Mission Statement

The Garbrecht Law Library is committed to supporting the University of Maine School of Law mission by ensuring our community has access to core legal resources. The law library’s principal mission1 in collecting and maintaining library resources is to support the instructional, research, and service needs of the law school’s full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, and student body. The law library aims to provide resources and education that prepares students for “effective, ethical, and responsible participation in the legal profession”.2 The law library also supports the law school’s clinical programs, certificate programs, student-edited journals, externships, internships  and other experiential learning opportunities. The law library has a secondary mission to serve the people of the state of Maine. The law library provides legal reference support and lends materials to the University of Maine System, members of the local legal community and general public. 

  1. The University of Maine School of Law is the state’s public and only law school, a vital resource serving our local, regional, national, and global community. Maine Law is an institutional public servant committed to providing an accessible and affordable student-focused program of legal education and achieving the highest standards of ethical behavior. Our rigorous doctrinal and experiential curriculum, influential scholarship, and signature programming prepare students to practice law, promote respect for the rule of law, and advance justice for all members of society.  University of Maine School of Law: Why Maine Law?, https://mainelaw.maine.edu/admissions/why-maine-law/ (last visited Feb. 14, 2023).
  2. Standard 606(a). ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

Values Statement 

The Garbrecht Law Library provides a core collection of legal resources that supports the current research and instructional needs of our primary patron group: the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Maine School of Law. The library collection and library staff support the academic freedom of the faculty. The Law Library purchases and provides access to an extensive selection of legal resources on a wide range of topics with differing viewpoints.3 The Law School actively supports and participates in University of Maine System interdisciplinary programs and initiatives. As a result, the law library also serves the faculty and students from the entire University of Maine System. This is made possible through a long standing history of cooperative purchasing and lending agreements between all of the University of Maine System Libraries (UMSL) and is reflected in shared databases, cooperative collection management decisions, and participation in system-wide committees. The Law Library prioritizes our primary patron group when making collection development decisions.

3 University of Maine School of Law; Faculty Governance and Personnel Policies. Article 1.3 Academic Freedom. (Amended February 8, 2024.)

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility 

The Library Staff is committed to recognizing historical bias and working to remediate bias in the collection and the collection development policy. The Library will continue the work to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. This work has and will include; purchasing law books by under-represented authors and about underrepresented communities. Reviewing the collection to find historical materials regarding under represented communities in legal history. We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. We strive to provide an environment in which all members of the community feel welcome, supported, respected, and valued. 

Goals of the Collection Development Policy

  • The Collection Development Policy is a living and organic document. In addition to an annual review, the Collection Development Policy is updated to reflect the current collection development policies, as needed. Historical collection development documents are available. 
  • This policy is meant to serve as a guide for the Law Library staff, as well as the University of Maine School of Law faculty and students.
  • This policy encourages and fosters transparency in the collection development process.
  • This document provides a starting point for conversations regarding the collection and purchases the Library makes for the Law School students and faculty.  
  • The Library will survey and assess the faculty and students yearly to ensure a wide variety of needs and opinions are taken into consideration.

Access v. Ownership 

The Law Library collects in both print and electronic formats. Maine legal materials are purchased primarily in print. Digital access to Maine materials is considered when available and duplication is allowed where appropriate. The Law Library will not purchase duplicative materials of non-Maine materials except when requested by a faculty member. Reliable access is prioritized over the ownership of materials outside the jurisdiction of Maine. Considerations include: the cost of digital format versus print, the ease of use, alternative sources for the item such as borrowing, how the students and faculty might prefer to access the material and how often they will use the material. Print is often preferred for our alumni and public patrons.

Consortia and Membership

Cooperative collection development and resource sharing agreements at the local, regional and national levels are a part of the Law Library collection development program. Consortia agreements include acquisitions, retention policies, joint purchases, and other arrangements.  

The Law Library participates in several formal and informal cooperative agreements including the following:

University of Maine System Libraries

University of Maine System Libraries collaborate in providing access to licensed electronic resources. Shared resources are made available online to authorized users affiliated with all campuses through the University of Maine System Campus and Public Library Partners. Examples include, but are not limited to, indexes and abstracting databases for serial and monograph publications, full-text periodicals or databases, and reference materials. These resources can be found online at: http://libraries.maine.edu/mariner/marindexesdb/alphalist.asp?Loc=law

Maine InfoNet

Maine InfoNet is a collaborative of academic, public, school, and special libraries that provides leadership in resource sharing, promotes cost effective solutions for quality library information services, and supports the cultural, educational, and economic development of Maine. Services include statewide patron generated interlibrary loan, as well integration of e-resources content into a state-wide catalog. This collaboration allows for our community members to be able to access print and electronic resources through interlibrary loan and intercampus delivery programs.

Federal Depository Library Program

The Garbrecht Law Library at the University of Maine School of Law joined the Federal Depository Program in 1964. The Library selects the United States Code and the U.S. Reports in print but primarily collects e-resources. We also maintain a historical print collection of some government documents. The Fogler Library at the University of Maine, with which we have a partnership, is the Regional Government Depository for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  All Law Library selections from the FDLP are cataloged.  

New England Law Library Consortium (NELLCO) 

NELLCO is a consortium of law libraries collaborating to maximize access to services and resources and to develop, evaluate, and implement innovative programs for the benefit of the members. Through our membership with NELLCO, we receive discounted rates for select resources such as New York Times, and Practising Law Institute (PLI). We also have reciprocal agreements for interlibrary loan lending. 

Law Librarians of New England (LLNE) & Maine Library Association (MLA)

The Law Library is a member of LLNE and MLA that provides access to educational conferences and networking events. Gabrecht Law Librarians gain professional development and collection knowledge through these memberships. Garbrecht Law Librarians are active members of both associations by participating in planning conferences and giving presentations.

Responsibility for Collection Development
The Director has the final responsibility, as delegated by the Dean of the University of Maine School of Law, for the maintenance and development of the Law Library collections. In collaboration with the law library staff, the Director researches and considers the factors listed below for new acquisitions. The faculty are regularly consulted and large purchases are made with the consultation of the Dean. 
Selection Policy.

The faculty are consulted regularly about potential purchases based on their subject expertise. The Library purchases almost all materials requested by faculty. Price would be a consideration for not purchasing requested materials. In all cases, faculty-requested titles are purchased and processed as law library property and expedited in processing.
Requests to add items to the Law Library collection are welcome from law faculty and law students. Purchasing decisions will be based on the Collection Development Policy, taking into account budget limitations. Factors Considered for New Acquisitions. The Law Library aspires to maintain and curate a collection that meets the needs of our patrons in the short and long term. Several factors are considered with each acquisition including:
Potential use by faculty and other members of the University of Maine School of Law community, reputation and expertise of author, diversity, equity and inclusion goals, timeliness of publications and on-going expense.

Selection Process by Patron, Law Faculty Teaching and Service, Law Clinics & Certificate Programs. The Garbrecht Law Library makes a great effort to purchase all materials requested by the Maine Law faculty that support their teaching and/or research. The Library works to ensure that the University of Maine School of Law Clinics have the needed practice resources. The Collection Policy must also ensure the Certificate Programs have the primary and secondary sources needed to meet their academic goals. Many faculty provide service to the legal community and the collection is influenced by their requests and needs to complete this work. These goals are tempered by costs both current and on-going. If a publication is unusually expensive the decision to purchase will be made in consultation with the Dean and the Administration.

Law Student Suggestions, The Library purchases online study aid packages for students. As an initiative to support equity, the Library began actively acquiring the required textbooks for each class starting in 2022. Required textbooks that are not available through complimentary copies from the faculty or publisher are purchased and made available on Special Reserve for 4-hour loan periods. The Library makes any requests for other materials, such as books or databases, in consultation with the faculty members who teach in the respective subject. Law Student Suggestions may also overlap with the needs of the Clinics, Certificate Programs or Faculty Teaching.

Alumni Suggestions: The Library will consider purchase requests from Alumni based on cost and use by members of the University of Maine School of Law Community. The Garbrecht Law Library provides the graduates of the University of Maine School of Law with access to the Alumni Access Program through HeinOnline, which includes the law journal library collection. The Law Library also maintain Lexis Public Access, which is accessible to our alumni and the general public in person through a lab computer in the library. Lexis Public Access is a slice of content that includes Maine materials. 

Collection 

The Law Library provides access to all United States Jurisdictions cases, statutes, current bills and legislative documents, selection of briefs through our subscription databases. Those databases include:

Lexis+

Westlaw Precision

Practical Law on Westlaw Precision

Bloomberg Law

Govinfo.gov

Proquest Congressional

PACER  

A full list of databases is available for review. 

Maine 

The Library collects and retains indefinitely most Maine legal statutes, cases, treatises, public laws and supplements to this material in print. The Library has a historical collection of Maine materials including legislative documents and the Maine Legislative Record. These materials are now made available online by the Maine State Law and Legislative Research Library. The Garbrecht Law Library provides numerous points of access to those materials via LibGuides and  the Library Catalog. The Library is also able to provide access to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court briefs through an association with the Law Court and the Maine State Law and Legislative Research Library. The Library has a historical collection of briefs on microfiche. 

The Garbrecht Law Library collects and archives in print:

The Library strives to collect all current and historical Maine Legal Treatises.
Maine Revised Statutes Annotated
Maine Revised Statutes – Compact Edition

Maine Selected Statutes 

Maine Reporter 

Maine Rules of Court : State & Federal

Shepards’ Maine Citations

Maine Legislative Service 

Code of Maine Rules is only available on the State of Maine website.

Maine Superior Court decisions -The Garbrecht Law Library maintains a public database of Maine Superior Court decisions. Decisions are sent to the Library by the courts for digitizing, indexing, and processing.

Maine Law Review 

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal 

State Materials

The Library provides access to statutes, cases and bills of the 50 states through Westlaw Precision, Lexis+, and Bloomberg Law.

Federal Materials

The receives in print and retains an archive of:   

United States Statutes at Large

United States Code

United States Reports

Law Library Core Collection

In accordance with Standard 606(b) for that ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, the Law Library core collection includes access to:

(1) all reported federal court decisions and reported decisions of the highest appellate court of each state and U.S. territory via

  • United States Supreme Court Decisions – Westlaw Precision, Lexis+ , Bloomberg Law
  • United States Appellate Court Decisions – Westlaw Precision, Lexis+ , Bloomberg Law
  • United States District Court Decisions – Westlaw Precision, Lexis+ , Bloomberg Law
  • United States Dockets – Bloomberg Law
  • Citators – Keycite on Westlaw Precision, Shepards’ on Lexis +, Bloomberg Citator and Shepard’s Maine Citations

(2) all federal codes and session laws, and at least one current annotated code for each state and U.S. territory;

  • United States Code Annotated – Westlaw Precision
  • United States Code Service – Lexis +
  • United States Session Laws – Statutes at Large- Westlaw Precision, Lexis+, HeinOnline.
  • HeinOnline – State Session Laws and Historical Statutes
  • Citators – Keycite on Westlaw Precision, Shepards’ on Lexis +, Bloomberg Citator and Shepard’s Maine Citations

(3) all current published treaties and international agreements of the United States;

  • United States Treaties and International Agreements – HeinOnline

(4) all current published regulations (codified and uncodified) of the federal government and the codified regulations of the state or U.S. territory in which the law school is located;

  • Code of Federal Regulations – HeinOnline, Westlaw Precision, Lexis+ 
  • Code of Maine rules – see above

(5) those federal and state administrative decisions appropriate to the programs of the law school;

  • Westlaw Precision and Lexis +

(6) U.S. Congressional materials appropriate to the programs of the law school;

  • Proquest Congressional, HeinOnline, Westlaw Precision and Lexis+

(7) significant secondary works necessary to support the programs of the law school;

  • Proquest Congressional, Vital Law, PACER, Practising Law Institute, Westlaw Precision including Practical Law, Bloomberg Law for Tax Management Portfolios and Legal Dockets, Tax Analysts, Lexis+, Lexis Digital Library and all print material, as requested. 

(8) those tools necessary to identify primary and secondary legal information and update primary legal information.

  • LibrarySearch (the University of Maine System Library catalog), Westlaw Precision, Lexis +,HeinOnline including, but not limited to The Current Index to Legal Periodicals, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, The Law Journal Library, and Spinelli’s Law Library Reference Shelf.   

Secondary Sources

Periodicals

Law Reviews and Journals are made available through: 

HeinOnline

Westlaw Precision

Lexis+.   

A wide variety of law reviews, law journals and scholarly academic articles are available in JStor, Academic Search Complete, and SpringerLink. 

A full list of databases is available.

Topical Legal Treatises

Westlaw Precision
Practical Law (through Westlaw)

Lexis+

Bloomberg Law 

HeinOnline

Practicing Law Institute (PLI Plus)

Lexis Digital Library

Vital Law

 A full list of databases is available on this Libguide.

News and Legal News 

Westlaw Precision

Lexis+

Bloomberg Law

Maine News Stand

Proquest News

More information and a full list of databases including news. 

Study Aid Packages

Aspen Learning Library

West Academic

Lexis Digital Library

CALI

Reference Materials

The Library collects law dictionaries, thesauri and legal research guides. 

The collection includes legal research guides for most U.S. States, Canada and subject matter guides, such as environmental law or human rights.

Foreign, Comparative & International Law

The Library provides select access to Foreign, Comparative & International Law via Lexis+, Westlaw Precision, and HeinOnline. 

The Library purchases the Foreign Law Guide and Canadian treatises.  

Archives and Special Collections

Rare Books 

Rare books are defined as books having value as an object, aside from or in addition to the intellectual value of the text. The law library considers non-American law books prior to 1800 and American law books prior to 1850 to be rare books. The Library houses approximately 1,200 rare books, primarily early English, American, Maine and Massachusetts legal treatises, dating back to the 17th century.The Library does not actively collect rare books but occasionally receives donations.  

Special Collections 

The law library maintains two special collections: the legal papers of Judge Edward T. Gignoux, and the legal papers of Judge Frank M. Coffin. 

The Legal papers of Judge Edward T. Gignoux

Personal legal papers on the Chicago Seven contempt trial and other well-known cases heard by a Maine jurist often cited as one of the nation’s most gifted federal judges are available to legal scholars, students and historians. Edward T. Gignoux was a U.S. district judge who presided over numerous high-profile cases and was twice considered for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gignoux, a Maine native, presided at the Indian Lands Claim case and at the bribery-conspiracy trial of U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings in Miami. 

The Legal Papers of Frank M. Coffin

Maine native and federal jurist Frank M. Coffin was truly a “Man for all Seasons.” Born in Lewiston in 1919, he served in all branches of the federal government:  the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. He earned degrees from Bates College, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School.  He served in WWII, and worked for the Portland law firm Verrill Dana LLP.  He championed legal services for the poor and access to justice. 

Faculty Publications 

The Faculty Publications Collection is intended to be a comprehensive collection of publications of the past and present faculty of the University of Maine School of Law, written while they were members of the School of Law faculty. These publications consist of published information resources and their supplements in any medium, which were authored or edited by the faculty member, or which contain articles, essays, or letters by the faculty member; and recordings of special presentations by the faculty member, such as continuing legal education programs, public lectures, and conference presentations. Many of these publications are available in the University of Maine School of Law Digital Commons. 

Collection Maintenance

The selection policy is dynamic and is driven by the current courses taught at the law school and the research interests of the faculty.  If the Law Library metrics show that a database or a standing order is not being used then the Director will reach out to faculty to discuss suspending the order and consider deselection. Casebooks five years or older are not actively acquired or accepted as gifts in most circumstances. When considering items for deselection, the Library will also consider if the materials are used by other people in the University of Maine System, alumni or the public. The Library will ensure it is not the only copy available in the State of Maine before withdrawing.

  • 1. The University of Maine School of Law is the state’s public and only law school, a vital resource serving our local, regional, national, and global community.
    • Maine Law is an institutional public servant committed to providing an accessible and affordable student-focused program of legal education and achieving the highest standards of ethical behavior.
    • Our rigorous doctrinal and experiential curriculum, influential scholarship, and signature programming prepare students to practice law, promote respect for the rule of law, and advance justice for all members of society.  University of Maine School of Law: Why Maine Law?, https://mainelaw.maine.edu/admissions/why-maine-law/ (last visited Feb. 14, 2023).
  • 2. Standard 606(a). ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  May 11, 2023

Amended: November 5, 2024

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