Research in our collections

 The research of documents available in our library can be made by way of our catalogue (swisscovery)

Research in jusbib

To extend your research to other networks of Swiss libraries, you can use jusbib, which brings together the bibliographical references of the Swiss legal libraries. This tool contains only the references to documents possessed by libraries and does not provide access to the electronic resources subscribed to by a particular institution.  

Legal classification of French-speaking Switzerland

The documents of the collection of our library are not indexed, but are categorised according to the legal classification of French-speaking Switzerland. Containing a combination of letters and of figures, this classification system designed to describe the subject material of the document. It is possible to search according to classification in the Explore tool. The systematic plan, available in four languages, describes how this classification system works. The genesis of the system of classification currently in use by the SICL Library is retraced in the article by Jan Stepan, a former deputy director and librarian at the Swiss Institute of comparative law at the time.

SICL Library's classification system

List of abbreviations for countries used by the SICL Library (French)

Classification plan for law libraries of the French-speaking part of Switzerland (French)

Member of the ABJS

The SICL library is a member of the Association des bibliothèques juridiques suisses (Association of Swiss Law Libraries) (ABJS). The ABJS supports the collaboration and exchanges between law libraries and documentation centres in Switzerland and fosters cooperation at the national and international level. One of its activities is the development and provision of Codexplo, a tool which in just a few clicks of the mouse, allows you to identify which volumes of the big commentaries offer commentary on a given article of the Civil Code/Code of Obligations and where to locate them in the different Swiss library networks.