Collections

The Law Library’s extensive collections are curated to support outstanding legal scholarship from students and faculty. Explore our collections in United States, International, Foreign, Comparative, and Japanese Law. The library also offers researchers access to more than 30,000 volumes of rare legal materials through its Special Collections.

United States Law Collection

Core Collection

The Law Library has a substantial collection of United States primary and secondary legal resources, including the United States Code, United States Statutes at Large, United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.), Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), federal reporters and digests, national legal encyclopedias, general form books, state statutes and administrative codes, and official state reporters.

New York Collection

Legal materials include the official case reports, New York Supplement 2d, session laws, statutory codes (McKinney’s and CLS), New York’s Administrative Code, the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations (N.Y.C.R.R.), and the New York Case digests. 

Additionally, the Law Library has numerous New York-specific secondary sources, such as legal encyclopedias, subject treatises, practice guides, and form books.

Congressional Materials

Materials include print and electronic versions of the Congressional Record, U.S. Congress House and Senate documents and reports, CCH’s Congressional Index, and the Congressional Quarterly. The collection includes both current and historical materials.

Treatise and Looseleaf Services Collection

The Law Library has a significant number of monographic and multivolume legal treatises and looseleaf services in American law as well as non-law related topics.

Periodicals

The Law Library offers access to most American legal periodicals. The newest print issues are located in our Core Collection.

International, Foreign, and Comparative Law

The International Law Collection at Columbia includes more than 60,000 titles in the areas of public and private international law, with an emphasis on arbitration, intellectual property, international organizations, and human rights. The majority of these materials are located on the fourth floor of the Law Library. Some older materials are located on the second floor.

Our Foreign and Comparative Law Collection includes more than 200,000 titles. The Law Library collects primary and secondary legal materials from nearly every country in the world, permitting in-depth research of all foreign legal systems. These materials can be searched along with the Law Library’s subscriptions to electronic journals in CLIO, Columbia University Libraries' combined catalog. You may use the post-search location filter Law to limit results to Law Library materials.

The Law Library also maintains subscriptions to various databases relevant to foreign and international law. Law librarians produce and maintain a series of research guides regarding international, foreign, and comparative law. 

For assistance with the International, Foreign, and Comparative law collections, contact the Reference Desk at [email protected]. For suggestions regarding purchases in international, comparative, and foreign law, please contact Silke Sahl, International, Comparative, and Foreign Law Librarian, at [email protected].