Collections
Special Collections
Indian Law Collection
The Law Library’s Indian Law collection concentrates on U.S. Indian law issues and resources. The Library strives to provide the historical and interdisciplinary information necessary for understanding Indian law issues and seeks to serve faculty, students, practitioners, and New Mexico Native communities. The collection contains numerous sources of tribal materials, such as tribal codes and tribal court reports, as well as a wealth of monographs dealing with the historical and cultural aspects of various tribes. Also included are a complete set of materials on microfiche from the Indian Claims Commission, comprising testimony, briefs, decisions, appellate decisions, and corresponding indexes; online resources, such as the VersusLaw database of tribal court decisions and the U.S. Serial Set digital collection (the equivalent of over 14,000 volumes containing thousands of congressional reports and documents published since 1817, including those related to Indians and Indian affairs); and comparative materials related to the laws of indigenous peoples in other countries. The collection is managed by Law Librarian and Indian Law Selector, Sherri Thomas.
Land Grant Collection
The Land Grant collection consists of bound, Spanish-language compilations of the laws of Spain and Mexico from the early to mid-1800s, as land in New Mexico was being parceled out. Other scholarly monographs and early documents describe the development, and various aspects, of land grants throughout New Mexico's history. Due to the special nature of this collection, access is limited to Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm.
New Mexico Primary Legal Materials
In partnership with the New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library and the Desert States Law Library Consortium, the UNMSOL Library actively collects, preserves, indexes, and makes available for research copies of primary legal materials from the New Mexico territorial and statehood eras. With the growing use of electronic resources for legal research, it is important that the legacy print collection of these legal materials be preserved. The Law Library sees this as one of its primary missions in service to the state.
Rare Book Collection
The Rare Book collection consists of several hundred volumes, many of which are irreplaceable editions. Coverage includes classics in English law, New Mexico Territorial laws and agency reports, rare editions on Native American law and culture, early laws of other states, and federal agency reports. Also included are materials on the early New Mexico Bar and UNM School of Law. Due to the special nature of this collection, access is limited to Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm.
Water Law Collection
This donated collection consists of Prof. Denise Fort's water law materials. It includes hundreds of treatises, monographs, serials, and conference proceedings in all areas of water law, with a special emphasis on Western water law. Prof. Fort's donation represents a significant contribution to the Law Library's water law holdings. The collection is gift-plated and is arranged in call number order within the Law Library collection. See the comprehensive list of titles that have been processed to date.
