A Product of William S. Hein & Co., Inc.
Search
Close this search box.
Library Shelf filled with books

Spinelli's Law Library Reference Shelf

Spinelli’s Law Library includes an extensive collection of works, scholarly articles, and tools for the entire legal research community!

4,008

TITLES

7,884

VOLUMES

2,881,726

PAGES

Legal Dictionary from Spinelli's Law Library featured on a laptop

About Spinelli's Law Library Reference Shelf

Initially conceived as a collection specifically for law librarians, Spinelli’s Law Library Reference Shelf now has increased its scope to reach the entire legal research community. Dick Spinelli brings his more than 45 years of experience in working with librarians and law libraries to the creation and editing of this collection.

For librarians, this unique collection brings together checklists, newsletters, and cataloging tools. For legal researchers, it contains research guides, bibliographies, dictionaries, and biographies. For faculty and administrators, it houses a section on Legal Education and much more.

Title List: KBART (TXT) | CSV | HTML

Spinelli's Law Library Reference Shelf Subcollections

Access unique resources for librarians, faculty, law school administrators, and students, all within one database!

The Government Documents Special Interest Section (GD-SIS) series includes the full text of all bibliographies published through 2022. The GD-SIS was established in 1974 to disseminate information on government documents to AALL members and to further the continuing education of law librarians in documents librarianship.

AALL Publications began in 1960 as a series of professional monographs, designed primarily to serve as a medium for advancing the knowledge and skills of professional law librarians. The series contains manuals, bibliographies, and many other tools, in more than 200 individual titles. Titles include:

  • Briefs in Law Librarianship, edited by Roberta Studwell (1997-2011, 16 vols.)
  • AALL Reference Book: A Compendium of Facts, Figures, and Historial Information about the American Association of Law Libraries, by Frank Houdek (2020)
  • Directory of Foreign Law Collections in Selected Law Libraries, edited by Ellen Schaffer and Thomas Bruce (1991)
  • Guide to State Legislation, Legislative History, and Administrative Materials, by William Manz (2008)
  • Landmark Indian Law Cases (2002)
  • Pimsleur’s Checklist of Basic American Legal Publications, edited by Meira Pimesleur and Marcia Zubrow (1962-2019)
  • United States Tribal Courts Directory, by April Schwartz and Mary Jo Hunter (Full text 2002-2008; Indexed 2002-2011)

Popularly known as BEAL, the original 6 volumes published in 1998 and the 2003 supplement represent the culmination of an entire career of research for renowned lecturer and Professor Emeritus at Yale Law School, Morris L. Cohen.

This set covers the period from the beginnings of American history up to and including 1860. It lists the monographic and trial literature on American law and legal development, regardless of language or place of publication. It also includes works on foreign, comparative, and international law if published in the United States. There are more than 15,000 items listed in this set, including: treatises, bibliographies, commentaries, digests, lectures, polemics, biographies, trials (both civil and criminal), and numerous other documents of importance to this period.

More than 950 bibliographic works can be found in this section. Some notable titles included are:

  • Bibliography of Early American Law (BEAL), by Morris Cohen
  • Hein Checklist of Statutes (State and Territorial) (Full text: Vols. 15-78, 1987-2019; Indexed: Vols. 15-80, 1987-current)
  • Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University with Selected Annotations, compiled and edited by Julius Marke (1953)
  • Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) (Full text 1936-2015, Indexed 1936-current)
  • Current Publications in Legal and Related Fields, volumes 1-61 (Full text: Vols. 1-66, 1953-2018; Indexed: Vols. 1-67, 1953-current)
  • Recommended Publications for Legal Research (Full text 1970-2018; Indexed 1970-current)
  • Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books, 3rd ed., by Nancy P. Johnson (1979-2007)
  • Men and Books Famous in the Law, by Frederick C. Hicks (1921)
  • Abbreviations Used in Law Books, by John T. Morse Jr. (1899)

This section contains publications on individuals such as Aaron Burr, James Bryce, Salmon Chase, Edward Coke, Stephen J. Field, Henry Fielding, Samuel Foot, and many more.

This section includes a number of cataloging publications and tools that will serve as remarkable aids for catalogers. All Library of Congress Classification Schedules are included from A to Z covering all subjects in the classification system. This allows catalogers to link from the Library of Congress Subject Heading to the classification schedules, and from the classification schedules to the tables, all in a matter of seconds! With the ability to browse or search across all subject areas in the classification system, these tools will prove to be invaluable for librarians and/or catalogers beyond just the law library.

Significant title included:

  • Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (All Published)

The GreenSlips Bibliographic Service will allow researchers to search across the entire archive of bibliographic entries that have been distributed since 1994 via Hein’s GreenSlips service. The Electronic GreenSlips database contains bibliographic information for more than 60,000 legal titles. Each entry or “slip” includes the author, title, publisher, LC numbers, series information, price and other bibliographic information. If you subscribe to the Electronic GreenSlips service, you will be able to search the database from within this library and then link directly to your account to utilize all the tools included in your full-service subscription. PLUS, subscribers to this service will get a discounted price if you choose to subscribe to Spinelli’s Law Library Reference Shelf. If you do not subscribe to the Electronic GreenSlips service, you will still be able to search across the database and view the bibliographic entries, but you will not be able to utilize the premium features available with the full service. We are offering a discounted combo price if you choose to subscribe to both the Electronic GreenSlips service and Spinelli’s Law Library Reference Shelf.

For more information on the Electronic GreenSlips service and its features, please contact your sales representative or contact us at marketing@wshein.com.

This section contains hundreds of legal dictionaries, including:

  • Black’s Law Dictionary 1st (1891) and 2nd (1910) eds., by Henry Campbell Black
  • Bouvier’s Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia (8th ed., 3rd rev.), by John Bouvier (1914)
  • Quote It II: A Dictionary of Memorable Legal Quotations, compiled by Eugene C. Gerhart (1988)
  • Dictionary of Intellectual Property (1954)
  • Dictionary of Law, consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases, and Maxims, and an Exposition of the Principles of
    Law (1996)
  • Law in Shakespeare (1883)
  • And many more!

This section is of interest to law school administrators, faculty, librarians, and other legal researchers. Among the titles included are:

  • Standards, and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (Full text 1973-2018; Indexed 1973-current)
  • Official Guide to ABA Approved Law Schools (1926-2012)

This section includes links to hundreds of relevant law review articles that discuss various aspects of legal education and law librarianship. All articles have been hand-selected from HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library. Using Hein’s ScholarCheck, you can link to other scholarly articles that cite editors’ picks.

*To access the full text of the law review articles, you must be subscribed to the Law Journal Library.

Includes more than 50 titles that are of value to law libraries. Notable titles include:

  • AALL Spectrum (1996-current)
  • American Association of Law Librarians Newsletter (1970-1996) All Published
  • Legal Information Alert (1981-2011) All Published
  • LH & RB: Newsletter of the Legal History and Rare Books SIS (Full text 1991-2018; Indexed 1991-current)
  • PLL Perspectives (Private Law Libraries) SIS (1989-2012) All Published
  • Technical Services Law Librarian (Full text: Vols. 1-43, 1975-2018; Indexed: Vols. 1-46#1, 1975-Current)
  • And many more

Hundreds of additional related resources for librarians, faculty, and students.

Memorials of Law Librarians
Includes memorials published in the Law Library Journal dating back to 1916. You can link directly to the memorial as published in the Journal.

Georgetown Law Library Research Guides
With the cooperation and support of Georgetown University’s Law School Library, links are provided to it’s website to access Georgetown Legal Research Guides. Some of the subjects covered are Art Law, Bioethics, Copyright Law, Health Law, Immigration Law, Labor and Employment Law, and Securities Law.

Tarlton Law Library Publications

  • Tarlton Law Library Legal Bibliography Series
  • Tarlton Law Library Legal History Series
  • Tarlton Law Library Oral History Series
  • Other publications associated with the Tarlton Law Library, including proceedings of conferences, held there

 

Spirit of Law Librarianship Award
Each year, the Roy M. Mersky Spirit of Law Librarianship Award honors one law librarian or law library organization for service to the community. The award winners are presented in an easy-to-navigate chart that allows you to link directly to the winners’ essays.

Oral History of Law Librarianship

The Oral History of Law Librarianship series within this database contains video interviews of active and retired law librarians and others related to the profession. This series showcases individuals in the profession as they reflect on their experiences. 

View the series

Michelle M. Wu
Retired Associate Dean for Library Services and Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law Center

2021 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award Winner for Academic Law Libraries Within the Changing Landscape of Legal Education: A Primer for Deans and Provosts

Dick Spinelli

About the Editor

Dick has been involved in the law library profession for more than 45 years. He spent the first 25 years with Fred B. Rothman & Co. in various positions, ultimately as Vice President. Dick joined the Hein Company as the Vice President of Sales in 1993. Initially, he was primarily responsible for sales to all types of law libraries in the United States. During that time Dick visited most academic libraries in the country as well as countless public law libraries and law firm libraries, working directly with librarians on collection development and collection management matters. Since his semi-retirement at the end of 2009, Dick has been involved in consulting and product development for the Hein Company. He has been a member of AALL for more than 40 years as well as a member of numerous local Chapters during that period. Dick was inducted into the AALL Hall of Fame in 2013.

Customer Training Session