Economic Study of Law Book Pricing to be Conducted by AALL

For Immediate Release
August 08, 2000

AALL President Robert L. Oakley announced today that the American Association of Law Libraries, representing the nation's largest consumer group for law books, is conducting a major economic study on law book pricing over the past decade.

Responding to the expressed concerns of its members about the rapid escalation of law book prices, the American Association of Law Libraries is contracting with Mark McCabe (Professor of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology and a former staff member at the U.S. Department of Justice) to analyze the trends in law book pricing over the past decade and to study the impact that those price changes have had on library collections.

To assist Professor McCabe in his work, the Association has appointed an advisory committee consisting of:

• Nancy Johnson, Chair (Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia)
  
• Claire Engel (Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Columbia, South Carolina)
  
• Craig Lelansky (Georgetown University, Washington, DC)
  
• Ken Svengalis (Rhode Island State Law Library, Providence, Rhode Island)
  

The Committee will develop a list of 500 representative titles, including Reporters, Codes, Digests, and Shepards, together with looseleaf services, newsletters, and supplemented treatises. They will also assemble the pricing data for each of the titles over the past ten years.

After gathering the initial data and list of titles, the Committee will seek broad input from other AALL members. It will be looking for at least 100 law libraries of all types to participate in the study by indicating their holdings and cancellations of each title throughout the ten-year period.

If you or your library would like to participate in the study, please contact Nancy Johnson at (404) 651-4140 or at njohnson@gsu.edu.