{{Short description|Type of publication in legal research}} thumb|An Australian legal publication in looseleaf format.
A '''looseleaf service''' is a type of publication used in legal research which brings together both primary and secondary source materials on a specific field or topic in law.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101">{{cite book |last1=Svengalis |first1=Kendall F. |title=Legal Information Buyer's Guide and Reference Manual |date=2015 |publisher=New England LawPress |location=Guilford, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-9963524-0-6 |pages=101–102 |edition=19th}} Available through HeinOnline.</ref> For this reason they are sometimes called "subject-matter services".{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Looseleaf services are most commonly used for research in areas of law which change rapidly due to regulatory and administrative developments (such as tax law, environmental law, financial regulation, and labor law). Looseleaf services are typically contained in ring binders 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.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" />
Most law libraries have a subscription to several of these services, and most looseleaf services are now available electronically.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" />
One major disadvantage of looseleaf services is that inserting newly updated pages into ring binders is a tedious and time-consuming exercise. Some publishers, such as the Rutter Group, have started to publish a new series of softcover volumes each year, in lieu of releasing updated pages for traditional looseleaf services.<ref name="Haning_Page_1">{{cite book |last1=Haning |first1=Zerne P. |last2=Flahavan |first2=William F. |last3=Cheng |first3=Doris |last4=Wright |first4=Kenneth E. |title=California Practice Guide: Personal Injury, 2024 Update |date=2024 |publisher=Rutter Group |location=Los Angeles |page=1 |url=https://static.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/product_files/relateddocs/517_2024241_124441.pdf |access-date=March 9, 2025}}</ref>
==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.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" /> Most of the looseleaf services offered by Commerce Clearing House are of the interfiled type.
===Newsletter-type=== Newsletter-type looseleaf services are published as topical newsletters, which are then filed by law librarians under the appropriate topic headings for future reference.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" /> 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.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" />
One of the best-known looseleaf services, ''United States Law Week'', is of this type. Most of the looseleaf services published by Bureau of National Affairs 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.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" /> The Bureau of National Affairs publishes several hybrid looseleaf services.<ref name="Svengalis_Page_101" />
==See also== * Pocket part – another common method of updating hard copy legal reference works
==References==
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==External links== *[http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/lls.cfm Brief explanation of looseleaf services] from Georgetown University Law Center *[http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/schools/law_sites/library/pdf/researchguides/looseleaf.pdf More comprehensive explanation] from Boston College Law School
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Category:Legal literature Category:Legal research