Sandbox:Library:Law Collection

The Law Library has a research collection of approximately 225,000 volumes. Primary and secondary legal materials are acquired from the major common law jurisdictions of the world: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, as well as materials from other selected jurisdictions such as the European Community and the Pacific Rim. While the emphasis is on English language materials from common law jurisdictions, civil law materials from Quebec, in both English and French are collected, as well as comparative and international law materials.

Several factors determine the emphasis in areas of collection development: curriculum; research interests of the Faculty and its associated institutes; and current trends in society. Present areas of research support include Aboriginal Law, Asian Law, Criminal Law, Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, Legal History, and Women and the Law. A specialized Asian law collection comprises resources in English and in the vernacular. The current focus is on materials pertaining to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

Traditional research materials are supplemented by electronic databases. Students and faculty members have access to the internet, e-mail, and various legal databases. In addition, the Library provides access to many electronic legal indexes as well as law-related databases.

For materials that are not available at UBC, the Law Library relies on its network of Canadian academic law libraries for photocopies and the loan of materials, and on the UBC Library’s interlibrary loan service.