Collection Development & Weeding

LiRN Collection Development and Maintenance Policy

Library staff working in individual libraries across the network are best placed to determine the needs of their library users. LiRN relies on the library staff’s professional judgement in deciding whether to acquire new materials or to continue paying for existing materials. 
LiRN’s Collection Development and Maintenance Policy covers:

  • Assessment of Purchases
  • Retention and Deselection
  • Donations
  • Archival materials for the association

OCLA’s Core Titles List

OCLA’s 2025 Core Titles List is a collection development tool intended to be used by all courthouse libraries with the belief that a courthouse library should be able to help lawyers and other law professionals find information, no matter the size of the library or the area of law being researched.  The List is comprehensive and contains the best titles in every area of Canadian law.  The List integrates both print and electronic resources available on e-LiRN.

The Art of Collection Development

Developing your library collection is an art, especially when balancing limited grant funds. Learn more about the Core List: an essential, regularly updated tool designed to keep your collection relevant and vibrant. Discover the strategic insights your colleagues use to craft their budgets each year, deftly navigating rising costs while enhancing and maintaining collections that meet your user needs. Get ready to elevate your library with innovative approaches and practical tips! Helen Heerema, Thunder Bay Law Association and Chris Wyskiel of Brant Law Association will be our speakers on this important topic!  Moderator:  Michelle Gerrits, Lambton Law Association.

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.
An example of how the customized website page can look:  Durham

Weeding your Collection

LiRN is asked periodically for guidance about weeding your collection.  We trust library staff judgement to best determine what should remain in their collection based upon local needs.  If you do need some space, these are some recommendations from your colleagues.
Do no forget to notify the GL of any changes to your holdings. You can send them a spreadsheet of your deletions as well.  See our Cataloguing wiki page for instructions on how to notify the GL of your deletions.

Circulation records as a Guide (if applicable)

  • If your items circulate, check the circulation records as a first stop.
  • If you are new to your collection, and your books don’t circulate, one idea is to add  little dots (Dollarama) to books you re-shelve to get an idea of what is used in your library.

New Edition Received?

 Many associations will keep the previous versions of the text but the older edition should have a Superseded label (Brodart.ca) indicating that this version has been superseded by a newer edition.  Brodart.ca is recommended for Superseded labels but not mandatory.     We don’t want lawyers relying on “old law” in error.  Some editions such as Sopinka on Evidence are helpful to see what a law looked like at a particular time but use your best judgment or consult others.

Older Criminal Codes

  • These are often useful for many years since lawyers may need to refer to old sections of the Criminal Code to see what the law said when their client was charged.  It is good to keep these as an historical collection for your lawyers.  Some associations keep more than one current annual criminal code on the shelves if demand warrants it.
  • This can apply to older Provincial Offences books, etc.

Consolidations / Annotated Acts

Most Consolidations are now available via e-Laws (Ontario laws),dating back to 2000, and Federally (Dept of Justice), dating back to 2003.  These electronic versions of Acts/Regulations are now Official records that can be used in Court.  Annotated Acts are helpful but you may not need to keep more than a year or two on the shelf.

You may wish to keep a current year only in your collection.  Or a current year, plus one previous in case it is used heavily.

LSO CPD Binders

  • These materials are now available on LSO CPD , dating back to 2004.
  • Often “Six Minute” and other annuals do not change much year to year so just keep the current year on your shelf.  You may wish to keep more of your popular titles.
  • LSO CPD binders are no longer printed/distributed so it can be helpful to label the binder, to indicate that the most recent sessions are now exclusively on LSO CPD.
  • More unique titles such as when a new law comes into force are often handy for historical reasons but can also be found electronically.
  • If discarding to create space, the CPD empty binders can often make useful dummy books for other areas.

Check what others have

  • Use the GL & Courthouse libraries catalogue to see what your neighbours are holding in their collections.  It may be a good discussion to see who has what and how long that they may be keeping a title.
  • Check what you may have electronically and put a dummy book (or binder) to guide lawyers who may be looking for their favourite title if it is now online.  Consult the e-LiRN page to see what titles are now available electronically.  See: What Textbooks can I access on e-LiRN? at the bottom of the page.

Law Reports

Many libraries are now considering removing their large law reporter collection.  Check to see what is available electronically – is the complete series available?  Is it available nearby?  Are they also considering down-sizing their collection?  Check the catalogue to see what is available if you need an older reporter.   While most case law can be found electronically, there are some historical / British titles that are not yet scanned.  The Great Library catalogue often indicates if titles can be found on an online resource.  There are resources such as Canadiana, HeinOnline and the Internet Archive as well as BaiLII.org. The Great Library has a great resource of British case law in their collection and as a LibGuide.

If you are disposing of a large volume of law reporters, please make arrangements in advance with MAG / building management to arrange for recycling of these materials.  Covers may need to be removed, etc.  This is often a large undertaking in terms of disposal.  Please notify the GL of any changes in your holdings.

We often get requests of lawyers looking to sell their personal collections.  There is no market for these books so while they look great, there is often no need.  Many libraries keep a section of law reporters for photo opportunities.  Sounds funny but lawyers love a good backdrop!

Duplication of Print & Electronic Books

Consult the e-LiRN page to see what titles are now available electronically.  See: What Textbooks can I access on e-LiRN? at the bottom of the page.

  • LexisNexis Quicklaw has textbooks published by LexisNexis & Halsbury’s Laws of Canada
  • Westlaw have the key loose-leafs texts in the Criminal, Family and Estates & Trusts areas
  • Essentials of Canadian Law series by Irwin Law (over 150 titles) on vlex

Your budget dollars will stretch further if you do not purchase the hard copy of these materials.

Loose-leaf titles are often very expensive and take a lot of time to up-to-date.  Many key subject loose-leaf titles are not part of e-LiRN.  For further information about loose-leafs, please see Cataloguing.

Fiction Collections

Many libraries have a small fiction / non-fiction collection for their lawyers.  LiRN cannot support these mini collections financially.  If lawyers wish to donate books for this collection, LiRN is OK with this.  It can be a good way to retain books donated by lawyers that do not fit within LiRN’s mandate but which you might like to keep. It is handy to include signage indicating that these books are DONATED and not purchased with Library funds in case anyone asks a question about their appropriateness.  They can be individually labeled as well as signage. They are often popular draws for lawyers looking for something to read in between court sessions, or even for their clients.

Donations to the Library

Lawyers and judges often wish to donate to their collections to your Library.  IF you have the space and wish to keep the books, perhaps in a Fiction/Non-fiction area dedicated to these titles might be a good idea.  LiRN is OK with this.  We recommend that you create labels for inside the books such as Donated by Justice XXX in Spring 2026 in case any questions occur about spending library funds for these titles.  You should also label these books if you wish to incorporate them into your main collection, again in case questions occur about these titles that appear to stray from the LiRN mandate for book purchases.  IF you can gracefully decline these offers,  it would be best since they are usually out of date materials that you likely do not want in your collection (“old law”) and not usually anything of historical significance.  See also LiRN’s Collection Development and Maintenance Policy .

 

If you have a tip for your colleagues about collection development, please share it here.