Locating Materials in the Library

This guide will help you locate items in the Law Library using information from HOLLIS Catalog.

This guide is not comprehensive. It does not cover every exception to the basic arrangement of the collection. Note that only about 35% of the Library's collection is available in the open stacks; the rest is in storage. The Library can usually retrieve items in storage in one business day. Please consult Reference or Circulation at any time for assistance locating an item.

 HOLLIS Catalog Sample Record

After Law School you will see either a call number or locator. Locators are notations before call numbers like ILS, Red Set, Reserve.

If there is a blank space after a law school location, please consult Reference for assistance.

 List of Locators and Other Notations in HOLLIS Catalog

 List of Call Number Locations

Note on Call Numbers Beginning with Country Abbreviations:
If your call number begins with an abbreviation of France, Germany, Portugal, or any Latin American country name, the item will be in ILS Level 1, providing it is not in storage. If the country abbreviation stands for Australia, Canada, Ireland, United States or United Kingdom, consult Langdell Reference. If the call number begins with an abbreviation of any other country, it will be in ILS Basement, again providing it is not in storage.

 Call Number Systems in the Law School Library

The Harvard Law School Library arranges materials in three distinct classification schemes. The Moody System, developed at the Harvard Law School Library, arranges materials by jurisdiction and numerically designated subject matter. The Moody system was used for everything until 1982. At that point, the Anglo American collection in Langdell Hall was converted into the Library of Congress (LC) system, which arranges materials alphanumerically by subject. The Anglo American collection consists of the law of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Library continues to classify materials of all other jurisdictions with the Moody System. The third classification scheme, Olivart, originated with a large collection on international law acquired from the Marquis de Olivart of Spain. Olivart classes materials numerically by subject. The Library generally classes new materials on international and comparative law in LC.

 Materials In Storage Not Indicated in HOLLIS Catalog

If an item is in storage, you will see a notation in HOLLIS Catalog of "Harvard Depository" or "Storage" near the call number. Although there is no indication in HOLLIS Catalog, the following groups of materials are in storage:

• Materials classed in Olivart (call numbers are mostly numbers) published 1851-1945;
• Materials classed in Moody (call numbers begin with a country abbreviation) published between 1851-1961;
• Materials classed in Moody with call numbers beginning with ANCIENT, CANON, COMP, ROMAN printed after 1851, unless they're in the ILS Reading Room or ILS Reference Collection (designated by "ILS RR" or "ILS Ref" in HOLLIS Catalog);
• Materials classed in Moody from a sub-jurisdiction, such as states or provinces within a country, of any time period.;
• Materials classed in Moody published before 1851 are in Special Collections, but this is not indicated in HOLLIS Catalog.

 Langdell Collection Shelving Arrangement

  International Legal Studies (ILS) Collection Shelving Arrangement

ILS generally holds materials published in the last 15 years in the stacks, with some exceptions for primary law. Items published earlier are usually in storage (although the HOLLIS Catalog record may not always indicate this.) Please see Circulation for assistance if your item is not on the shelf.

 Materials in Special Collections

The Special Collections Department of the Library is responsible for materials that require careful handling because of their rarity, fragility, monetary worth, or special research value.

Selective, abbreviated description of Special Collections holdings:

 Call Number Ranges for Major U.S. Law Subjects

The following is a simplified, abridged breakdown of the Library of Congress Classification for "KF", the law of the United States. Materials with KF call numbers are located in the Reading Room of Langdell Hall, Level 4.

Compiled by Deanna Barmakian.