This brief note describes the procedures followed and the results obtained through updating the FLAG (Foreign Law Guide) database (http://ials.sas.ac.uk/flag.htm), which took place over summer 2004. The results indicate generally a decline in the acquisition of new primary legal material in traditional paper format, within the foreign, international and comparative law collections of UK universities, national libraries and other major law libraries. From a small number of observations and comments noted by contributors to the survey, there appear to be three reasons for this. First, the availability of an increasing number of materials on the internet (a few titles are now no longer published in paper format). Second, difficulties in regularly acquiring material from some countries where publishing and distribution of publications are intermittent or severely delayed and, third, the cancellation of subscriptions due to budget cuts and a reappraisal of the value to the individual institution of maintaining particular collections.

Compiled by Katherine Read and Sam Weston-Smith at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies