USER ORIENTATION PROGRAMME IN LAW LIBRARY

with SPECIAL REFREANCE to INDAIN LAW INSTITUTE LIBRARY

Priya Rai
B.Sc., MLISc., M. Phil (L&IS)
Assistant Librarian, ILI

Law Library and User Education

A law library is a collection of legal materials - International and National such as Case Laws, Constitutions, Statutes, Legal articles, reporting journals, Parliamentary Proceedings, legal monographs, treatises, judicial & administrative decisions and other legal resources in print as well as digital form of media, for a specific class of users such as law students, legal scholars, researchers, judges, advocates, parliamentarians and other legal specialists.

In recent years, the advent of online legal research outlets such as SCC Online, AIR InfoTech, Manupatra, IndLaw, FindLaw, Westlaw, LexisNexis, and HeinOnline has reduced the need for some types of printed volumes like reporters and statutory compilations. A number of law libraries have therefore reduced the stock of printed works as they can easily be found on the Internet, and have increased their own Internet availability. On the other hand, some university law libraries retain extensive historical collections going back to the earliest English reports.

User Education Programme is a pre-requisite for a Law Library. Legal researchers need various types of information based on their subject area. User Education & Orientation to Legal Research and the Use of Law Library Collections is designed to give a basic introduction to legal sources and research techniques.  It provides an overview of statutes, regulations, and court cases and the inter-relationships among them.  The law library's resources for locating these items in print and automated formats are presented. 

Indian Law Institute Library

The Library of the Indian Law Institute established in 1956, is one of the leading law libraries in Asia and attracts scholars from all over the world for legal research. It has been recognized as a place for core area of research leading to doctorate degree in law and political science. The Library is known for its rare and enriched collection. It has a combination of old (rare) and new collection of legal materials. Every year thousands of legal researchers from United States , Australia , European Countries and other parts of the world, visit the library for their research. The Judiciary, Central and State Government officers, various Embassies and High Commissions in Delhi have also been using the referral services of the Library. At present the library is growing towards digital collection by digitizing its important and rare documents and is providing the following services:

1. Reference/ Referral Services

2. Current Awareness Services/List of new arrivals.

3. Selective Dissemination Information Service

4. Article Indexing Services

5. Online Catalogue Search Services through Web OPAC

6. Reprography Services (photocopying & printout)

7. Online Legal Information Databases

8. Newspaper Clipping Services

9. Inter Library Loan Services

10. Bibliography Services

Legal  Information Resource Centre (LIRC): Digital Library

A separate wing of Electronic Library has been set up in the Library Annexe for providing online services through legal databases and open archive system like WestLaw International, Manupatra Online, SCC Online, AIR InfoTech (Indian Supreme Court Cases), AIR InfoTech (Indian High Court Cases), AIR InfoTech (Criminal Law Journal), Law Premium, SSRN and many more online database systems.

User Orientation in Indian Law Institute Library

Like any other international law library, ILI Library also provides information services to legal researchers through online databases, physical books and journals.

Legal Research is an art and requires proper guidance to explore legal information resources. The ILI Library holds a great compilation of legal resources. A researcher may start his/her research by browsing through Legal Articles, Books, Treatise, Monographs etc. At the primary level library professionals help the researcher to provide articles and books available within the library related to subject area he requires. International Articles and Cases are also provided through online legal databases.

Books have been arranged through a classification system (Universal Decimal Classification System) especially designed for arranging research library books and other reading materials. All the documents available can be easily searched with the help of Online Public Access Catalogue maintained in the Library and on the ILI's website www.ilidelhi.org. Legal Journals containing academic articles may also be browsed through aforesaid online system. National and International law reviews having case law have been placed in the Reading Room Area and Catwalk Area.

ILI Library provides Indexing Services for all legal articles published in International and National law Journals. All indexed articles may be browsed subject wise, title wise, journal wise etc. with the help of Online Public Access Catalogue maintained by the Library. An annual publication “ Index To Indian Legal Periodicals ” is also published by the Library. Besides, articles published abroad may be searched through online legal databases like WestLaw International, JSTOR, SSRN etc.

The ILI Library subscribes to various International and National Law Reviews like US Supreme Court Reports, Canadian Supreme Court Reports, Australian Supreme Court Reports, Federal Law Reports,Weekly Law Reports, All England Law Reports for International Case Law; and Supreme Court Cases (SCC), All India Reporter (AIR), Scale, Judgement Today etc. for National Case Law. Besides, the Library also subscribes to at least one reporting journal containing decisions of High Courts of all States within India.

The Library also provides case law services through online legal databases like WestLaw International, SCC Online, AIR Online, Manupatra etc. at Legal Research Information Centre (LIRC).

How to find Constitutions of Different Countries?

A Constitution contains fundamental principles by which a political body (State or Nation) governs itself. The ILI Library has enough updated collection of Constitutions of India and other countries. Constitution of any country of the world may also be downloaded from the websites from LIRC.

The Library has a sound collection of committee and commission reports kept in a steel compactor in Library Annexe. India has several commissions like National and State Commission for Women, Commission for SC/ST, National Human Rights Commission etc. Reports of such Commissions are filed and maintained in the Library. Apart from these, annual reports of the Government Departments are also being stored and maintained in an orderly manner to help the researcher undertake research.

The Library has a good collection of International and National Legislation i.e. Bills and Acts of the Parliament like: US Code, General Public Acts (UK), Australia Consolidated Common Wealth Act, AIR Manual, India Code, Act of the Parliament, Civil Court Digest, Gazette of India, Current Central Legislations, Current Indian Statutes etc. Acts and Legislations of all countries are also provided through online services.

The Library has a sound collection of Parliamentary Debates of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. All Parliamentary Committee Reports as published by the Parliament of India are also processed and kept in the Library. Besides, the Library also has command papers i.e. Debates of House of Lords and House of Commons. The Online Centre of the Library also provides online search facilities of the proceedings of the Parliaments of all countries of the world.

Treaties and International Agreements

The Library is maintaining several research tools containing International Treaties and Agreements like Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Consolidated Treaty Series, League of the Nations Treaty Series etc.

Seminar Reports and Thesis/Dissertation

The Library is also maintaining International and National Seminar Reports conducted within and outside India. Besides, the Library has a quite impressive collection of thesis and Dissertations in the field of Law and Social Science.

There is a good collection of reference tools like Index to Legal Periodicals, Legal Encyclopedias, Legal Dictionaries, Professional Legal Directories, Legal Bibliographies, Biographies etc. Besides, it is also maintaining subject based search tools like Corpus Juris Secundum, American Jurisprudence, Halsbury's Laws of England, Halsbury's Laws of India, Supreme Court Yearly Digest, Criminal Law Digest, Supreme Court Case Citator, Supreme Court Case Comparative Tables etc.

There is a separate section for textbooks. Books are issued on circulation desk through computer. E-cards are issued to students and Research Professors of ILI to borrow books. Research Professors and the students pursuing LL.M., Ph.D. and Post Graduate Diploma courses conducted by the Indian Law Institute are only eligible to borrow books.