A non-profit consortium of over 300 law libraries that preserves important historical legal publications from all world regions through microfilm and digital reformatting, and archives print source materials. The consortium is the publisher of the LLMC-Digital database.
Overview
Website
Type of Organization
Provider Role(s)
Details
Alternative Names
LLMC
LLMC-Digital
Year established
1976
Still in Operation
Yes
Main Address
P.O. Box 211284 (mail address)
2919 West Service Road (shipping address)
Eagan, MN 55121
United States
Subject Areas
CRL Analysis & Profile
Mission Statement
"LLMC is a non-profit cooperative of libraries dedicated to the twin goals of, preserving legal titles and government documents, while making copies inexpensively available digitally through its on-line service LLMC-Digital. LLMC provides libraries with a reliable and budget-friendly source of digital replacement when their older, physically deteriorating books became too burdensome to store given diminished use. While aiding libraries in their preservation and space recovery programs, it also provides an economical way to complete retrospective collections." (http://www.llmc.com/about.aspx, accessed November 2018)
History
The Law Library Microform Consortium was founded by the law libraries of the University of Hawaii and Wayne State University in Detroit. Seed money was also provided by foundations and private individuals.
The organization was chartered in 1976 and began to produce microfiche copies of key historical legal publications, many of which were then beginning to be discarded by U.S. law libraries. Most of the organization's revenues came from sale of those microforms to law libraries in the U.S. and abroad.
In 2003 the Consortium added digital delivery to its offerings, and began to convert its filmed titles to digital format, publishing those to the Web on a subscription basis in its LLMC-Digital database. By 2005, all data capture conducted by LLMC was accomplished through digital scanning.
In 2016 the Consortium relocated from Kaneohe, Hawaii to Eagan, Minnesota. As of 2018, LLMC was in the process of converting to a 501(c)(3) in the state of Minnesota.
Financial Information
The organization is finded largely by membership and subscription revenue. Members include over 300 U.S, Canadian, and British academic law libraries, state and county law libraries, and the libraries of district and federal courts.
For FY 2013 LLMC reported operating revenues of $1.815 million and expenses of $1.867 million. The principal declared assets of the organization are its microform and digital masters produced since 1976.
Since 2010, LLMC has had a formal partnership with the Center for Research Libraries, governed by a cooperative agreement. The terms of that cooperative agreement include CRL provision of specified financial support for LLMC digitization on an annual basis, in return for access to the LLMC-Digital database for all CRL member libraries.
Governance: Board / Owners / Parent organization
LLMC is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors and an 18-member Advisory Council, elected directly by member libraries. The Board and Council members are drawn primarily from the academic and public law libraries community.
An executive director, also an ex-officio member of the Board, is the chief executive officer. Information on governance of LLMC is available on: http://www.llmc.com/about.aspx
Technical Information
Much of the content aggregated by LLMC is produced through high-speed scanning of materials by its preferred service partner, National Business Systems (NBS) in Eagan, Minnesota. (which shares an operations facility with LLMC). In addition, LLMC also places scanners on the premises of partner libraries to handle rare and fragile materials. Scanning collaborators include: Library of Congress, Center for Research Libraries, LA Law Library, Saint Louis Univ., George Washington Univ., Univ. of Florida Library, and the Univ. of Hawaii.
The main product of the consortium, the LLMC-Digital database, runs on a web-based content management system hosted by an independent commercial service provider (NBS)..
Access
The main point of access to LLMC content is through the LLMC-Digital database.
Legal Information
The organization is a non-profit corporation, and aggregates and publishes content that is in the public domain.