CRIV BLOG

Posted on behalf of Shaun Esposito, CRIV Chair.

CRIV received an inquiry from an AALL member concerning West’s Restatement publications.  The relevant portion of the member’s inquiry follows:

o    We recently received our 2012 pocket parts for Restatement volumes, and I think they have all been shelved correctly.  However, what I’ve discovered is that we still had some volumes with 2010 and 2011 pocket parts, and I had no idea what to do with these.  For example, vols. 1-3 of Restatement Property 2d, Donative Transfers still have 2011 pocket parts.  They were not supplemented in 2012.  The instructions simply say that these volumes are out of print and have been superseded over time by various components of Property Third.  Upon closer inspection of the pocket part to Restatement 3d, Property–Wills and Other Donative Transfers, v.3 I see that it says that it contains all citations to Property 2d Donative Transfers.  So I’m assuming I can just discard the 2011 pocket parts.  However, I know in some of the older Restatement volumes West had actually sent pocket inserts that basically told you that type of info.  I think it would be very helpful if they did something like this for some of the volumes that have recently been superseded by Restatement 3d volumes.

o      My question is probably 2-fold.  Instead of just saying a volume is superseded, could West please tell us what to do with the last pocket parts in those volumes?  (i.e, should we keep them permanently or discard them?)  And, as the follow-up to that, could they give us some sort of label or insert for the volume that indicates where to look for current info?

On behalf of CRIV I sent this along to Anne Ellis, Senior Director of Librarian Relations at Thomson Reuters.  Her response is below:

I would like to thank Shaun Esposito for giving me the opportunity to respond to the concerns of our customers regarding Restatement pocket parts and superseded volumes.

In response to a customer’s question about what to do with prior year pocket parts, the customer may discard them. The volumes can be kept for historical reference.

Secondly, the customer had asked about being given a label or insert for the volume that indicates where to look for current information.

We explored the idea of developing an insert or label, but found that it would not be a good customer experience. It would necessitate additional filing into archived volumes, as well as new filing instructions for older volumes which may or may not have been maintained by libraries.

To make the updating process as easy as possible for our customers, we include with each annual pocket parts shipment:

• A checklist of all volumes and appendices, indicating if pocket parts exist for each item;

• A list of older Restatement volumes that have been superseded by new units;

• Instructions that the prior year’s pocket parts can be discarded.

We understand that filing can be a time-consuming task with a lot of moving parts, but we do strive to make the instructions as simple as possible for our customers. If you have any further questions about Restatement pocket parts and superseded volumes, please contact us at 1-800-328-4880.

I want to thank our AALL member for sending her inquiry to CRIV and Anne Ellis for providing a response.

Don’t forget there is now an online form available to request CRIV assistance with publisher-related questions, concerns and complaints.  Go to http://www.aallnet.org/main-menu/Advocacy/vendorrelations/request-assistance.html

Thanks

Shaun

——————————————-
Shaun Esposito
CRIV Chair, 2011-2012
Head of Public Services
University of Arizona College of Law Library
Tucson AZ
(520) 626-5551
sesposit@email.arizona.edu