Van Pelt's collection of law and law-related materials is broader in nature than others on campus, although it includes some specialized materials as well. Many of the more general publications are interdisciplinary in scope with a focus on "law and ..." where the legal subject is set in a strong economic, social, political, or historical context. Topics such as human and civil rights, criminology, disarmament, urban and environment studies, international studies, and the historical dimensions of the law are all included. materials concerning constitutional amendments (actual or proposed) and Supreme Court cases are of special interest. Van Pelt subscribes to approximately 25 law periodicals, the majority in the area of sociological jurisprudence. A number of these have an international focus and concern legislation or the administration of justice in other countries or regions of the world.
More specialized and primary materials are also available, mainly from the depository programs of several different government and intergovernmental organizations and through electronic access to online systems. These documents collections are described in the United States Government Information and Foreign and International Governmental Organization Government Documents policies.
For United States law and its administration, Van Pelt's collection includes United States Code, Federal Register, current House and Senate reports and documents and the complete Serial Set, current and historic hearings, bills, Statutes at Large, Congressional Record, and United States Reports. These appear in various formats with a number being housed in Van Pelt Reference.
As the Penn Library is also a depository for United Nations and European Community documents, Van Pelt Library has a share of the law and law-related materials from these international organizations. Other intra- and international law and supporting reference materials are selectively purchased and generally complement the collections held by Biddle Law Library. The East Asian bibliographer collects some law codes of Japan and China. Islamic law is collected by the Middle Eastern bibliographer and selected ancient and modern Indian law by the South Asian bibliographer.
Relevant United States state documents and those of other countries are also purchased. Supporting materials for all of these collections include legal encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, and handbooks mainly aimed at the educated layperson. Finally, the Lea Library, a component of the Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library, shares support for canon law.
The online fulltext database LEXIS/NEXIS Academic Universe provides access to the primary sources -- legal codes and statutes, case law, records of legislative proceedings, and hearing transcripts -- and secondary materials (e.g., law review articles) needed for in-depth legal research. Additional online fulltext resources for legal research include Congressional Universe, GPO Access, THOMAS (Library of Congress), and Dow Jones Interactive. The principal online bibliographic tools for legal research include Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, World Law Index, GLOBUS, as well as NCJRS Abstracts Database and Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS). Biddle Law Library provides additional access through its in-library online subscription to Wilson Index to Legal Periodicals.