Library

About the Law Library

The Faculty’s Library is the largest and oldest law library in the Republic of Croatia. It is also one of the leading law libraries in the region. The Law Library's activities have been carried out uninterruptedly for more than one hundred and ten years. Being the Faculty's central library, its users are primarily the Faculty’s students, teachers and extramural associate teachers. External users are mainly legal professionals employed in public administration and the judiciary, attorneys at law, notaries, and employees of public social care services. 

The Mission of the Library is to support the research and curricular needs of its faculty and students by providing a high quality and diverse collection of legal materials and by offering the highest possible level of service.

 

Presentation of library services and sources

 

Principles

The Library acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes available a high quality collection of both contemporary and historical legal materials. The Library collaborates with other Croatian law libraries, as well as with National University Library.  

 

Our collections

We have over 500,000 volumes of books and journals in our library and a continually growing range of online resources in the field of law, both domestic and foreign. We subscribe to hundreds of electronic journals, books and databases.  Our Law Library holdings, the largest library holdings of legal materials in the Republic of Croatia, comprise numerous collections, such as reference collection, journal collection, thesis collection, collection of old and rare books (RARA) and collection of official publications, to mention just a few.  

RARA Collection preserves, promotes and develops our historical research resources, while the Official Publications Collection provides access to Croatian, United Nations, Council of Europe and the European Union official publications and materials.

We also offer access to substantial information about the European Union law and policies, both in paper and electronic form, in the European Documentation Centre hosted by our Library.

 

Acquisition policy

Our acquisition policy reflects the needs of study programmes and of the research interests of teachers and extramural associate teachers, all in line with the approved financial resources of the Faculty. The Faculty aims to acquire all of the latest relevant titles in all the scientific fields of the Faculty’s activities. Part of Library holdings is acquired through donations made by individuals or institutions, or through exchanges of the Faculty’s editions with those of related higher education institutions. The standards of Croatian higher education collaborating libraries are applied in such cases. 

 

Information Resources and Databases (selection)

Our Library subscribes to several hundreds journals in printed or electronic form, some of which are available in specialised databases covering research fields of interest to the Faculty's teaching staff. 
When it comes to the number of journal subscriptions, the Law Library is currently amongst the leading libraries in Croatia.

•    Beck-Online
•    BGB Staudinger - via Juris.de
•    Brill Online Books and Journals
•    Cambridge Journals - HSS Collection (Cambridge Journals Online), Cambridge UP
•    Duncker & Humblot
•    European Sources Online : ESO
•    HeinOnline (collections provided: Law Journal Library, Foreign & International Law, Kluwer Law International Journal Library i World Constitutions)
•    IBFD Tax Research Platform
•    Ingenta
•    International Encyclopaedia for Media Law (IEL Media Law)
•    Informa Law : i-law
•    JSTOR (collections available: Arts & Sciences I, Arts & Sciences II, Arts & Sciences IV and Arts & Sciences VII)
•    Kluwer Law Online Journals
•    LexisNexis Academic
•    Mohr Siebeck
•    Oxford Journals
•    SAGE Journals Online
•    SAGE Knowledge
•    Springerlink
•    Taylor & Francis
•    Walter De Gruyter
•    Westlaw International
•    Westlaw UK
•    Wiley InterScience


Bibliographic data on the books and journals owned by the Faculty’s Library is available through the CROLIST library catalogue. The catalogue is freely accessible at http://knjiznica.pravo.hr/ 

Also, in order to facilitate access to subscribed foreign journals and databases, we use EBSCO online Discovery Service which allows our users to search multiple collections simoultaneously. This service is twofold: it allows easy identification of journal titles through the so called EBSCO A-to-Z service, while EBSCOhost Integrated Search allows users to search multiple databases and electronic journals through a single search screen.

In order to keep up with the domestic production of legal databases, we are subscribed to IUS‐INFO, a database of Croatian legislation and case law.

 

Services and support

Our Library is located at two major locations in the city centre, while majority of library holdings are stored at several locations in the town. We provide a wealth of physical and online resources for students, staff, researchers and visitors. We welcome students and researchers from other higher education institutions. 

Printed materials such as books or journals are available at the Book or Periodicals Department respectively. Book Department is located at the Faculty's main building at 14, Republic of Croatia Square, while periodicals can be consulted and used at the Periodicals Department located at 3, Republic of Croatia Square. Our staff will help you find what you need.

Users can access our electronic resources from all PC stations within the Faculty premises. Also, users provided by AAI identity may gain remote access to our electronic resources.

 

Engagement

Our Library staff provide hands-on learning and development experiences for students, academics and external users. The aim of information literacy courses is to teach students where and how to find legal information, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. 
Apart from several information literacy courses held within undergraduate and postgraduate law courses, our Library organises, in cooperation with ELSA (European Law Students Association), a regular three-day workshop under the title „Academic Writing Skills“. This programme has been highly appreciated among law students.

 

European Documentation Centre (EDC)

After the Republic of Croatia became 28th EU Member State, in February 2014 the Faculty’s Library was granted status of an European Documentation Centre (EDC), which operates as part of the Europe Direct Information network established by the European Commission in all EU Member States.
 
Our European Documentation Centre is a major source of information and expertise about the institutions, activities and policies of the European Union (EU). We serve students and researchers in higher education, and also the general public.


EDC Resources

Zagreb Law School EDC has access to substantial information about the European Union both in paper and electronic form. We can help our users locate and make use of information from official European Union sources, international bodies working in Europe, academic textbooks and periodical articles, think tanks, professional and trade associations and news sources. 

The EDC has established and maintains a publicly accessible website at http://euinfo.pravo.hr/ with rich content that helps EDC users and the wider public be better informed. The site brings legal and other sources, databases and an overview of documents related to the relations between the Republic of Croatia and the European Union in seven sections. 

Also, our EDC participates in creating records for European Sources Online (ESO, http://www.europeansources.info/), the primary electronic source of European information published by Cardiff University Press. ESO is a free access service offering a major index of European information sources including links to full text sources, bibliographical references to key textbooks and periodical articles, and information guides to European institutions, policies and countries.

The material in the EDC is for use in the Centre only and cannot be borrowed. Books, journals and documents can be photocopied according to current copyright regulations. 


EU Information Training

Our EDC offers high quality, unbiased European information training. Training and guidance is offered to undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers at the Zagreb Law School and other academic institutions in Croatia, to librarians and other information professionals, as well as to legal professionals interested in EU legal sources. EDC training courses help our users search efficiently for information on the EU, monitor the activities of the EU institutions and agencies, contact, communicate with and influence the EU Institutions.