Chapter 7 - Brigham Young University Law Library

Abstract

This chapter discusses the history and development of Brigham Young University (BYU) Law Library. Since 1973, Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School and Law Library have assumed national leadership in applying automation to legal education and law library processes. This achievement has been driven more by the necessity than by a quest for prominence: except for the nearby University of Utah College of Law, the nearest law school is over 500 miles away and the nearest law library of comparable size is 700 miles away. BYU law school is served by its own local, integrated computing facilities, which are linked to other campus facilities. All faculties, librarians, and other full-time staff have terminals or personal computers in their offices. They all have access to the school's Digital VAX 11/750; many also are linked to a local area network. Through the local area networks, users have access to file servers, shared printing, and other university local area networks through the campus broadband. While the automation of the BYU law library has been evolutionary and many plans have been revised along the way, certain philosophical commitments have remained constant.