THE LAW LIBRARY

Because legal research and writing is a “hands on” experience, students spend a good deal of time working on written assignments at a law library for most research and writing classes. The assistance and support of the law library is critical to the success of any legal research and writing course.

Law Library Tour

Most students benefit from a brief tour of or orientation to the law library before assignments begin in earnest. Ask the law librarian at the law library that most students will be using if tours are given. If the law library itself does not offer tours, ask if you can conduct one for your students. Most law libraries are quite accommodating and are happy to provide or allow tours so long as the group is not so large as to be a distraction to those using the law library to work and study.

You may be able to schedule a law library orientation on the Saturday before classes begin. The law library is usually quiet at that time, allowing for a leisurely pace and a thorough question period. The only disadvantage to giving the tour before classes begin is that announcements such as “these are the Decennial Digests,” or “West’s Southeastern Reporter is located here” are largely meaningless to new students. On the other hand, simply gaining familiarity with the law library, its reserve room, reference area, and printers is useful.

Alternatively, you may wish to wait until after the first few class sessions for the orientation. By this time, students may have done a bit of exploring in connection with other classes and may be a bit more familiar with the sets of books they will be shown.

If a law library tour is not practical or is not permitted, try to obtain pamphlets from the law library regarding its collection, policies, and hours. Many pamphlets include diagrams or floor plans of the library, which will be useful in pointing out the location of the various materials and sources. If a pamphlet is not available, consider preparing a one-page diagram of the law library layout and include the hours and telephone number of the library.

Most law libraries now offer detailed floor plans and virtual tours of their collections and layouts on their websites. If your law library offers one of these virtual tours, require your students to take the tour and perhaps answer a question or two about its arrangement and collections (for example, you could require students to identify where the Pacific Reporter or Black’s Law Dictionary are located). The online card catalog may usually be accessed by students from home, allowing them to plan their research strategies before leaving home.

Some law libraries have meeting rooms or conference rooms, and students may be able to use these rooms to meet and confer on projects or assignments.

Ask the law librarian if you can have copies of books being discarded so you can bring them to class and show students what books such as U.S.C.A. or Am. Jur. 2d look like.

Working with Law Librarians

Most law librarians will appreciate being informed of the activities of your class. Consider providing a copy of your course syllabus and assignments to a reference librarian so he or she will be able to anticipate what books or tools the class will be using. Some law libraries will designate an individual to serve as a contact for your students, and this contact person will be primarily responsible for responding to questions and concerns.

Stay in touch with the law library. Some law school libraries arrange their hours and schedules around the activities of the law students, and as soon as final exams are over, will shift to a reduced schedule, often with little advance notice.

On occasion, a student may become overly reliant on a law librarian and may ask for help before fully exploring all of the options available to locate an answer. Although law librarians are very helpful, it can be frustrating for them to be asked for help before a student has made a diligent effort to solve a problem. Encourage students to seek help when it is needed, but remind them that once “on the job,” they may not have any help available and thus they should learn as soon as possible to work on research tasks independently. You may wish to try to be at the law library to be of assistance a few times each semester so students can call on you for help, particularly for difficult assignments.

Some law libraries have meeting or conference rooms, and you may be able to hold class on occasion at the law library. This is useful for demonstrating how to use certain books, such as digests and looseleaf services.

Other Law Libraries

If several law libraries are available in your area, obtain their hours and telephone numbers so students may attempt to research in other, perhaps more convenient, locations. Because it is difficult to know exactly which sets of books are available in several law libraries, I have usually announced that I prepared the assignments at “X” library so I know all answers can be obtained there. I then encourage students to “scout out” other law libraries if they wish but state that I cannot guarantee they will be able to obtain all answers to all assignments anywhere other than at “X.” Several times during the course of the semester I ask students which law libraries they are using and ask them for their opinions as to layout, book availability, and assistance at these other law libraries. Over the course of a semester or two, you can get a fairly good idea of which other law libraries in the area maintain the books your students will need for their assignments and projects.