National Library of Australia


State Library of Queenland collection assessment
Law

A total of 5,262 monographs are held in the division. This represents 1.37% of monographs total 383,000 quoted for SRL and Special Collections in the 1994/95 annual report. 

41.4% of monograph holdings have been published in the ten years 1985-1994 and 1124 titles, that is, 21.3% of monograph holdings have been published in the 5 years 1990-1994.

It is Collection Development policy not to acquire any juvenile literature or school textbooks, tertiary curriculum texts and advanced academic research material for the State Reference Library.

The collection covers a broad perspective of the subject. Some emphasis is given to social aspects of law and current issues of general interest. Works in non-technical language are acquired provided they are considered to be authoritative and reliable. Emphasis is on Queensland law and subject areas of high demand in Australian Federal law. Historical information related to the sources and development of the English legal system as the foundation of Australian law is also collected.

Collection strength is in Australian material with strong holdings of primary source material particularly for Queensland and the Commonwealth. Consolidations or reprinted versions of the statutes of all Australian legislatures are held. For Australian material, collecting level and acquisition level are at 3b. For other material levels are at 3a.

General law reports are acquired for Queensland and the Commonwealth. All England Law Reports are also held.

A selection of plain language legal dictionaries and loose-leaf services which reflect current user needs are available.

There is good coverage of introductory material for the non-professional relating to the Australian legal system. Historical aspects are well represented.

Queensland Legal Deposit material, housed in the John Oxley Library, includes a broad range of legislation and legal materials published in or relevant to Queensland. This material has not been included in the assessment.

Relevant sections of the following bibliographies have been checked against State Library's monographic holdings:

 Title

Total checked

SRL holdings

% held

Australian National Bibliography 1991-1995

Australia, a Reader's Guide

Everyday Law (1995)

Finding the Law: A Guide to Australian Secondary Sources of Legal Information

Primary Materials for Australian Law Libraries

Walford's Guide to Reference Material (6th ed)

 

1295

15

73

 

1347

196

457

564

15

43

 

571

73

139

43.5

100

59

 

42

37

30

Periodical (serials) coverage in the law division

There are 323 open and 320 closed serial subscriptions in the area of Law.

All titles in the relevant sections of the following publications were checked against State Library's holdings:

 Title

Total checked

SRL holdings

% held

Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS)

AGIS (ON AUSTROM database)

Results for serials comprehensively indexed

Results for all serials indexed

Current Australian & New Zealand Legal Literature Index

Results for publications indexed in full

Results for all serials indexed

Finding the Law (1995)

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (Wilson)

(Note: Mostly non-Australian material)

Magazines for Libraries (8th ed)

18

 

117

422

 

 

29

329

699

 

721

96

11

 

36

83

 

 

12

57

136

 

19

6

61

 

30.7

19.6

 

 

41

17

19.5

 

2.6

6.25

Last modified: August 18 2004.