Preserving America’s Legal Materials in Print (PALMPrint) is an exciting print repository devoted to a legacy collection of U.S. federal and state primary legal materials.

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Developed by the Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA) and the NELLCO Law Library Consortium (NELLCO), this project began as a three-year (2013-2016) pilot intended to prove the concept of a shared, discipline-specific collection, jointly owned by the sponsoring organizations and the participating libraries. PALMPrint is now a permanent collaborative project, administered by LIPA and NELLCO, and funded through low annual subscription fees from the participating libraries.
 

If you are interested in joining PALMPrint, please complete the Subscription Information form and we will follow up with you.

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What Makes PALMPrint Unique?

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• It is a shared collection, jointly owned by the two sponsoring organizations and the participating libraries.

• It is focused on a single discipline, which is not unique but is unusual. PALMPrint is and always will be about print legal materials.

• It has a foundational collection development plan that can and will be expanded over time as collection goals are reached. PALMPrint is a collection, not merely a storage facility.

• The collection is centralized in a remote storage facility that does not belong to any of the participating institutions.

• Subscribing libraries do not have to commit to retain any titles in their own collections, because PALMPrint is there when they need it.

• The collection holds a single copy of each title selected, so there is no need for complex formulas to determine the appropriate number of copies to retain for specific categories of material.

• The project’s goals are both preservation and access. While not a dark archive, this legacy print collection is widely replicated in digital form, so we expect low use and minimal physical impact to the materials.

• PALMPrint is a highly collaborative model, driven by two library consortia and many of their member libraries.

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Collection

 

FEDERAL

• statutes

• codes

• reports

• congressional records and reports

• administrative decisions and orders

• administrative codes

• executive orders and presidential papers

 

 

STATE

• session laws

• codes

• administrative codes and registers

• court reports

• national reporters

• specialty reporters

• attorneys general reports and opinions

 

All materials have been generously donated by a growing list of law libraries, and the collection now contains approximately 70,000 volumes.

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Access and Retrieval

The PALMPrint collection is not a dark archive. Although we expect use of the collection to be minimal, it is available for use by participating libraries. A user interface allows librarians and researchers to discover and use the materials in the collections. Items can be delivered to the requesting library by shipment via common carrier or they can be scanned and delivered electronically where appropriate. The requesting library bears the cost of delivery and return of materials held in the repository. An onsite reading room also provides direct access if needed.

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Facility

The shared collection is held at the William B. Meyer high density library storage facility in Windsor, CT. The 125,000 square foot facility offers top-quality shelving, the latest in inventory scanning technologies, temperature and humidity control systems, and top-of-the-line fire suppression systems.

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For more information, please contact Michelle Trumbo or Corie Dugas.

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Michelle M. Trumbo
Executive Director
Legal Information Preservation Alliance
P.O. Box 480
Dunkirk, MD 20754
Phone: (443) 975-3816
lipa.trumbo@gmail.com

 

Corie Dugas
Executive Director
NELLCO Law Library Consortium, Inc.
756 Madison Ave. Ste. 102
Albany, NY 12208
Phone: (518) 694-3026
corie.dugas@nellco.org