Book Burning in the Twenty-First Century: ABA Standard 606 and the Future of Academic Law Libraries as the Smoke Clears

Abstract

Academic law libraries face a challenging future. The cost of legal information sources continues to rise while law library budgets continue to shrink. As budgets tighten the tension between collecting print and electronic sources has come to a juncture where law libraries might need to choose one over the other. Academic law libraries are not necessarily free to make a wholesale switch from print to online. Standard 606 of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools must be considered before an academic law library can truly pitch the majority of its print resources. This article examines the evolution of Standard 606 and its impact on academic law libraries. There is great hope that Standard 606 has evolved to a point where academic law libraries might be free to make the hard collection choices that will help them thrive in the twenty-first century.