Updated 4/17/03

General Rules for Law

On a Unicorn record, the circulation rules are coded in the TYPE field. The following instructions are guidelines to use in coding that field.

Some locations drive the circulation rules, for example, VROOMAN, OPEN-RES, STACKS-2 and REFERENCE. All material in these locations have the same circulation rules.

Other locations, such as STACKS-3 and BASEMENT, have a combination of materials, and therefore a combination of circulation rules in one location. The type of material drives the circ rules. In BASEMENT, for example, the older casebooks are LAW-STKS, superseded directories are NONCIRC, and periodicals are LAW-PERBND.

Accompanying material has the same circ rule as its basic item.

When material is transferred from OPEN-RES or REFERENCE, the circulation rules may change depending upon the type of material. See Transfer Policies and Procedures for instructions.

Below are charts that relate the home location and the kind of material to the circulation rules:

1. Locations that drive circ rules
   
   
   Circ rule check-out periods
   
   
2. Material types that drive circ rules
   
   
3. Appendix: old classification form letter circ rules

With the Library of Congress classification, the content and form of the material determines the circ rules. Here are some guidelines:

MATERIAL	TYPE
PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL, INCLUDING:
Statutes. Codes. Regulations. Individual acts	NONCIRC
Treaties	NONCIRC
Court decisions. Reports. Briefs. Individual cases	NONCIRC
Administrative decisions. Rulings.	NONCIRC
SECONDARY SOURCE MATERIAL, INCLUDING:
Bibliographies	NONCIRC
Periodicals	LAW-PERBND
Legislative hearings. Reports. Documents	Serial: LAW-PERBND; monograph: LAW-STKS
Dictionaries. Encyclopedias	NONCIRC
Loose-leaf services	NONCIRC
Loose-leaf treatises	LAW-STKS
Form books	LAW-STKS
Casebooks. Readings	LAW-STKS
Conferences. Symposia	Serial: LAW-PERBND; monograph: LAW-STKS
General works. Treatises. Outlines. Popular works	Serial: LAW-PERBND; monograph: LAW-STKS
LIBRARY POLICY
Reference type materials	NONCIRC
Law school exams	NONCIRC
Judicial Council reports	NONCIRC
Coutumes	NONCIRC
XB-XF (micros)	NONCIRC
XQ (sound recordings)	PERMRES
XV (videos)	PERMRES

APPENDIX

Classification rules below are no longer current as of 7/2002. The following is provided for historical purposes.

Form letters are the first letter in the second line of the call number. They are used to determine the circ rules in locations such as STACKS-1 and BASEMENT, which have a combination of materials. They do not apply to locations which drive the circ rules, such as REFERENCE or OPEN-RES.

There are three sets of form letters, applied to different parts of the classification as listed below.

REGULAR GROUP (AB-EV, FB-FT)
	FORM LETTER	KIND OF MATERIAL	TYPE
	A	Treatises	LAW-STKS
	B	Casebooks	LAW-STKS
	C	Continuations, periodicals (unbound, bound)	LAW-PERBND
	D	Loose-leaf services	NONCIRC
	E, F, G	Primary source material (court reports, digests, codes, court rules, administrative decisions)	NONCIRC
	I	Law school exams, judicial council reports	NONCIRC
	J	Congressional documents	LAW-STKS
	Y	Bibliographies and reference	NONCIRC
	Z	Folio	varies
FOREIGN GROUP (JAC-LTV)
	FORM LETTER	KIND OF MATERIAL	TYPE
	A-G	Reference, primary source material	NONCIRC
	H	Treatises on codes	LAW-STKS
	I, J, K	Primary source material	NONCIRC
	L	Treatises	LAW-STKS
	M	Continuations, periodicals (unbound, bound)	LAW-PERBND
	O	Coutumes	NONCIRC
	Z	Folio	varies
ROMAN LAW (EY)
	FORM LETTER	KIND OF MATERIAL	TYPE
	A-B	Reference	NONCIRC
	C	Studies on sources	LAW-STKS
	D	Primary source material	NONCIRC
	L	Treatises	LAW-STKS
	M	Continuations, periodicals (unbound, bound)	LAW-PERBND
	Z	Folio	varies

Library Services Procedure Manual R C P Online Resources