Skip to Main Content

Brooklyn Law School Library: BLS Law Journals Source Collecting: Best Practices

Newspapers

Best Practice:  Rely on text of article from online database.

Examples:  Lexis, Westlaw, ProQuest Historical New York Times with Index

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for articles that are available through databases in any format (HTML or PDF).

 

Journals

Best Practice:  Rely on PDF versions of articles from online databases or website of the journal or publisher.

Rely on version of articles for which pagination designation is provided.

Examples:  Hein Online, Index to Legal Periodicals, Legal Source, Legal Trac

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for tables of contents.

E-Journals (Only available online)

Best Practice:  Rely on journal's website.

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for articles from online-only journals.

E-Books

Best Practice:  If the source is available electronically from the publisher in any format, rely on the source from the publisher.

Example:  Oxford Scholarship Online

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for print resources if a source is available in either PDF or HTML format directly from the publisher.

Government Documents

Best Practice:  Any type of document from government agency websites, local, state or federal, domestic or foreign.

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for documents that are available on the government agency's official website or otherwise found online and designated as official and/or authenticate by the issuing agency or government.

Court Documents

Best Practice:  Issuing organization's website or online documents designated as official and/or authentic by the issuing organization or tribunal

Example:  International Court of Justice

Law Library Policy:  Interlibrary loan requests will not be filled for documents that are available on the organization's or tribunal's website or otherwise found online and designated as official and/or authentic by the issuing organization or tribunal.