Goldstar Room: Law Archives & Special Collections Policies and Procedures

updated May 26, 1999, August 13, 2004

The Goldstar Room is home to Law Archives, Special Collections (non-bibliographical material), and Rare Books. This policy addresses three main issues concerning the Goldstar Room collections. These include what items should be housed there, how they should be marked, and procedures surrounding circulation.

Inclusion

All bibliographic materials to be housed in the Goldstar Room must meet at least one, and preferably more than one, of the following criteria.

1. Age: a publication date before 1800;
2. Rarity: fewer than 5 libraries are listed in RLIN as holding the title in its original form;
3. Physical attribute: item is fragile, or needs special handling (ex. paper dolls, pop-up books);
4. Signatures: items signed by prominent figures in the legal profession; bibliographic record should include local note that identifies the item signed. (For example: Copy 2 is signed by the author.);
5. Special circumstances: closely related to material that meets other criteria;
6. Archival: created by or about the Stanford Law School, or items that serve as reference for the Law Archives; this includes the record copies of theses.

In addition, the items should further the mission of the Robert Crown Law Library and the Stanford Law School.

Processing

Items from the first five above criteria for inclusion in Special Collections Rare Books should be processed so that all marks are reversible. The call letters should be marked in pencil. Embossing should be considered as a means to permanently mark the material without diminishing its value, rather than the ink stamp used to identify other items. An acid-free call tag should be used for the call letters, brief description, and barcode.

Items that meet the last criterion, Archival including theses, should be barcoded and labeled as well as stamped and stripped.

The call numbers for all bibliographic material in Goldstar should be prefaced with “G” for the location Goldstar and “LAW” for the Law Library.

Rare Books area old class book tag [lacks LAW indication, this should not be perpetuated]	Rare Books area reclassed book tag	Law Archives area thesis spine label	Law Archives area books and other bound items
G LBC LMB HNJ Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. The institutions of the law of Scotland. London, Printed for Andrew Bell and Jones Luntley, 1694.	G LAW KD 140 W56 1708 Wingate, Edmund, 1596-1656. An exact abridgement of all the statutes in force and use from the beginning of Magna charta. London, Printed by Her Majesties printers, and by the assigns of R. Atkins and E. Atkins, 1708.	G LAW 3781 2003 A	G LAW KF 292 S7 A43 1966

Circulation

Although materials in this collection should not circulate routinely, the reality is that some will circulate to certain faculty or other researchers. In the event of these circumstances, we recommend that special circulation procedures should be followed. A circulation slip similar to that used by interlibrary loans should be folded around the front cover and would include the call letters, date due, and recommendations for the proper handling of rare books. The permanent flag with barcode would be removed from the item and retained at the Circulation Desk.

Once an item circulates several times, indicating continuing interest, an attempt should be made to obtain a surrogate copy of the item to be placed in circulation so that the original can be preserved. Such a surrogate could be in any format, including reprint, microtext, or web version.

Conclusion

When the criteria are set for inclusion of materials in Special Collections, items currently in the room should be evaluated. Items that do not fit the above criteria should be removed from Goldstar, relabeled, and placed in the circulating collection.

Conversely, items currently in the general collection fitting the above criteria should be moved to Goldstar as they are identified.