Books and articles abound providing guidance in the area of legal reference; tomes are written on technical services; but collection development in law libraries does not enjoy this same bibliographic scrutiny. One question which comes up repeatedly from the novice is what tools are useful in the practice of collection development. The following is an annotated list of resources that are useful either for selection or assessment of titles in collection development. The list is not intended to be exhaustive or exclusive. I invite readers of this column to send me comments on these titles or offer titles or tools that they find indispensable.

Status of Ward Titles Ward and Associates’ two bimonthly listings, The Catalog of Current Law Titles and Catalog of New Foreign and International Law Titles ceased publication recently (with the December 1998 issues). Some of us have found these titles useful for collection development, particularly the “Hot Sheets” at the beginning of each issue. According to Margaret Goldblatt of Ward, they have had quite a number of inquiries about continuing the two titles. There is a possibility that if they get AALL sponsorship, they will resume publication, perhaps in electronic format. If you are interested in seeing this publication continue, please contact AALL.

1. Advanced bibliography of law and related fields:
Affectionately known as Rothman green slips, these 3 x 5 green slips of paper are delivered approximately weekly. The slips include bibliographic information, price, as well as a subject entry. Sometimes there is a short description of contents. The editors aim to include entries for “all new titles which ...[you] might be interested in purchasing...Titles are chosen from ABA Journal, CHOICE, Forthcoming Books, Legal Information Alert, Library Journal, Library of Congress slips, and other sources.”

2. Approval plans: Blackwell, Yankee, Midwest
A true approval plan is one in which a profile is established by a library identifying subjects and/or publishers of works to be sent automatically to a library upon release. Profiles can be based on Library of Congress Classification numbers or some other subject scheme. The contract governing the plan establishes terms such as discount and provisions for return of unwanted books. A variation is the slip plan where the vendor sends endless slips of paper based on a profile with titles, bibliographic information and a request for order.

3. BiMonthly Review of Law Books This newsletter is primarily a vehicle for publishing book reviews of law-related titles. While the stated policy of the newsletter is that BRLB invites unsolicited reviews, in practice, most of the reviews are written by Ed Bander and Michael Rustad. Book reviews found in most law reviews are often essays on a particular topic rather than a true book review. In addition, the essays in law reviews do not aim to be timely and if one relied on law review essays for purchasing decisions, new titles would be sorely out of date. The essays in BRLB are directed to librarians, tend to be more accurately characterized as book reviews, and while not in competition with AMAZON.COM for brand new titles, do offer reviews of relatively new books.

4. Books in Print/Amazon.com
In the old days, Books in Print and Law Books in Print were necessities to identify a specific title, find out its ISBN, its cost and see whether it was in print. Books in Print is available through Westlaw and it is used so rarely in my library that we no longer purchase the paper edition. Instead, Amazon.com is our Web site of choice for this same information. There are other Web sites that would do just as well.

5. Indexmaster [www.indexmaster.com]
Indexmaster is a paid online service that provides access to the subject content of treatises. Information at the Web site indicates that over sixty publishers and thousands of treatises are included. Searching of the database is by keyword, topic, title, author or publisher. For most titles, there are links to tables of contents or indexes of that title.

6. Jurist [http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/]
JURIST: The Law Professors’ Network is dedicated to advancing academic, professional, and public legal education by providing an online forum where law professors can find information important to their daily work as teachers and scholars, and where they can share knowledge and exchange ideas with a worldwide community of colleagues, law students, lawyers and interested citizens. (From the information page at Jurist.) The Books-on-Law section includes signed book reviews and an extensive list of new titles. The archives go back to April 1998.

7. Law books recommended for libraries
Contained in six volumes plus four volumes of supplements, Law Books Recommended is a set of bibliographies arranged by subject category. Titles are rated “A” for inclusion in a basic minimum collection, “B” for titles which are in an intermediate stage of development, or “C” for research collections. The set was published during 1967-1970, the supplement during 1974 to 1976. The lists are “carefully selected and briefly annotated” and help to identify authors and works of merit in law. This set is invaluable in assessing the value of older material.

8. Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual by Kendall Svengalis. Rhode Island LawPress
This annual publication provides almost everything you would want to know about buying legal information: there is background information and history of the law book industry, FTC Guidelines, and strategies for purchasing. The second part of the book consists of bibliographic and purchasing details for titles arranged by specific formats, a wide range of subjects, as well as federal and state jurisdictions. Every title listed has a price plus the cost of supplementation attached to it (unlike some publishers’ catalogs that suggest you call for pricing).