Table of Contents for Cataloguing
- Organization of your Library collection (KF Modified)
- Great Library and Courthouse Libraries Catalogue
- new ALMA software presentation to LwL 2025
- Cataloguing for the LiRN network
- Cataloguing Manual from the GL
- Form for submitting Monographs (New titles including electronic resources)
- Form for Reporting Withdrawals (Titles you remove from your collection)
- Printing Spine and book card Labels
- What to report to the GL
- How do I remove books from my collection – See also Collection Development & Weeding
- How do I do an annual Inventory of my collection
- What is a Standing Order?
- What is a Looseleaf?
- What is Proview?
- What are in CPD binders?
- What are Law Reports?
See Also Collection Development & Maintenance for information about LiRN Policies, OCLA Core List and more!
Organization of your Library Collection
The textbooks and CPD materials are arranged by a subject classification system called KF Modified which originated from the Library of Congress (US). KF stands for Canadian Law so most titles in your collection fall under KF. It is different from the Dewey Decimal system that is used in public libraries.
Example: KF 801 S963 2018 – Contract Law by Angela Swan – 801 is for Contract Law / S963 is the cutter number for the Author: S963 = Swan
Books arranged by subject broken down into a numeric order which makes it easy for a lawyer to go to one area to find several titles on one topic. Often a book can encompass more than one subject so the most prevalent subject is the deciding factor for where a book is placed. The other topics are captured in the online catalogue as subject headings (defined key terms / phrases) that users can use to search.
Great Library and Courthouse Libraries Catalogue
To search the catalogue for your collection including print and electronic materials and the LSO’s CPD articles. This catalogue is a union catalogue so it has all courthouse libraries as well as the Great Library’s collection.
How to use the new GL and Courthouse Libraries Catalogue (Aug. 2025)
Find:
- Books, journals and other print materials
- e-books, e-journals, electronic resources, electronic subscriptions
- LSO CPD materials in electronic form dating back to 2004
- Websites
Search Tips
- Use Advanced Search for more search options including how to search just your library’s collection
- Select the Library Catalog scope to limit search to books, e-books, or library locations
Searching your Collection
Search the Great Library and Courthouse Libraries Collections
Use the Green magnifying glass icon to limit your search to just your Library’s collection.
You can create a customized search webpage for just your library’s collection by contacting the Great Library to set up this customization for your website and for your library’s computers. Please contact Sharon Montgomery at the Great Library.
To see an example of how the customized website page can look: Durham
ALMA software presentation by GL to LwL 2025
Olcay Atacan presented an update of their new cataloging software, Alma, at LWL 2025: Great Library System Update It includes improved searchability and libraries can customize their views including your association branding. Several libraries have already signed up. Please update any links you have to the NEW library catalogue. Recording of the presentation.
By partnering with the Great Library, our network gains access to Ex Libris Alma—a modern, cloud-based library system platform already used by many public, academic, and special libraries. This partnership comes at no cost to our associations and provides each with a customized catalogue page showcasing our collection holdings. If a lawyer cannot find the material they need within their home association, they can seamlessly expand their search across the network and request an inter-library loan from another participating association library. As each association library advances in phases with modules such as circulation, we will now have the flexibility to weed our own records directly, no more sending spreadsheets for removals. The Great Library will continue to manage our records and Zdravaka will continue to input our monographs and serials on our behalf. We will have more organized reports for check out/ins and re-shelfing. It will provide information on most used materials for better collection management.
In essence, this collaboration streamlines and unifies our library management under one efficient system, automating processes and saving significant time. Inventory alone will become far more efficient, replacing manual labour with a faster, automated approach that drastically reduces hours spent on routine tasks.
The following libraries have contacted the Great Library to create their own customized pages (as of Oct. 2025) and we encourage you to do so. Please contact Sharon Montgomery at the GL to set up your customized library webpage.
- Carleton
- Durham
- Halton
- Northumberland
- Peterborough
- Renfrew
- Thunder Bay
- Toronto
Cataloguing for LiRN network
The Great Library of the LSO provides catalogue records for all county/district library collections. The procedures & Manual to submit new titles to this central catalogue are located on their website:
Cataloguing Manual from the Great Library
Cataloguing Request Manual for County & District Law Libraries
Online County & District Law Library Reporting Forms
Two online reporting forms are available for the submission of cataloguing requests by county and district law libraries in Ontario. One is for New Books received: Monographs, the other to remove an item from the catalogue: Withdrawals. NOTE: ISBN are a book’s serial number found on the back of the title page. Holdings are when a book has multiple volumes or years.
- Form for Reporting Monographs & Serials — NEW BOOKS and ELECTRONIC RESOURCES such as subscriptions to databases
- Form for Reporting Withdrawals – To let the GL Cataloguing Staff know of Books no longer in your collection
The Cataloguing Dept. will process your request in a couple of weeks and send you an email with labels to print on label paper and apply to your books. See below for Label information.
Support Documents for County & District Law Libraries
Contact Information for the Great Library
Cataloguing Dept. of the Great Library, Library Systems and Technical Services Department: [email protected].
MARC records for the vlex series Essentials in Canadian Law can be found under Tools for Librarians on the vlex website. You can download marc records for library items such as books, journals, just Irwin law books, etc. to incorporate into your own library catalogue. Here’s the more information: https://ca.vlex.com/resources/librarian
Printing Spine, Card & Pocket Labels
- It is most efficient to print a batch of labels at the same time, if possible.
- Copy and paste spine label info from LSO cataloguing dept. email or from online catalogue. Print the spine label on sheet (Brodart # 55 459 001).
- For circulating materials, print 2 copies of the bar code label on Avery Template 5160/8160 for book front and card. Put the spine label on the book 5mm from bottom and cover it with a label protector.
- Peterborough County LA has created an excel spreadsheet for labels with templates that you may wish to contact them to use.
What to Report to Great Library
- Every new title (book) or multipart title you receive
- New editions, e.g., 3rd ed.; Rev. ed.; 2008 ed.
- Additional copies of titles already reported
- New volumes such as when a loose-leaf expands
- Use Form for Reporting Monographs/Serials
- Use the book’s serial number: ISBN which can be found on the back of the title page
- Electronic databases that your library subscribes to other than e-LiRN resources – use the Form for Monographs & Serials (see above)
How do I remove books and law reporters from my collection?
All withdrawn material, including older editions of textbooks and law reporters, must be reported to the cataloguing department of the LSO Great Library by using the online Form for Reporting Withdrawals. See our wiki page on Collection Development and Weeding for further information.
This can be done as part of your annual inventory review. If there is a large number of withdrawals, please provide the titles in an Excel spreadsheet to be emailed to [email protected] to make it easier for everyone involved. Please include your Library code, email and at least the title (and edition if applicable). More on the physical part of the withdrawal process later in this Guide.
How do I conduct an annual inventory of my collection?
It is recommended that you conduct an annual/biannual inventory of the text collection by requesting a Shelf list generated by the Cat Dept. This shelf list provides a list of all books in your collection in their classified order, the order of the books on the shelves. Compare this shelf list with which books are on the shelf. Check which books are circulating/signed out. Report any discrepancies to [email protected], ideally using an excel spreadsheet if there are many changes.
What is a Standing Order?
A Standing Order is when a publisher has a record to send to you any new edition of a book. Most commonly used for annual consolidations or annual annotation titles.
- You may wish to contact the print publishers to see what is on standing order for your Association.
- If it is a book on standing order, record the fact that it has been received, and the date, on the Excel spreadsheet called “Logging New Books” (if applicable).
- Check the Cataloguing record, which may say something like, “Library keeps 2 years only.”
- Use this entry for printing the spine, card, and pocket labels (see below).
- Discard previous edition or donate it to another library.
- Place on “New Books” shelves or directly into stacks.
- Enter new books on Association website under “YEAR Acquisitions.” If applicable.
What are loose-leafs?
A loose-leaf binder has pages (leaves) secured in book binder format with a cover whose spine may be opened for adding, arranging, or removing pages when new information is available such as new cases, rules, legislation, forms, news, etc. Loose-leafs are updated monthly, quarterly, annually or on an ad-hoc basis. The cost to maintain many of these loose-leafs is high in terms of both the cost to purchase and from the labour involved for you to remove the old pages and insert the new ones.
Many of these titles are now available on the e-LiRN Suite of Resources on the lawyer terminals. Use of these resources online is encouraged so lawyers can use them and download/print any useful information rather than removing them from the library collection since they are so popular. Check the OCLA Core List to see what titles are available in print & electronic on e-LiRN.
Thomson Reuters Loose-leafs: The 3 Year Rule
Historically Thomson would allow you to purchase the contents of a loose-leaf text on an annual basis. They now allow a library to purchase a previously canceled publication every three years. This will allow you to keep a publication fairly current (3-year cycle) and interlibrary loan/scan of a more current section if required. Ensure that you take advantage of the 2 free months of updates and that you cancel the publication before they start to invoice for payment. If ordered within the 3 year period, TR will bill for the entire three years of updates.
The Catalogue will need to be updated with the new currency date so that all will be aware of the most current versions. It is also useful to have a spine label on these editions that denote currency, for ease of use.
Lexis Loose-leafs
Lexis offers the County & District libraries a 40% discount on their loose-leaf collection. This offer may not always be available. Your Lexis rep will also be able to send you an annual list of what your library has historically kept updated with an annual contents purchase.
Lexis print titles (including loose-leafs) are available on Lexis+ which is part of e-LiRN.
Useful Collection Tips for Loose-leafs
- It is very important when updating a book’s contents to make sure you have received the previous one. (For example, if you are recording 2021-3, and the previous release listed is 2021-1, this is a warning that you may not have received 2021-2 and you should check into this.)
- Cross out each filing instructions page as completed to help you to keep track of where you are.
- Write “Filed” and the date on the page entitled “An Update has Arrived…” and place in very front of first volume. Discard any extraneous pages in recycling bin.
- Releases for loose-leaf publications may be recorded as received in an Excel spreadsheet “Logging Filing” in “New Books Processing”.
- Let your members know if your publication is not up to date but also let them know that you can get them updated information. Use bright labels affixed to the books if the book is cancelled and the date it was.
Use your Thomson Reuters MyAccount to see what you are ordering on an annual basis and to see the cost of your loose-leaf subscriptions. This information can be used to justify making changes such as cancellation or 3-year purchase and moving to only available on Source products.
What is Proview?
Proview is the current platform for the WL/TR titles in an electronic format. It is included with your print subscription to a title. There is a slight cost difference for just print and the online component. Westlaw has recently bundles Proview Titles into their Topical Texts & Annotations collections (TTA).
What do the CPD binders contain?
CPD binders are great topical materials and a good place to start your research. The LSO offers CPD education sessions for lawyers to keep up the practice skills. Lawyers are expected to take a certain number of CPD hours every year to maintain their good status with the LSO. Your library receives several CPD binders automatically every year. The GL catalogues them for you and will ship you the labels to put the books on your shelf. If you are short on space, just keep the current year only since there is an online archive of all CPD materials via the GL’s catalogue.
LSO CPD materials are available electronically via the GL & C Catalogue LSO CPD Materials
What are Law Reports?
Your Library will also contain large series of reporters such as the Ontario Reports (O.R.), Dominion Law Reports (DLR) or topical reporters such as Business Law Reports, etc. Law Reporters are collection of cases that include Headnotes which is a summary of the points of law in the case.
These cases are now largely available on online sources such as CanLII, Lexis+ , Westlaw and vlex. Even older, historical cases are usually available online. The use of these law reports in print is largely discontinued and the value of the books has also diminished to $0 in case you wanted to sell them.
Paper Parts
If it is a reporter where paper parts are received before eventually being replaced by a bound volume, you should discard the paper parts when you receive the corresponding bound volume
List of Abbreviations for Canadian Law Reports and Judgements
What is LIBIB?
Learn about LIBIB by Michelle Gerrits (LLA) and Janet Marchment (YRLA) Libib session YouTube recording Prepared for Learn with LiRN 2022
Session demonstrates the benefits of using LIBIB software in your library to help manage circulation and other tools. Presenters also showed how to incorporate your library catalogue’s holdings into LIBIB.
See Also Collection Development for additional information.