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Federal and State Collections

The Library's Federal and State law collections may be divided into three categories:

  • Primary materials, such as statutes (codes and session laws), administrative regulations and court reports;
  • Secondary materials, such as treatises, periodicals, government reports and documents, legal encyclopedias and Restatements of Law; and
  • Finding aids, such as periodical indexes, case digests, citators and other reference materials.

Statutes: Codes and Session Laws

Reference sets of the United States Code, the United States Code Annotated, the United States Code Service, and the Statutes at Large are located in the Reading Room. Additional copies of the current code and all the public laws are shelved on the fourth floor with the primary federal material. Codes for all fifty states and the District of Columbia are shelved with the state materials on the fourth floor, and state session laws from 1776 to date are available on microfiche in the Media collection on the third floor. Codes for selected foreign countries are located on the first floor of the Library. Superseded editions of many state and federal codes are available in the Historic Core Code Collection and will paged upon request by Circulation Desk staff. Prior editions of the United States Code and many superseded state codes are also kept in microfiche in the Media Services area.

Administrative Regulations

The Library holds a complete set of federal administrative regulations as published in the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations. Recent issues of the Federal Register are kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk and with the primary federal materials on the east side of the fourth floor; older issues are held in microfiche and microfilm in the Media collection on the third floor. The current edition of the Code of Federal Regulations is located in the Reading Room and with the primary federal materials on the east side of the fourth floor; older editions in microfiche and microfilm in the Media collection. The Library acquires all currently published state administrative codes and registers.

Court Reports

The Library holds an extensive collection of federal, state, British and other court reports. American state and national court opinions and digests are shelved on the fourth floor. Decisions from the International Court of Justice and from selected foreign countries are shelved in the International and Foreign Law Collection on the first floor.