A looseleaf service is a type of publication used in

legal research Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a probl ...

which brings together both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

source materials on a specific field or topic in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. Available through

HeinOnline HeinOnline (HOL) is a commercial internet database service launched in 2000 by William S. Hein & Co., Inc. (WSH Co), a Buffalo, New York publisher specializing in legal materials. The company began in Buffalo, New York, in 1961 and is currently b ...

. For this reason they are sometimes called "subject-matter services". Looseleaf services are most commonly used for research in areas of law which change rapidly due to

regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

and

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

developments (such as

tax law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

financial regulation Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system. This may be handled ...

, and

labor law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

). Looseleaf services are typically contained in

ring binder Ring binders (loose leaf binders, looseleaf binders, or sometimes called files in Britain) are large folders that contain file folders or hole punched papers. These binders come in various sizes and can accommodate an array of paper sizes. The ...

s to keep them updated, because they are published fairly frequently (at minimum monthly, sometimes weekly or bi-weekly) in order to keep the information therein current. Most

law libraries A law library is a special library used by law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, historians and other scholars of legal history in order to research the law. Law libraries are also used by people who draft or advocate for new l ...

have a subscription to several of these services, and most looseleaf services are now available electronically.

Types

Interfiled

In an interfiled looseleaf service, individual pages can be removed and replaced with more recent printings, eliminating the need for pocket parts or similar supplements. Most of the looseleaf services offered by

Commerce Clearing House CCH, formerly Commerce Clearing House, is a provider of software and information services for tax, accounting and audit workers. Since 1995 it has been a subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer. History CCH has been publishing materials on U.S. tax la ...

are of the interfiled type.

Newsletter-type

Newsletter-type looseleaf services are published as topical

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...

s, which are then filed by law librarians under the appropriate topic headings for future reference. All these newsletters are intended to be permanently retained, which distinguishes them from the interfiled looseleaf services where obsolete pages are supposed to be discarded. One of the best-known looseleaf services, ''

United States Law Week United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

'', is of this type. Most of the looseleaf services published by

Bureau of National Affairs Bloomberg Industry Group (formerly known as Bloomberg BNA, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., and BNA) is an affiliate of Bloomberg L.P. and a source of legal, tax, regulatory, and business information for professionals. It is headquartered in ...

are newsletter-style.

Hybrid

A hybrid looseleaf service includes characteristics of both types. It has some individual pages which can be replaced on an interfiled basis and some newsletters which are permanently retained. The Bureau of National Affairs publishes several hybrid looseleaf services.

References

External links

Brief explanation of looseleaf services
from

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

More comprehensive explanation
from

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 studen ...

{{Authority control Legal literature Legal research