.

We have added several loose leaf services.

They are

very usable in the seminar courses and are a distinct asset In keeping us up to date In many fields.

fhey are*

Prentice-

Hall Federal Tax Service, Prentice-Hall Securities Regulation Service, Commerce Clearing House Bankruptcy Law Service, and Commerce Clearing House Labor Law Service.

He have also

^dded a number of current textbooks in many fields of law. through personal friendships made at law school and law library conventions we have been able to obtain many reports and textbooks at substantial discounts.

STATE AND FOREIGN REPORTS Substantial economies have continued to be made in the purchase of many of these volumes by making personal con­ tacts with sources in several states where we could obtain the benefit of the local price Instead of paying the larger out-of-state price.

Substantial economies have been made in

the purchase of state and foreign reports by constantly searching for more favorable sources of purchase and taking advantage of cash discounts.

GIFTS The vJQ gifts Include additions to various sets.

We have also received the following volumes which we can use for exchange purposes and as auxiliary sets to rep.u.oe some >f our material: 44 mimeographed articles on Copyright Law from Benjamin Pepper, Esq., New fork City, class o± 1J<jU. 85 volumes of miscellaneous pclltloal solenoe material as a gift from the estate of frofessor Charles H. Hull, class of 1886.

Judge Henry W. Edgerton, class of iyl°, f£7e )jsd?? uaes of textbooks and casebooks some of which ^ have.

Senator C. Tracey Stagg, olaaa of 1**3 ’rI a?C„ o r t T V°1_ uiaes of duplicate New fork bession Laws and Repor s.

Mr. Earnest R. Eckley of New fork C l t ^ a friend of tlie library, gave us 105 volumes of miscellaneous textbooks and reports.

Charles H. Newman gave us 165 volumes of duplicate re­ ports and New fork statutes.

Harold E. Simpson, olaee of 1*31, «• « B duplicate bar association and public utilities rep

°f

The estate of Charles P. Coffey ,^class of Jbl5, gave us 33b volumes of duplicate New fork reports and textbook..

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Miss Katherine Darrin, daughter of the late Delraar Darrin, class of 1872, gave us 50 miscellaneous Issues of the Cornell Law Quarterly and 40 volumes of the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure from the library cf her father. She also Included a number of pictures of mem­ bers of the class of 1872 and scenes of the university.

We expect more volumes to be given us from the Darrin library.

We have been fortunate In securing a complete copy of the proposed South Dakota Code, 1838, a gift of the non.

Dwight Campbell, Aberdeen, South Dakota, father of Dwight Campbell, Jr., of the class of 1837.

We have been able to make additions to our collec­ tion of session laws through the Earl J . Bennett Session Law Fund.

We have added current revisions and compilations for

Mississippi, New Mexico, and Utah as well as completing a set for Ohio.

We are also adding a copy of the Ohio Practice

Manual because of the Increasing demand from students from that state.

There are permanent additions of Michigan arid

New Jersey statutes which have been published which we cannot afford to buy at present, but we hope to add these to our collection when we can complete advantageous deals.

periodicals A number of new legal periodicals were published during the past year.

We have added the following titles.

American Journal of Medical Jurisprudence American Law and Lawyers Federal Law Journal of India Florida Justice Georgia Bar Journal Guild Lawyer 3

Iowa Bar Review Journal of Social Philosophy Larryers* Club Docket Lawyers’ Journal (Philippines) Living (Publication of National Conference on rurally Relations) Louisiana Law Review Milwaukee Bar Association Gavel N. A. M. Law Digest National Journal of Legal education Polamerican Law Journal Public Opinion Quarterly Social Security Bulletin The Subpoena Wharton Review of Finance and Commerce We are very pleased to mention that we have com­ pleted our set of the Denver Bar Association Record after several years of painstaking search.

We had to photostat

several Issues of this periodical since they were out of Print and Impossible to obtain In the originals.

A local

Personal friend secured this photostating free of charge and saved us a large amount of money.

were also successful

In completing a set of the Canadian Green Bag by photostating some issues.

BAR

association

REPORTS

We have been very successful In maintaining a com­ plete file of the various bar association journals and reviews

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whloh are being published. number.

They are increasing rapialy In

It is a source of great satisfaction to know that we

have no shortages In the early volumes which are soon out of print.

They will be extremely valuable and scarce in the

future.

ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORTS AND OPINIONS We have made several important additions to this collection.

We receive assistance and offers largely through

our work in compiling a bibliography In that field.

JUDICIAL COUNCIL REPORTS We have one of the few complete set3 of these re­ ports in the early history of these councils.

We published

a check list and as a result built up our fine collection.

We are preparing to bring our list up to date and consequently see that no reports are lacking.

Ra i l r o a d ,

fublic u t i l i t y , a n d tax commission reports

A large share of our time has been spent on working In these fields In order to construct a really satisfactory collection.

There is no authoritative H a t of pubUshea re­

ports In these fields. making such a list.

We have made substantial progress In

It has required the study of the histor­

ical background of these commissions, following t..„I. many changes, and searching for an accurate list of published re­ ports.

We have been able to gather many reports together for

our collection most of which we have obtained free of charge.

We look forward to having a very excellent collection at the completion of this project.

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RELEASES We have received many new government commission and board releases and believe we have a very fine collection. miscellaneous

The following miscellaneous items will be distinct and valuable accomplishments In our library: 1. We have completed an index of our early ^ew Court of Appeals records and briefs.

fork

We have an Incomplete

collection and had no satisfactory method of determining whether we possessed the records and briefs of certain cases.

7e have completed citation, title, and location cards for each brief.

They will be placed In a convenient location and

consequently Information as to all of our briefs is not'/ avail­ able. a. We began to receive the records and briefs of each of the four Appellate Division departments of bew fork State beginning January, 1938. during this year.

We have arranged these for binding

They are collated according to their

Placement In bound volumes of the Appellate Division Reports. *hey will be bound as we arc- able to finance them and are consequently available for use.

3. We have made substantial additions to our auxiliary

collection of sets of the leading periodicals.

We are ob­

taining these items through personal contacts and exchanges and have not been compelled to purchase any.

«e a n t i d o t e

°ompletIng such sets as California Law Review, Illinois Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Vir­ ginia Law Revlew.

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4. Over 3000 volumes have been oiled, greased, and re­ paired during the past year.

This saves us a substantial

amount for repairs and rebinding and gives our Heading Hoom a much better appearance.

We are consequently caring for

sets which receive tremendous wear, and we will get a much longer use from them.

5. After several years of searching we are fortunate in locating a copy of Volume 13 of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals Reports— Patents which completes that set.

This has been missing for a number of years.

CATALOGING We experienced a change in the personnel of our Cataloging Department during the past year. curtailed our progress.

This consequently

We are pleased to report, however,

that we have about completed cataloging lection and our set of trials.

the Bennett Col­

A complete Inventory of our

entire book collection was completed and we now feel that we have accuracy and completeness In our catalog.

? >’e exert

every effort to make our catalog complete and helpful. hooks have been cataloged during the past year. ary cards have been made. made.

1488

184 tempor­

583 continuation cards have been

6802 Library of Congress cards have been completed and

placed in the catalog.

2438 cards have been typed.

cards have been filed in the catalog.

4380

Current cataloging Is

kept up to date.

Our N. Y. A. assistants have been very few in nuraber during this year, and this has curtailed the collection

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of Information and other work In this department.

We feel,

however, that substantial progress Is being made.

Greater

use is being made of our catalog and we believe it occupies a more important place in our library.

EXHIBITS We prepared an exhibit for our Reading Room for the I93il Commencement period.

It included things of special in­

terest to the returning alumni.

We included in this exhibit

a display of many of our valuable and important holdings, publications of the members of our faculty, and pictures of various classes.

Hall,

We also completed our exhibit at the brill

ila n v oompllmentarv remarks about these exhibits were

received.

PERSONNEL We have had a satisfactory working personnel during the past year. growth.

Demands increase in number because of our

We have been fortunate in having three unusually

able student assistants at the Control Desk.

We still have

the problem of conflicts among then in classes and adjusting duties at the desk.

The students who have assisted in spe­

cial projects have done unusually well, and it is my hope that we can retain the high caliber of student assistants.

We

should not forget that we are approaching the. time when we should give consideration to a full-time assistant to have charge of the Reading Room as soon as economic conditions improve.

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EQUIPMENT tfe have received many complaints about the inade­ quacy of the table lamps and general lighting in the Reading Room during this year.

We have made several experiments and

hope to accomplish a substantial improvement.

This problem

needs attention because of the great strain caused to one’s eyes through Inadequate lighting.

APPROPRIATION We have appreciated the slight increase in our ap­ propriation for this past fiscal year.

The increasing amount

of material which we must obtain with its cost for annual supplemental services causes us great concern.

Our library

has reached the size where we cannot operate satisfactorily on the appropriation which we have.

We need *15,000 per year

according to our present requirements in order to retain cur rank, among the law school libraries cf the country.

;e are

gradually losing ground because of our inability to make sub­ stantial purchases.

We hope for an increase in our appro­

priation as soon as conditions permit.

ACTIVITIES I had the privilege this year of serving as chair­ man of the Committee on Round Table and Library Problems of the Aggociatlon of Aneric&n Law Scnools and attended the meeting of this committee in Chicago In December. cussed the matter of effecting economies.

*'e dis­

I also served as

Second Vice-President of the American Association of Law

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Libraries and served as a member of two of Its committees.

I was In charge of an Institute held at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries in St. Paul last summer.

I plan to conduct an institute at our annual meeting

in San Francisco this summer.

In conclusion I express my sincere appreciation to the members of the Library Committee and the entire law fac­ ulty for their cooperation and interest.

I also acknowledge

the fine work and undivided loyalty of my staff without which these projects could not have been accomplished.

Respectfully submitted,

Law Librarian.

June 23, 1239.