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 Where are the Law Books? logues are out of date in growing libra

ries, almost before they are printed. A union list of books in the whole ﬁeld of law would, moreover, be an unneces

sary compilation, since it may be taken

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the ﬁrst circular, and 57 to the second. Personal letters brought more answers. There is authority for the statement

that, as compared with other special libraries, such as those in theology,

for granted that each law library dupli cates every other law library along cer tain well-known lines. The nucleus of

medicine, education and the social and

every law library is American court

apparently a lack of interest. Law librarians have until recently held them

reports, and federal and state statutes. It would be a waste of energy to specify

physical sciences, the response from law libraries was poor indeed, indicating

selves aloof from the general library

every library which contains the U. S.

movement, and many' still fail to see

Revised Statutes. But to bring out in relief notable collections contained in law libraries is quite another matter.

wherein their libraries can be bene ﬁted by association with other libraries. The formation of the American Associa

The wave of specialization in the library

tion of Law Libraries, which holds its

world is just beginning to gather force, and “special” libraries are springing up all over the country. They have been a

annual meeting in conjunction with that of the American Library Association, has done much to dissipate this insular spirit.

prominent subject of discussion at recent

Having had access to the reports of

library conventions, and are acquiring a literature of their own. In harmony with this development, the U. S. Bureau of Education is com

special law collections already sent in,

piling the statistics of “special collec tions in libraries in the United States." This publication will cover all special collections, no matter to what class they belong, and prominent among them should be special collections of law. A circular letter containing schedules of subjects under which information was

the writer thought it unfair to the legal profession, to general scholarship, and to the law libraries themselves that the latter should not have a better repre sentation in the forthcoming report.

The facts are therefore presented in a legal periodical in the hope that a more general interest may be aroused. The circular letters sent out by the

Bureau of Education contained the fol lowing statement: “In the case of libra

especially desired, including “law," and

ries devoted to medicine, law, theology,

“intemational law,” was sent out in November, 1908, to 2,298 libraries each

etc., to which this circular may be sent,

supposed to contain more than 5,000 volumes.

In December, 1909, a second

circular letter was sent to those which did not answer the ﬁrst. In addition many personal letters were written to librarians. In relation to law a large response

was

not

anticipated

except

from state and law libraries; neverthe less, a number of interesting collections

were reported as contained in public libraries and historical society libraries. Of the law libraries only 2 responded to

the inquiry is directed not so much to their collections taken as a whole as to the separate parts in which they may be exceptionally strong, and so in all cases, the more precise and limited the subjects mentioned, the more valuable

will be the information to the special student." In the schedule of suggested subjects, legal literature contains only

the general headings “law" and “inter national law," while “medicine" has seventeen sub-headings. This may ac count for the fact that law librarians