CORNELL LAW LIBRARY: ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1996-1999 www.lawschool.comell.edu/library
International Connections The library established partnerships and launched Internet-based mirror sites with two international organizations, the International Labor Organization, and the International Court of Justice, for the dissemination of legal information over the Internet. Mirror sites mean that the databases of information are loaded on Cornell local servers, and updated
automatically, so that researchers in the Americas get a much faster connection than if they had to go to the European site. These partnerships can benefit the law school and university in many different ways, including curriculum enhancement, faculty exchanges and student internships.
Law Library Web Site Awards The library received the coveted AALL 1998 Best Law Library Publication Award (Non-Print), in recognition of the Cornell Law Library web site. Other web awards included the Legal.Online Award, a FiveStar Rating for Foreign and International Law Resources on the Internet web guide, the Scout Report selection awarded by the Internet Scout Project for the Law Library Research Guides series, described as “a powerful reference tool of the Internet.” The StudyWeb selection was awarded to the Federal Impeachment
Process research guide, as “one of the best educational resources on the Web.” Other web activities of particular note include InSITE, a biweekly publication on new law-related web sites, now sent via email to over 1,200 subscribers. The library started the Death Penalty Web Site to support the law school activities. The library also started participating with Cornell Information Technologies and the Hein publishing company in the Hein Digital Journals Project.
Other Library Activities The library further strengthened the level of personal liaison services to faculty, focusing on desktop research. It increased instructional services to students, through formal courses-Legal Methods and Advanced Legal Research-and informal teaching. The reduction in the law library acquisitions funding led to cancellations and a reevaluation of the holdings. Major progress was accomplished in two areas: the reclassification and inventory of the foreign law collection; and the protection and promotion of rare books, including several exhibits. An important gift of
General William Donovan’s personal Nuremberg Trials transcripts archives was made by Henry Korn. The 1996-99 Law Library Plan guided the efforts of the law library. The library received high marks in the report sent by the 1996 ABA-AALS inspection team. Three years in a row, the library received the CUL Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Award, recognizing a law library student worker for exceptional performance.
Cornell Law Library Report Submitted by Claire M. Germain Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law
1996-1999
February 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
Introduction/Executive Summary
II.
The Collection A.
Funding 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
B.
Collection Development and Resource Sharing 1.
2. 3. 4. 5.
c.
Policy Microforms U.S. Government Documents Resource Sharing with Other Campus Libraries Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing
Foreign and International Law 1.
2. 3. 4. D.
Funding Sources Loss of Law School Special Supplement Maj or Components of Budget Pressures on Collection Budget Possible Solutions
Updating and Inventory of the Foreign Law Collection Partnership with International Court of Justice Partnership with International Labour Organization Electronic Subscriptions
Rare Books 1.
2. 3. 4. 5.
Accomplishments Staffing Funding for Preservation and Repair of Rare Books Rare Books Endowments and Gifts Rare Book Room
Services A. B. C. D.
Faculty Services Student Services Services to Other Library Users: Alumni, Campus, Public Cornell Law Library Web Site 1. Components of Web Site
2.
E. IV.
Partnership with the Educational Technologies Department Partnership with the Legal Information Institute Computer Infrastructure
Personnel A. B. C. D.
VII.
Organization and Access to the Collection Building Security Book Lockers and Carrels
Technology A. B. C.
VI.
Library Publications
Physical Facilities, Space Organization and Space Planning A. B. C.
V.
Web Awards
Staff Changes Employee Awards Staff Development Relationship with Law School
Conclusion
I. INTRODUCTION/EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report documents library activities and accomplishments between 1996 and 1999. These years were marked by the following notable events: International Connections The library established partnerships and launched Internet-based mirror sites with two international organizations, the International Labor Organization, and the International Court of Justice, for the dissemination of legal information over the Internet. Mirror sites mean that the databases of information are loaded on Cornell local servers, and updated automatically, so that researchers in the Americas get a much faster connection than the European one. These partnerships can benefit the law school and university in many different ways, including curriculum enhancement, faculty exchanges and student internships. Law Library Web Site Awards The library received the coveted AALL 1998 Best Law Library Publication Award (Non-Print), in recognition of the Cornell Law Library web site. Other web awards included the Legal.Online Award, a Five-Star Rating for Foreign and International Law Resources on the Internet web guide and the Scout Report selection awarded by the Internet Scout Project for the Law Library Research Guides series, described as “a powerful reference tool of the Internet.” The StudyWeb selection was awarded to the Federal Impeachment Process research guide, as “one of the best educational resources on the Web.” Other web activities of particular note included InSITE, a biweekly annotations of new law related web sites, now sent via email to over 1,200 subscribers. The library started the Death Penalty Web Site to support the law school activities. The library also participates with Cornell Information Technologies and the Hein publishing company in the Hein Digital Journals Project. Other Library Activities Three years in a row, the library received the CUL Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Award, recognizing a law library student worker for exceptional performance. Faculty and Student Services, Progress with Foreign Law and Rare Books The library further strengthened the level of personal liaison services to faculty, focusing on desktop research. It increased instructional services to students, through formal coursesLegal Methods and Advanced Legal Research- and informal teaching. The reduction in the law library acquisitions funding led to cancellations and a reevaluation of the holdings. Major progress was accomplished in two areas: the inventory of the foreign law collection; and the -1-
protection and promotion of rare books, including several exhibits. An important gift of General William Donovan’s personal Nuremberg Trials transcripts archives was made by Henry Korn. The 1996-99 Law Library Plan guided the efforts of the law library. The library received high marks in the report sent by the 1996 ABA-AALS inspection team. Areas o f Concern The insufficiency of the Collections budget led to cancellations, and prevented the library from buying important sources for its students and faculty. It affected the quality of the collection, in terms of the paucity of unique titles added to the collection. The library needs an additional $100,000 to be at a reasonable level. Staffing: the staff is small compared to the peer schools, and lesser known schools as well. They are called upon to do a lot, including teaching formal courses, and stretch themselves very thin, which causes a great deal of stress. They are also subject to the demands of the main library for meetings and committee work, on and beyond the law library’s own meetings and assigned tasks. There are two particularly serious pressure points: web activities and generally computing support, and rare books and preservation. The lack of computing support detrimentally affects the research support for students and faculty. The library needs one FTE computer technician for hardware needs. Also, the extensive web activities have been accomplished with student help only. More stable, permanent staff is needed. An temporary specialist was hired this year from salary savings. Little work was done on the repair of the large historical collection of nineteenth century books. A preservation technician is needed for that part of the collection. The security of building and supervision of law school monitors are other items of concern. II. THE COLLECTION A. Funding For Collection 1. Funding Sources The law library collections budget is funded through several sources: CUL Allocation. The bulk of the collections budget is allocated through the central library system. The increases provided by CUL have been low~+2.7% (1994-95), +1.3% (199596), +3.5% (1996-97), +1.6% (1997-98), +2.6% (1998-99), 2.5% (1999-2000). They were insufficient to make up for the increases in inflation in book prices-7-15% annually-over the -2-
period. See Chart below. The law school is charged back directly for the CUL allocation, with a two-year delay. This charge back mechanism may soon change. Law School Supplements. The law library was integrated into the university library system in 1960 to ensure a better financial situation. At that time, it received a large increase in appropriation. Soon, however, there were reports of budget cutbacks and the law school started its own supplementary contribution to the law library budget in 1971. The law school supplements consist of a base supplement and special supplements, as needed. See Chart below: CORNELL LAW LIBRARY EXPENDITURES 1993/94 FUNDING SOURCES Increases in CUL Funds CUL Funds Law School Base Supplement Special Supplement On-line Databases (Law School) (1) Endowment Miscellaneous (2)
Total Funding Sources
1995/96
1994/95
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
+2.6% +2.5% $709,600 $727,340 $153,000 $160,650 $65,300 $0 $53,649 $60,926 $38,920 $37,100 $62,251
1999/00 Budgeted
+3.0% $648,450 $146,400 $130,000 $50,889 $19,961 $23,923
+1.3% $657,300 $146,400 $35,000 $52,699 $20,940 $113,281
+3.0% $680,200 $146,400 $15,000 $54,024 $25,600 $44,832
+1.6% $691,000 $153,000 $15,000 $51,404 $27,562 $49,489
$985,179 $1,019,623
$1,025,620
$966,056
$987,455 $1,080,900 $987,836
$631,170 $168,400 $110,000 $40,958 $23,116 $11,535
1. Lexis/Westlaw 2. Gifts, accumulated endowment income, CUL approval plan, preservation, L53-8704 income
The enlarged Special Supplement started in 1993. It was based on a study done at the request of the law school by Richard Surles (Law Librarian at Illinois) after the 1990 ABA inspection which indicated that the law library was in severe need of a stronger acquisitions budget. The special supplement funding was intended to put the Cornell Law Library more on a par with peer schools, in particular, to increase the number of titles (as opposed to volumes, which include duplicates), and update the foreign and international collection. Endowment. The law library endowment is small, considering the age of the law library, and in relation both to the endowment of the main library and the endowment of the law school. No new endowments for the law library collection have been established since 1984, or as a result of the CU Capital Campaign (1990-95). Miscellaneous. Other funding sources include a interest-drawing fund (L53-8704 account) for foreign and international law (produces about $5,000 per year); and gifts, which vary from year to year. Special gifts have included $8,000 from the Middle eastern studies endowment fund in 1998, and $4,000 from Peter Walsh for the French law collection in 1995. The library also benefits from the CUL approval plan for university press books (about 170 books per year), and is no longer charged back directly for these books, because of streamlined accounting processes. -3-
2. Loss of Special Law School Supplement In 1995-96, the library saw a sharp reduction in the special supplement that had been provided by the law school since 1993 (the special supplement went down from $130,000 to $35,000). The explanation was that the law school had to start paying for other library expenses, such as technology expenses (online catalog, etc.). At the same time, the University administration stopped the 12% subsidy for law library expenditures. The law school continued providing a base supplement of $146,400 to the CUL allocation, which, that year, was $657,300). This budgetary reduction led to the cancellations of some materials, such as the Shepard’s regional editions, as well as a number of looseleaf sets. The lack of funding also affected the number of monographic titles added to the collection, which is an important element in assessing the quality of a collection, as well as the updating of the foreign law collection. Chart showing titles increases for 1989-1999 CORNELL LAW LIBRARY COLLECTION 1989-1999 1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
14,943
13,899
18,591
14,269
30,619
16,798
16,237
15,254
16,017
17,455
New Titles (books)
1,140
1,513
1,204
1,416
2,023
3,021
2,496
1,947
2,170
3,236
New Titles (books and others)
1,196
1,535
1,284
2,271
2,948
3,931
3,805
4,192
2,309
3,307
475,482
487,186
503,584
515,323
543,427
557,580
571,707
585,501
600,442
605,121
New Volumes (includes microforms)
Total Volumes at year-end (net) (ABA stats.)
A current issue facing the library is how to cope with the inadequate acquisitions budget. The library will reexamine the overall collection development during 1999-2000. 3. Major Components of Law Library Budget. The analysis of the major components of the Cornell Law Library budget reveals that only about 14% of the budget is devoted to the core U.S. law collection, which is largely available in electronic form, through Lexis/Westlaw, and governmental Internet web sites. These core U.S. law materials make up only a small portion of the library’s annual expenditures. This is both because of the library’s ongoing attention to reducing duplication and increasing reliance on electronic sources, and also because of the expansion of publications in other areas of legal -4-
literature. The bulk of the library’s expenditures for U.S. law is designated for secondary sources: treatises (many of which are supplemented), looseleaf services, journals and other serials. The law library spends about 35% of its acquisitions budget on foreign and international law. The bulk of expenditures is on international law, international trade, human rights, European Union law, and European law. The foreign law expenditures are mainly for the U.K., Canada, Australia, and some European countries. The print collection is complemented by a large Foreign Law on the Internet Guide that points to other resources. The extent and future directions of the foreign and international law collection are currently under review, within the context of the growing law school international studies programs, but also limited financial resources. 4. Pressures on the Collections Budget The following elements contribute to the need for a strong in-house print collection: the amount of print materials is increasing at the same time as electronic information is increasing from publishers and government agencies (see separate report “Cornell Law Library: Trends and Directions,” April 1999). The editors of the three law reviews published at Cornell need the print publications to verify citations that authors may have found in electronic format. Many researchers, including faculty and students, still prefer to use books. New programs in the law school need to be served within the same budget, such as death penalty, law and economics, international legal studies, religion and law, and feminist jurisprudence. New policy initiatives of governments (both national and international) require the law library to purchase new services to monitor changes in law and regulation, e.g., A.D.A., and World Trade Organization. Law has a highly-developed system of online sources, with a broad range of primary and secondary authorities available. However, much authoritative analysis of the law is still published in traditional print format. The library’s strategy has been to eliminate print duplicates where possible when electronic access is a back-up or additional version. Some examples have included little used primary sources, such as the state administrative codes and registers, and the regional Shepard’s. In the summer of 1999, the decision was made to cancel most state Shepard’s, because of their easy availability on Lexis, and the availability of Keycite on Westlaw. As the library is moving from collecting legal information in multiple formats to a greater reliance on electronic formats, a issue of paramount importance is the one of long term access to primary legal information in digital form. The library is exploring different ways to archive information for long term access. One of these ways is to archive information in digital form on CD-ROMs. The law library is keeping abreast of efforts on the Cornell campus, as well as national library and law library projects. The Law Librarian is an advisor to the (RLG) Research Libraries Group Committee on Long Term Retention of Digital Information. She is also serving on the AALL Special Committee on Authentication and Preservation of Digital Law. -5-
5. Possible Solutions Some possible solutions to the collection funding include the following: •
Supplement the current budget for collections to bring it on a par with comparable institutions. $100,000 are needed for that purpose. Creatively manage the budget henceforth at a steady state, with no anticipated increases from the law school supplement for the next ten years.
•
Continuously review the gradual course to transferring purchases of print materials to a reliance on locally owned or accessible electronic information sources, so long as future access can be ensured in a reliable way.
•
Decide on what should be owned locally by the library, in print or electronic form.
•
Proactively seek a reduction of the book budget when it appears reasonable to do so, either through reliance on an equivalent product online, or through resource sharing with other libraries.
•
Secure additional endowments for the print collection, and use the regular budget for electronic publications: (1) endow certain parts of the collection, e.g., foreign and international law, law and economics, feminist jurisprudence, etc. (2) New programs should include a library component for purchase of research resources. B. Collection Development Plan and Resource Sharing
1. Collection Development Policy. The library’ collection development policy manual was completed in 1996. It is organized by type of material and subject, and includes both print and electronic sources of information. Key areas of the collection are currently being assessed. Looseleaf services are continuously being reviewed for possible cancellations, and in the fall of 1999, an extensive review of expensive serials was undertaken and completed. 2. Microforms The floorload for the microforms cabinets was reinforced in August 1996. Its current location near the middle entrance of the main Reading Room makes it easy to find and get assistance. It serves as a useful archive for congressional and United Nations materials, heavily used by students for research and cite-checking work for the various law reviews. The World Law Reform Commission Reports collection is of particular interest. The titles in the collection are individually cataloged.
-6-
As of August 1, 1999, there were 709,799 pieces of fiche (118,300 volume equivalents) and 27,040 rolls of microfilm (27,040 volume equivalents). The collection currently represents about 25% of the entire collection (the total print volume count was 463,591.) Two new microfiche cabinets were added in October 1998 to allow for the growth of the collection. At that time, an updated version of the Microforms Location Guide was produced, and the cabinets were renumbered. In the fall of 1999, two more microfiche cabinets and one new microfilm cabinet were added. Although many have said that the technology would be supplanted by Internet-based databases, microforms present a useful medium that has the advantages of saving space, ensuring a permanent archive of materials, and preservation of the authentic version of documents. 3. U.S. Government Documents Cornell Law Library has been a depository library for U.S. government documents since 1978, providing materials and services to the law school, the university, and local citizens, with federal documents placed there for the benefit of all. The library passed the last inspection in 1994 with an excellent certificate. Increasingly, materials are available only (or also) free on the Internet. However, significant numbers of major titles are still distributed in print, and remain an important reason for the law library to participate actively in the depository program. In 199899, the law library processed 10,956 depository items. 4. Resource Sharing with Other Campus Libraries The law library does not duplicate its holdings with other libraries on campus, in particular with ILR, but also with Olin, unless deemed necessary for law faculty and student needs. CUL Primary Collection Responsibility. In August 1999, the CUL library system completed a study of collection primary responsibilities on campus. At that time, Law was designated the primary selector for Library of Congress class K, which is Law, including labor law, and all the subsections of K, including KZ (international law). This study currently has no budgetary impact and does not change current purchasing practices, but clarifies collection responsibilities. Law is the primary selector for law in English for Africa, Latin America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Jewish Studies, Islamic Studies, Slavic Studies, and Icelandic Studies. The Area Studies bibliographers are the selectors for materials in the vernacular for the law of these countries. 5. Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing The library is making great efforts to share resources with other libraries on a reciprocal basis. The library intends to look at the feasibility of joining a consortium such as NELLCO, the Northeast Law Libraries Consortium, for access and sharing of resources. In 1997, the library -7-
purchased an Ariel work station for rapid digital transmission and receipt of documents over the Internet. The library uses two systems to process its interlibrary loan transactions, RLG, and since 1997, a new membership in OCLC. The law library now manages its interlibrary loan borrowing and lending. New CUL Grant Awarded. In 1998, the law library won a new CUL internal grant to work on an automated ILL system with several other campus libraries. C. Foreign and International Law 1. Updating and Inventory of the Foreign Law Collection Between 1993 and 1996, the generous infusion of law school money allowed the law library to engage in selective and targeted retrospective and current acquisitions in foreign and international law (mostly in English), to fill gaps and support the expanding international legal studies programs. Some of these purchases were for law-related United Nations materials (microfiche set, with CD-ROM index, now on the Internet), as well as the updating of the French, German, and Italian law collections. The general emphasis is on getting most materials available in English. The extent and future directions of the foreign and international law collection are currently under review, within the context of the growing law school international studies programs, but also limited financial resources. Foreign Law Inventory. 1997 saw the start of the review of foreign law materials available on individual countries in print and in electronic form-both commercial databases and free governmental and other internet sources. Collection templates were developed and data for 73 countries completed, with more in progress. The information collected will be used to make assessments and decisions about the collection with the law faculty, as well as presenting the information in appropriate ways on the Web. Space Allocation and Shifts. In the time period, the staff completed a major shift in the Basement and New Ground levels, to integrate materials by country, while the reclassification of foreign law materials from the old numbering system (Los Angeles County) to the new one (Library of Congress) was implemented. A new scheme was developed for the shelving of foreign law periodicals. Most of them will be classified as Kl-30 and shelved on the Old Ground floor. Those dealing largely with primary sources will be shelved with the appropriate country. These projects consumed much staff time. 2. Partnership with ICJ (International Court of Justice) In 1996, at the request of the Court, the law library entered into a partnership with the International Court of Justice, the United Nations supreme judicial body, located in the Hague, The Netherlands, to make its decisions available for the first time on the Internet. Jay Greco, then a law student, interned at the Court and provided them with advice on starting their own -8-
web site. The Court undertook this in 1998, incorporating the decisions of the Cornell site. The Court asked Cornell if it could create a mirror site for the Americas, to speed up traffic on our continent. There were difficulties in coordinating this effort with the law school IT department, but thanks to Paul Weber, new IT Director, the mirror site was established and started running in October 1999. Professor David Wippman has expressed interest in working in close cooperation with the International Court of Justice, and possibly to work on a grant proposal to scan the earlier decisions of the ICJ. 3. Partnership with ILO (International Labor Organization) On October 28, 1996, the law library, together with the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, hosted the visit of two high officials from the International Labor Organization (ILO), Jean Pierre Laviec and Eleanor Frierson. ILO was seeking a partnership with Cornell University, which might include faculty and student exchanges, as well as a mirror site for the ILO database of legal texts and statistics. Computing research assistant and then second-year law student, Jay Greco, interned at ILO in Geneva, Switzerland, in the summer of 1997, and helped design the ILO web site, and the ILO mirror site established in Japan. In May 1998, the law library became the official mirror site for the ILO Web site. There were difficulties in getting the mirror site to run on the Cornell Law School server. In early 1999, the law library helped purchase a Unix server to be housed in Professor Eisenberg’s office. Thanks to Professor Eisenberg’s hard work and technical expertise, the mirror site started running in October 1999. The Cornell site provides researchers with a quicker response and greater access to the ILO web site, by enabling researchers to access the site in the US. It is also the preliminary step to Professor Kathy Stone’s interest in working with students on creating an academic web site that would provide substantive information on international labor issues. These library initiatives follow the spirit of Myron Taylor who hoped that humankind would achieve world peace through law. They may also chart a path for the future, when universities and international organizations will increasingly collaborate on disseminating and preserving information in electronic form for future generations. 4. Electronic Subscriptions The law library is providing subscriptions to online services in replacement of (or addition to, or instead) print sources Lexis/Westlaw Legal Scholarship Network Matthew Bender treatises and additional primary information, available free of charge to us, first on CDs, and since September 1999 over the Internet Smart CILP Uni lex cd rom indexes labor law email service -9-
U.S.L.W. D. Rare Books 1. Accomplishments The Cornell Law Library possesses an extraordinary law rare book collection of over 2,000 items-rated by the noted former Harvard and Yale law librarian Morris Cohen as in the top ten in the U .S.- as well as a substantial (several thousand) historical collection of largely nineteenth century books. These are often brittle, but important to preserve both as to the contents and the original copy, since they are artifacts of the time. The public activities program undertaken since 1995 included several classes taught in the Rare Book room in 1996 (“French Law,” “History of the Common Law”), presentations to the Alumni Advisory Council every year since 1996, to other alumni during Alumni Reunion each June, to the faculty, library and law school staff, as well as several exhibits. Two articles (by Claire Germain and Barbara Grant) were written and published in the July 1996 Cornell Law Forum. ’’Rediscovering Rare Books in an Electronic Age,” 11 and “Artifacts of the Law: the Cornell Law Library Rare Book Room,” 15. In addition, Daniel Smith wrote, “The Legacy of Nuremberg: Sustaining Human Rights,” Cornell Law Forum (March 1999). Publications promoting the rare book collection included two flyers prepared by Barbara Grant, “The Rare Book Collection,” and “The Case for Preservation,” Several exhibits were mounted: the evolution of human rights in international law, Blackstone, and the Nuremberg Trials. 2. Staffing Staffing for rare books and preservation has been difficult since there is no established rare book librarian position line, which is the case in most peer schools, or established funding for the preservation and repair of rare and historical materials. In 1995, the library hired Barbara Grant, a student spouse with a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale, from the student wage budget. She began to inventory the collection and promote the rare books to faculty and students, as well as to the Advisory Council and Alumni. She left for Boston after her husband graduated in 1996. In October 1997, the library hired a reference librarian, Daniel Smith, with a special interest in and knowledge of rare books, spending 20% of his time on rare books and preservation. There clearly is a tension between the time that he can devote to rare books and preservation, and all the other activities, such as reference and instruction, that he is called upon to perform as a reference librarian and research instructor. This area of rare books and preservation would benefit from a full-time professional position, as well as a full-time technician (for at least a few years), to do repair work in-house on the large collection of brittle 19th century materials, and heavily used current materials in the stacks. Some of the more -10-
extensive work could be outsourced to the CUL Preservation Department or to a conservation specialist. 3. Funding for Preservation and Repair of Rare Books There is currently no established funding for the preservation and repair of rare and historical materials. Up until about 1995, the CUL Preservation Department provided funding from central funds to the entire library system, including the law library. About $45,000 worth of conservation work was performed on the rare book collection over several years. This funding stopped in 1995. In 1997, the law school Dean was asked to contribute $5,000 to the salary of a photograph conservator. In exchange, another CUL Preservation staff member performed repairs on several law rare books. This program was not renewed. This area offers great opportunities for cooperation with the CUL Preservation Department, and its head, John Dean, has always been very helpful in helping the law library promote rare books and suggesting ways to solicit funding to preserve them. He has come several times to help make presentations to alumni (during Alumni Reunion). A preservation proposal for the law library rare and historical books was written, which may lead to an alumni gift campaign. Several sessions were conducted for alumni and the Advisory Council on the need for preservation. Preservation of Rare and Older Books. Major progress was accomplished in pulling books away from the stacks for safe keeping. The Rare Book team is currently working on a revised policy and guidelines document, that will set out repair and maintenance procedures, security and usage guidelines, and criteria for inclusion in the Rare Book room and cage. A student was trained by the CUL Preservation Department on building acid-free boxes. CUL Top Grant Award for Web Preservation Project. In early 1998, the library won the top CUL internal grant competition with a proposal on “The Conservation and Documentation of Rare Historical Materials from the Special Collections of Cornell Law Library.� Daniel Smith and Michelle Brown (CUL Preservation Department) are the principals of this grant and are working on documenting the various stages of the restoration process of a number of rare books, and producing a digital image database and multimedia presentations, both to educate and attract prospective donors. 4. Rare Books Endowments and Gifts Bennett Endowment. The law library has one endowment for rare books, the Bennett endowment for statutes and codes over twenty five years old. The law library has an extraordinary collection of Colonial and early statutory law, painstakingly acquired, one item at a time, by generations of dedicated law librarians. It is, however, hard to spend the money now, because of the dearth of missing items, or their cost. A descendant of Mr. Bennett visited the -11-
law school a few years ago, and was kept apprised of the collection. William J. Donovan’s Archive of Nuremberg Trial Transcripts. In July 1998, the library received a major gift from Henry Korn, General William J. (Bill) Donovan’s personal collection of Nuremberg trial transcripts. The gift was recognized at a special dedication ceremony in October 1998. Daniel Smith prepared a special exhibit and lecture on “The Legacy of Nuremberg: Sustaining Human Rights.” Nuremberg Digitization and Preservation Proposal. In February 1999, at the suggestion of Mr. Korn, Dean Wolfram and the Law School Development Office submitted, on behalf of the law library, a $250,000 proposal for an endowment to digitize selected materials from the Donovan Papers, and for preservation and collection development of rare materials in the international human rights area. Of this sum, $50,000 would be earmarked for a digitization project of unique materials to make them available via the Internet; the project would also entail detailed cataloging of the collection, the development of a finding aid implementing EAD (Encoded Archival Description) standards, and the preservation of the Nuremberg documents, many of which are in a fragile condition. 5. Rare Book Room Recent improvements to the Rare Book Room in the fall of 1998 included the installation of a computer connected to the law school network, and ports for additional hook-ups, as well as the installation of an inside lock for security when working downstairs. The humidity was checked, and it was determined that an overhaul of the system was needed. It was also discovered that the alarm was not connected to the police station. Work is in progress to remedy this situation.
III. SERVICES During 1996-99, the law library strengthened its services to faculty and students, focusing on desktop research using the Internet, as well as more traditional library services. A. Faculty Services The active faculty liaison program consists of personalized services provided to individual faculty by their liaison librarian. Services include, but are not limited to, one-on-one training for online services, as well as other computer desktop research services; and extensive personalized research assistance to support faculty scholarship. Faculty research profiles are compiled to help collection development and current awareness services. In 1993 the library started "News Flash from the Law Library," a special e-mail service for the Cornell Law Faculty. It also started accepting reference and research requests through e-12-
mail. The library e-mail box is checked several times daily. The library is increasingly providing electronic databases to the faculty. Some examples include: ►
SmartCILP {Current Index to Legal Periodicals), providing weekly e-mail delivery of latest journal article citations on customized subjects.
►
A group subscription to Legal Scholarship Network, (www.ssrc.lsn). Subscribers receive regular e-mail updates of working papers and recently accepted or published articles in seventeen different legal categories.
►
The library maintains a list of faculty publications on its web site, at www.lawschool.comell.edu/library.
►
The library conducts regular workshops to inform faculty of trends and new services. In February 1997, Claire Germain talked to the faculty on “Legal Scholarship in the 21st Century: Impact of Information Technology on the Many Roles of the Law Teacher.” Special library presentations to the faculty in the Faculty Lounge included the new Westlaw KeyCite service, and Lexis’ Virtual Classroom for web site production.
►
Since 1993, the library has offered a book and document retrieval system for faculty for materials in the law library and in other libraries. The "Selected Acquisitions List" was revamped and now includes a request form for faculty Who want to get books or be put on the routing list for new periodicals. It is available via e-mail or in print form. B. Student Services
Every year, the library conducts an intensive training program for law students, both through formal credit course, and informal group and individual instruction sessions. Legal Research Course (PT1). In 1996, the Fall semester long credit course was taught by Pat Court, Scott Childs, John Hasko, and Jean Wenger. That year, class sessions were held in small individual sections for more effective teaching. They included components taught by the Legal Information Institute and the Practioner-in-Residence. In the fall of 1997, Practice Training 1 was taught by two librarians (because of staff shortage; normally taught by four). It included seven class meetings each week, and proved to be highly effective at teaching basics and integrated electronic strategies. Legal Methods Course. A new Legal Methods class was instituted in the Fall of 1998, that merges legal research and writing, and provides an integrated approach for first year law students to leam research and writing. As instructors in the Legal Methods program, librarians were pleased to connect research with writing, to give the research component a context within which -13-
students can better learn the needed skills and strategies. Much staff time was devoted to the preparation of this new course. The research instructors designed the research part of the curriculum, together with the writing instructors. Teaching the Legal Methods course is a significant time commitment by the librarians to the curriculum, and it is quite worthwhile to have the law school’s information professionals directly involved with students. Advanced Legal Research Course. The library started offering a new course in the spring semester of 1999: “Advanced Legal Research” (Expert Legal Research in the 21st Century). Much staff time was devoted to designing the curriculum and preparing to teach. This popular new seminar was greatly over-subscribed by second and third year students who wanted to learn more about many aspects of research, from international law and online research to mastering primary law and learning the resources in particular areas of law. Five law librarians teach the class jointly and find that the teaching time commitment for this new course has deep benefits for the students. Research Instruction Classes Class presentations in substantive law classes included Prof. G. Hay’s class on antitrust (Joseph Luke), immigration, and European Union. Research instruction classes were offered on the following topics: Bridge the Gap series on litigation and corporation law research, Web instruction, Bear Access, immigration, judicial clerkships, job searching, European Union law, international and foreign law, public international law, Lexis, Westlaw, judicial clerkships, and Sail Into Summer. Other sessions included orientation programs for first year students, LL.Ms, Academic orientation, law review staffs, CUL librarians, and the Admitted Students’ program. Cooperative projects were undertaken with the Law School Placement, and orientation and tours with CLSA. Journal Library Liaisons. The staffs of the law journals edited at Cornell are major users of library services, with heavy emphasis on interlibrary loan and reference. Each journal has a librarian liaison who conducts instructional sessions with student associates and who coordinate research procedures with the student editors. 1994/95 Orientation tours Number students Classes and lectures Number students
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
26 298
22 236
45 586
45 586
20 216
147 1,066
127 1,104
109 897
117 972
152 609
-14-
Ref. quest.
8,083
7,299
5,909
7,044
6,511
Numbers above for classes and students include PT1, Legal Methods, and Advanced Legal Research. Sample Research Questions. A small sample of interesting questions asked in 1997-98, included consulting for the French Conseil d’Etat on the extradition of a U.S. citizen who might be subject to the death penalty in Arizona; several requests about our collection of Liberian law; requests for our transcripts of the Scottsboro trial; helping an undergraduate class research Talmudic law in various countries of the world; researching copyright permissions in India and Hong Kong for a professor’s new book; finding large color maps of voting district realignments, found in our collection of original U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs (not available online or on fiche); use of our Bennett collection of state statutes, a unique historical collection, by a Cornell government professor researching voting statutes and poll taxes in several states; research on the laws of Kenya for an attorney’s web project; use of Ariel, an internet-based delivery system for scanned documents from a library to another one, for requests from England; providing a federal commission reviewing RICO with unique RICO information compiled in the law school; the recent reform of French nationality law; gathering materials on international arbitration; downloading documents from web sites for faculty, such as the recent ILO Child Labor Law report; the transferability of legal qualifications within the European Union, and African human rights and the relationship between Sierra Leone and Nigeria. C. Services to Other Users In addition to its primary clients in the law school community, the library offers a number of its services to the rest of the university, to other libraries through cooperative programs, to local and area attorneys, and to the general public. Between 1996 and 1999, the law library has offered regular programs to: Advisory Council Presentation. Presentation at Law School Advisory Council Meeting on “Legal Research and Law Office Management in the 21st Century,” September 1996. Claire Germain talked about the future of legal information and law library Web initiatives to build the electronic library. Presentation followed by library staff “Surfing the Net” hands-on session, taught by Pat Court, Scott Childs, John Hasko, Jean Pajerek, and Jean Wenger. In the fall of 1998, the library offered a rare book tour, and participated in Legal Methods panel discussion. Law Alumni Reunion. In June 1997, the library prepared a variety of displays, including one for Professor Schlesinger’s memorial service, together with a bibliography of his works. Two library programs were offered, on rare books, with Barbara Grant, and on “Surfing the Internet,” with the professional staff. Alumni Sessions. Internet and Rare Books sessions for the Law School Advisory Council, -15-
September 13, and for the Alumni Reunion on June 6. Law Library Open House. Unveiling of International Labour Organization mirror site and Rare Books Room tours on April 9. Cornell University Students and Faculty. Classes met in the Reading Room for Cornell University courses in zoning, historical preservation, and human ecology. In-depth faculty consultation on special projects, included children who murder, and historic state statutes. Assistance with Lexis-Nexis Universe and other Gateway databases accessible by all Cornell researchers, was provided. Beyond Cornell. We offer a unique reference service wherein we receive reference questions from Cornell and around the country (several per day). The highest level of service is for law school requests, and then for Cornell requests. However, even the outside requestors receive a reply with a web site or book title that can assist in their research, and often a contact point in their local area for further assistance. Although we do not conduct research requested by non-Cornell e-mails, we receive regular messages of thanks for pointing them along the way. D. Cornell Law Library Web Site 1. Components of Web Site Creation of Web Page and Library Open House. The Law Library Home Page came into existence in the spring of 1995, thanks to the efforts of Jean Pajerek and Scott Childs. It represents a joint effort of the entire library staff and has many components. A major event of the fall of 1996 was the Library Open House and unveiling of the new Library Web Site in October. About 300 students, faculty and staff participated. Computers and a projection screen were installed in library reading room alcoves. See write-up in the student newspaper, The Tower (November 7, 1996, at 6-7). InSITE. In the spring of 1996, the entire professional staff started writing annotations of new law-related Web sites, in a cooperative project with LII. The bi-weekly InSITE publication can be looked at directly through the Library Home Page, with direct links to the sites. It is also sent to faculty and students via e-mail or print. It will be made available to alumni who have e-mail. The current list of subscribers exceed 1,200. Legal Research Encyclopedia. The Legal Research Encyclopedia builds on InSITE annotations of Web sites and consists of mini-guides, integrating resources in a variety of formats (books, CD-ROMS, Lexis, Westlaw, Internet, videotapes, etc.), arranged by subject and jurisdiction, with direct hypertext links to as many electronic sources as possible. Its development is currently incorporated into the daily work of reference librarians. International Court of Justice. In 1996, the decisions of the World Court became available on -16-
the Internet for the first time, thanks to the law library’s efforts, in English and French, together with a number of related useful information (pictures of judges, research guide, press releases etc.). Claire Germain and Jay Greco, JD’98, presented the Web site at the April 1997 ASIL (American Society of International Law) meeting in Washington, D.C. Other Web initiatives. The State Law Project, completed in the summer of 1996, under Pat Court and Scott Child, presents a comprehensive picture of state primary sources in all formats, from the Internet to print. These projects are the result of the law library’ efforts to move to a greater reliance on networked electronic resources and show researchers how they can integrate print and electronic research sources. Death Penalty Web Site. This site was developed with other law school units (see below). Joint Projects with LII. The library is co-developing the Death Penalty Web site with Professors Garvey, Johnson, and Blume, and LII. Other joint projects include cooperation on the InSITE project, and use of the Folioviews software. Hein Digital Journals Project. The law library is working with CIT (Rich Marisa) and Hein Publishing Co. to digitized early law reviews, such as the Cornell Law Quarterly, and make available to researchers over the Internet both a facsimile copy of the print and a fully searchable version. The OCR method of “uncorrected OCR,” also called “fuzzy OCR,” was developed at Cornell. Web Publications. In 1999, Joseph Luke published an Impeachment Guide on the Web (updating a previous Cornell print publication). Charlotte Bynum contributed many country and subject guides to the Legal Research Encyclopedia, for the benefit of faculty and students who want to be aware of Web resources for their topics. Intermediary pages were created for the ILO and ICJ Web pages. E. Library Publications Library Publications. In addition to the library guides, articles for the Legal Research Encyclopedia and InSITE annotations, research guides were written on Liberian Law at Cornell University (the foremost collection in the world, because of Prof. Milton Konvitz’ efforts); International Labour Organization (Charlotte Bynum) and Feminist Jurisprudence (Pat Court); a new edition of the Cornell Law Library brochure was published and distributed to alumni. Other Publications. The staff spent many hours developing the new edition of the Cornell Law Library brochure, prepared for alumni Weekend (June 1998). The library publishes a newsletter. Other library publications include a Guide to the Library, Guide to Faculty Services, and several subject research guides. In 1995, the library started a series of web-based subject guides, available in print, and also through the Cornell Law -17-
Library Home Page, with direct links to Internet sources. Some of the titles include the comprehensive Legal Research Encyclopedia, as well as more focused guides such as Federal Law Sources on the Internet, Foreign and International Law Sources on the Internet, and Guide to Federal Regulations. Guide to the Law Library Guide for Students and Researchers (annual) Guide to Faculty Services (annual) Cornell Law Library (color booklet) (1998) Law Library Newsletter (occasional) Selected Acquisitions List (monthly) FLASH: special e-mail current awareness service for Cornell law faculty InSITE annotations Web Guides Foreign and International Law Resources on the Internet (maintained by Charlotte Bynum) Legal Research Guides Series Federal Law Sources on the Internet Resources for Judicial Clerkships Federal Impeachment Process Contributions to Cornell Law Forum, Tower student newspaper, and Scoops newsletter
IV. PHYSICAL FACILITIES, SPACE ORGANIZATION AND SPACE PLANNING In 1996, the law library made plans to create a visible and central Reference Desk. The plans included the relocation and expansion of the Circulation/Reserve area. The Circulation/Reserve area was to be relocated to the middle of the Reading Room, incorporating the collections of the Open (Special) and Closed Reserves, and providing needed space for Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery. The collection was to include the materials currently in Closed Reserve, most unbound periodicals and last five years of bound periodicals, materials currently in Open (Special) Reserve, audio-visual materials, and materials needing heightened security. The esthetics of the Reading Room were to be preserved. These plans, scheduled for the summer of 1996, did not come to pass because of lack of funding. A.
Organization and Access to the Collection
Cataloging and Reclassification Projects The work of the catalogers in providing call numbers and cataloging materials is essential to the library, even though it occurs behind the scenes. The cataloging staff was particularly busy -18-
and productive during the 1996-99 period, because of the effort to convert all catalog cards to the online catalog (retrospective conversion), and to reclassify the foreign law collection from an antiquated system to the new Library of Congress classification system. The following data are illustrative of the work and progress accomplished: Between 1996 and 1999, the cataloging department was engaged in two long term projects: the retrospective conversion (“recon”) of some 27,000 card-based bibliographic records into the online catalog, and the reclassification of the library’s foreign law collection of over 26,000 titles. CUL provided $100,000 to fund a .75 FTE librarian and one .15 FTE student assistant. The target date for completion of these two projects is December 1999. It has been now slightly delayed because of the switch of the staff from Macs to PCs in the fall of 1999. A review of cataloging practices was conduced, and streamlined cataloging procedures (“fastcaf’) were implemented as a result. Accomplishments include the cataloging of the World Law Reform Commission microfiche collection, over 3,000 records. The Foreign law reclassification project was needed because since 1993 foreign law materials had been classified under the new Library of Congress call numbers, whereas the old materials were in the antiquated Los Angeles County classification. These meant that materials for one country were in two different places, and therefore needed to be brought back together. The completion of the reclassification of monographs and some serials for France, Australia, Italy, Latin America, South Africa, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Nigeria, West Africa, Tunisia, and Ethiopia. Work began on reclassifying German materials, with help from an LL.M. student and one-year temporary appointment (Anne Carson). 2350 new titles were cataloged, 6910 titles were reclassified; 1270 titles were converted from the old card catalog to the online catalog. Law cataloging practices were reviewed by a team led by Karen Calhoun (CUL), in collaboration with the cataloging department. This review led to the implementation of streamlining cataloging, with due consideration of law user needs. B. Building Security Lack of Security System. The lack of a security system is a important issue, but one which has no easy or immediate solution. There are some twenty one access doors to the library because of its central location within the law school building. Installing a security system would hamper student and faculty traffic from the various parts of the building, including faculty offices and classrooms. Since there is no book security system, there is some evidence of missing books. At the time of the first large barcode program (an effort to mark books for automated checkouts), in 1992, there were 4,000 items missing. From 1996 to 1999, 1,550 items have been found missing. This only includes books which were requested, and then found missing. The library needs to do an inventory of the collection to determine whether books are lost or missing. This has not occurred yet because of lack of available staff. Law students and faculty have 24-hour access to the building and library, with the exception of the Reading Room, through the use of cards that opens several doors to the building. -19-
Law School Building Security At the present time, the circulation staff is responsible for locking the library, certain classrooms, the student lounge, and outside doors to the law school complex when the library closes. Circulation staff and law student monitors are also responsible for making sure all non-law school community users have left the law school complex at closing time. The reading room of the library is the only area which is actually totally secure when the library and building is closed because it is locked. Law students have key cards and can access the building 24 hours a day, making security a real problem. Library staff will often find both building crash bar doors and internal library and building doors propped open after the building has been secured. Also, because the law students have 24 hour access it has become increasingly difficult to make sure non-law Cornell students are out of the building complex and remain so. One of the measures the law school initiated a few years ago was to have the Library Administrative Supervisor for Access Services hire law students to do monitoring. The monitors go through the building before closing and alert non-law school students that they will have to leave. Right after the library and building are locked, they sweep the library again to make sure non-law students have left. On Sunday-Thursday nights they also stay in the reading room until midnight and then secure it. In theory this should work well, but in reality it does not. It is difficult to keep a law student in this position. They tend to do the job a few months and then quit. The students in this position also tend to leave for weekends without prior notice. The rules are made clear to them when they are hired but the job is not a top priority to them. Therefore this has not turned out to be a good workable solution. The library staff would recommend that the monitors be hired and supervised by the law school facilities department. The monitors are performing a law school function after the library is closed and library staff are no longer in the building. They are also law school employees, not library employees. The library has already accommodated the law school by having the Night Supervisor work until 11:30 pm instead of 11 pm, but this has not been a satisfactory solution. Another problem the library staff has encountered is either non-communication or miscommunication concerning when classrooms, doors, etc. in the law school should be opened or locked by law library staff. The library staff, especially on weekends end up locking many areas which are being used for law school activities. Several members of the library staff complain that they are spending too much of their time having to monitor various areas of the law school that are not part of the library. Another concern of the library staff has to do with the maintenance of the law school facilities. Often when an outside door (crash bar doors) is reported broken, it will not be adequately fixed for a long period of time. This creates problems for the student assistants and/or staff who are trying to secure the building. Another source of frustration for the library staff is having to deal with non-law students -20-
who do not want to leave the law school complex when the library closes. Non-law school Cornell students know law students can stay in the library 24 hours a day. They feel, as a Cornell student, that they should have the same privileges. The law school library is the only 24 hour access library on campus. When other libraries close, every one leaves, therefore security or reentry into the building is not a problem. After consulting with some other department libraries (Business, ILR, Music, Hotel, and Fine Arts) it has also become clear that only the law school expects library staff to secure other parts of the building (classrooms, students lounge, multiple outside doors etc.). Other colleges at Cornell hire graduate students or other staff to perform these duties. The library staff is only involved with securing the library proper. Other parts of the building come under the responsibility of the college staff. C. Book Lockers and Carrels Book lockers are a handy location in the library where students can leave their personal books, as well as library books that can not leave the building. As part of the Development Office renovation, book lockers on the second floor of the library have been dispersed to the ground floor and to the vending area. Numbering of the lockers had originally indicated the floor location. Several shifts of lockers to accommodate new services over the last few years have interrupted that logic, so lockers may be renumbered by Facilities Office. Study carrel space in the law library has long been on a first-come, first-served basis, with restrictions on how long a carrel could be claimed without the student actually being there. Competition and complaints arise when some students stake out a space that they intend to keep, regardless of the rules. It is a time-consuming task for library staff to patrol the carrels and enforce the rules by clearing out carrels. At the same time, there is sometimes a valid need for a researcher to keep library materials together for a project; then, it is necessary for the library to know where those materials are. To meet these different needs and concerns, the library worked this spring with CLSA, law review, and administrators to devise a new plan. On an experimental basis, we plan to have carrels this fall in the basement that can be reserved, and library staff patrols will be routine, but less burdensome.
V. TECHNOLOGY A. Partnership with the Educational Technologies Department The library is collaborating on the creation and coordination of the law school Web site. The library provided time for Jay Greco to develop the “Cornell in Paris� Web site. The library staff meets regularly with the Educational Technologies staff to coordinate a variety of projects. In the fall of 1998, the law library web site was moved from the LII server to the law school server. We rely on IT assistance with our development server, which uploads to the IT server. IT provides the web server for the International Court of Justice mirror site. -21-
During the period, the library worked in cooperation with the Educational Technologies department to provide access to a variety of library and information sources through the Novellbased law school network. Joint projects have included the installation of a CD-ROM network (which unfortunately stopped working after the switch from DOS to Windows’95), the lay-out of a new windows menu, and training programs for faculty, staff, and students. B. Partnership with the Legal Information Institute The library is interested in collaborating with the LII and its sophisticated technological experiments to the benefit of Cornell law faculty and students. The LII Bigear project provided the starting point for InSITE, the library annotated annotation service of new law-related Web sites. C. Computer Infrastructure. The library purchased computer upgrades for staff and web development; conducted an ergonomic review or workstations to improve work environment, with necessary adjustments, and made purchases to implement the needed changes.
VI. PERSONNEL A. Staff Changes New University Librarian. The new University Librarian, Sarah Thomas, replaced Alain Seznec in July 1996. She visited the law library and joined an all staff meeting, on October 22, 1996. Library Reorganization and Staff Changes. Professional staff: The level of research services to faculty and students was enhanced within existing budget and staffing levels, through the promotion of two staff members in 1997- Pat Court to Assistant Director for Administration and Public Services, and Scott Childs to Head of Acquisitions and Collection Development, and the appointment of three new lawyer-librariansDaniel Smith (Oct. 1997), Charlotte Bynum (Nov. 1997), and Joseph Luke (Jan. 1998), with special strengths in Anglo-American, foreign and international law, information technology, rare books and preservation. Scott Childs moved to Louisiana in January 1999. Joseph Luke left the library in September 1999, to join his wife in Kazakstan. Eric Cooper, Head of Acquisitions and Reference Librarian, and Elaine Krikorian, Reference Librarian, were hired in September 1999. Brandy Kreisler interned with the library in August 1999, and started working as a temporary Reference Librarian September-December 1999. Sasha Skenderija was hired as a temporary Web coordinator, September 1999-May 2000. Anne Carson worked as a temporary reference librarian during staff transitions, and also as a cataloger, and on the Foreign Law Inventory. -22-
Daniel Smith resigned from the library in January 2000. Acting Director. Pat Court served as Acting Director during Claire Germain’s research leave in the fall of 1998. Paraprofessional staff. Jonathan Driscoll moved to another departmaent; Eileen Galinski left to go to graduate school; David Elliott started in September 1999. B. Employee Awards Employee Service Awards. In 1995, Crystal Hackett and Nancie McBride celebrated their 30 years of service to the University, Mae Leckey celebrated her 15 years. In November 1996, Barbara Taylor was recognized for 15 years of service at a CUL luncheon. In November 1997, Betsy Hand was recognized for 20 years of service to Cornell University, Pat Jones for 15 years, and Elizabeth Teskey for 5 years. In October 1998, service awards were given to Sue Hills (15 years), Laura Robert (10 years), Pat Rinchack (20 years), and Janet Gillespie (20 years). CUL Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Award. In April 1997, Eric Beveridge, a longstanding undergraduate student employee received the CUL Fuerst Award. In 1998, Adam Kantor received the award for his exceptional performance on the web site (5 students recognized out of 600). In the spring of 1999, Edna Bernal from the Public Services Department was selected for this prestigious award. C. Staff Development Staff Development. Library annual planning session in August 1996, followed by “Setting Priorities” session in January 1997 for all staff. Library Plan. Organized a staff workshop on “Coping with Change,” (Dec. 1997), and a Priority-Setting Retreat (Jan. 1998). This led to a staff-developed new Library Plan for 1998-99. Training Sessions for Staff. Colts and Colts II for payroll took many hours of training. The technical services staff is switching from Macs to PCs, which also led to several training sessions on Windows. Crosstraining: Patti Rinchack learned bindery procedures from Nancie McBride. First Aid and CPR Training. Brian Eden and Eileen Galinski received certification from the American Red Cross in Community First Aid and Safety as well as CPR Ergonomic review conducted of all staff areas, computers and furniture, with new equipment -23-
and adjustments made when appropriate. The new Colts II payroll procedure implemented in December 1998 required the purchase of new computers. Staff work spaces: Public Services Work Room - walls rearranged to improve security, work flow, and air quality. Room G25 became book marking operation. D. Relationship with the Law School Two library representatives attend law school staff meetings and find them very useful. They report the items of general interest to the library staff (via e-mail) Law Library Participation in CUL Committees and Activities. Law library staff show a high level of involvement and commitment to CUL. These efforts include the Single Point of Entry concept, the preparation for the next generation of the online catalog (Library Management System), and the reorganization of the Cornell University library system. ABA-AALS Inspection. In the fall of 1996, much time was spent preparing for the inspection of the law school and law library by the ABA-AALS team for re-accreditation purposes (October 28-Nov. 1). The library received high marks from the inspection team.
VII. CONCLUSION The library is looking forward to bringing enhanced information services to faculty and students. The library wants to work more closely with other law school units, such as the law school faculty and staff, the Educational Technologies department, and the Legal Information Institute. The library also is fortunate to have a competent and enthusiastic staff who is eager to bring information resources and researchers together.
j :report 1996-1999. fin
-24-
TABLE 1 Law Library Comparisons* 1997-98 Vols. & Eq. Held
Vols. & Eq. Added
Titles Held
Titles Added
Lib. Mat. Spent, including Online Databases
Lib. Mat. Spent Per Student FTE
Total Spent
Staff FTE 1998
Harvard
1,962,871 (1)
46,652 (4)
749,192(1)
9,472
8,726,342(1)
83.3
Yale
1,002,151 (2)
24,553 (18)
252,383 (7)
4,510
4,087,700 (6)
43.4
Columbia
980,461 (3)
19,732 (37)
339,493 (3)
4,176
1,449,746 (6)
1,319.15(85)
4,322,256 (5)
41.7
NYU
975,696 (4)
19,742 (36)
165,418(34)
5,747
1,503,486 (5)
1,146.82(107)
5,513,747 (3)
48.0
Georgetown
933,290 (6)
51,853 (2)
295,172(4)
10,182
2,939,252(1)
1,526.88 (55)
7,187,167 (2)
64.0
Michigan
826,766 (9)
24,183 (19)
266,419(6)
2,471
1,762,364(3)
1,707.72 (35)
4,028,868 (7)
40.0
Virginia
788,674(10)
28,223 (11)
235,003 (11)
11,019
1,094,864 (21)
2,837,524(17)
29.4
Berkeley
780,666(11)
20,150 (30)
215,476(14)
8,012
1,823,865 (2)
2,224.23 (9)
4,958,326 (4)
41.3
Pennsyl.
663,947(14)
26,112(13)
172,061 (31)
8,560
1,221,372(12)
1,694.00 (37)
3,097,579(12)
32.0
Northw.
646,189(15)
11,917(84)
192,089 (19)
3,901
996,310(37)
1,583.96 (49)
2,528,749 (26)
29.7
Chicago
628,773 (16)
11,140 (94)
247,759 (8)
7,766
880,478 (66)
1,600.87 (46)
1,946,426 (66)
37.2
C o r n e ll
600,442 (19)
16,017(47)
175,872 (28)
2,309
987,455 (40)
1,842.27 (23)
2,141,022 (43)
21.5
Duke
521,895 (30)
15,420 (51)
190,496 (22)
5,823
1,108,807(19)
1,814.74 (25)
2,349,996 (32)
24.0
Stanford
473,855 (43)
17,274(43)
174,761 (29)
7,331
1,265,217(10)
2,300.39 (6)
2,977,359(14)
34.0
So C a lif
360.112 f881
8 2680451
159 902 H71
2.002
2 006 014 t571
18 0
‘Ranked according to Volumes & Equivalents Held Numbers in parentheses show overall rank among ABA accredited schools)
-25-
6 1 8 .4 8 4 0 341
971.49(138)
999 170 3 1 1