ANN ARBOR—The U.S. Library of Congress—the largest library in the world— recently chose part of the University of Michigan Law School Library’s Web site for inclusion in its Internet collection.

The Law Library Reference Department staff collected the information about U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and posted it this month, adding links to new information as it became available. Officials at the Library of Congress came upon the Web site, contacted the Law School and received permission to add the Web link to its collection of Internet materials related to the Supreme Court.

With more than 230 entries, the Roberts Web link includes biographical information, opinions, articles he wrote and newspaper stories about him. The library will continue to add new material until Roberts’ nomination process is complete.

“As an attorney myself, I especially appreciate the thoroughness of the materials,” said Evan Caminker, dean of the U-M Law School. “Whether visitors to the site are simply curious citizens, interested attorneys, news persons, or people directly involved in the nomination process, this site is an outstanding resource. I am honored and pleased that the Library of Congress has chosen to archive the information on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, collected by our Law Library Reference Department staff and located on its Web site.” Margaret Leary, director and librarian at the Law School, said the U.S. Library of Congress’ request— a first received by the Law School— means visitors can review material about Roberts that might not be found through a Google search, for example.

“The value of what we have done lies in collecting all the information in one place in a timely fashion,” Leary said.

This is the Law School Library’s second major project this summer. Earlier this month, it introduced its new Web site of faculty publications, with more than 7,000 entries dating back to the Law School’s founding in 1859. The site is a comprehensive historical compilation of the published books, articles, book chapters, essays, introductions, forewords and book reviews written or edited by the U-M Law faculty.

The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps and 58 million manuscripts.

Contacts: Nancy Marshall, (734) 764-6375, and Jared Wadley, (734) 936-7819

Related links:

• U.S. Library of Congress
• U-M Law School