Library Services & Information for

Full-Time, Clinical, Visiting & Emeriti Faculty

Research Support	Classroom Support
Technology Support	Obtaining Materials
Law Library Collections

Research Support

Reference Services
You may direct your requests to the reference librarian on duty in the reference office by:

Phone: 625-4309

Email: law-ref@umn.edu

New! Live Chat Reference Service Hours of operation: Mon. – Fri. 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Faculty members are given the highest priority by the reference staff. We try to respond to faculty requests immediately. If lengthy research is required, you will be contacted promptly with an estimate on the amount of time this research will take.
The Law Library's reference staff includes five librarians who are available to assist you with your research needs. Feel free to contact any of these librarians directly by telephone or email if you would like the assistance of a specific person.

Vicente Garces 624-2597 garce003@umn.edu

Michael Hannon 625-0173 mhannon@umn.edu

George Jackson 625-5596 g-jack@umn.edu

Mary Rumsey 625-2905 rumse006@umn.edu

Suzanne Thorpe 625-0187 s-thor@umn.edu
LIBRA: Library Research Assistance
The LIBRA research service is available for additional research assistance. LIBRA requests are handled by law student research assistants under the direction of a reference librarian. The librarian develops research strategies and ensures that faculty requests are completed in an accurate and timely manner. LIBRA offers assistance with a wide range of research projects that can be completed over several days (e.g., literature searches, bibliographies, legislative histories, cite checks, database searches, statistical reports). To request this service contact Suzanne Thorpe (x5-0187, s-thor@umn.edu) or the Reference Office (x5-4309).
Research Guides
The Law Library's reference librarians have developed over 50 research guides that provide helpful tips for finding and using resources in campus libraries, in online databases, and on the web. They are available in the reference office and on the library home page. We would be happy to create additional guides on topics of interest to you.
Tutorials on Resources
The reference librarians are available to provide personalized instruction on the use of databases and other resources to faculty members. We can also arrange for a trainer from LexisNexis or Westlaw to meet with you. Feel free to request introductory overviews, refresher training, or more specialized training tailored to your immediate needs. This instruction can be arranged in your office at your convenience. To request this service, please contact Suzanne Thorpe.
RA Assistance and Training
The reference librarians are available to offer database training and research advice to faculty research assistants. Consulting with a librarian usually saves the RAs time and ensures that faculty members receive quality research results. To utilize this service, please refer your RA to a member of the reference staff or to the reference office to arrange a consultation. We also provide programs for faculty RAs during which we introduce library services and important research tools. Announcements of upcoming RA programs are sent to all faculty members.
Current Awareness Services
The Law Library can arrange for you to receive current awareness services that are tailored to your interests. Some of the more popular services of general interest are listed below. To identify the best means for you to keep current, please contact Suzanne Thorpe.
Law Library Selected Monthly Acquisitions List
This monthly list can also be sent to faculty members via email attachment or delivered in hard copy, by contacting the library's ASAP service at (625-9520 or x-asap@umn.edu).
Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP)
This weekly service indexes 500+ legal periodicals into over 100 subject headings. In addition to the subject index, it lists the table of contents for each new journal issue covered. Weekly issues archived back to 1999 may be browsed or downloaded (MS Word format).
SmartCILP
This weekly electronic service selectively lists articles indexed in Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) according to your subject interests. The Law Library will submit a profile for you listing the subject headings and/or the periodicals that you wish to track. Based on this profile, you will receive weekly email updates listing the new articles that are of interest to you. To request this service, please contact Suzanne Thorpe.

Legal Scholarship Network
This service offers separate electronic "journals" with abstracts of working papers and articles on various legal topics. The Law Library will assist you in becoming a subscriber to the journals in your areas of interest, after which you will receive new issues of the journals via email.

Berkeley Electronic Press Legal Repository
Bepress Legal Repository contains working papers and pre-prints from legal scholars and professionals articles from bepress' roster of peer-reviewed journals and legal dissertations. Sign up for an alert service at http://law.bepress.com/repository/search_by_subject.html.

InSITE
InSITE is a current awareness service provided by law librarians at Cornell Law Library. It features an annotated publication that highlights selected law-related Web sites. Law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. You can receive this publication for free via email (issued biweekly) by subscribing at the InSITE web site. The InSITE service also provides a keyword-searchable database of past issues.

BNA ALL - Email Alerts The library subscribes to the BNA All suite of databases. The suite includes over 100 BNA titles covering a wide range of law and policy areas. BNA All offers an E-mail Summaries service which allows you to sign-up to receive a brief summary of the articles in each new issue of the BNA publication(s) you select. Each article summary includes a link for direct and convenient access to the full article. Sign up for e-mail summaries of any BNA news service or any BNA reference library, or change your e-mail preferences. If you have any question or need assistance in accessing BNA All or receiving email summaries please contact the Reference Office, phone: 5-4309, email: law-ref@umn.edu.

Alert (LexisNexis)
The Alert feature allows you to track the development of issues by running predefined searches in LexisNexis databases on a schedule that you choose. Our reference librarians can help formulate and set up searches to run according to your needs and interests. Results can be delivered to you electronically or in hard copy.

Westclip (Westlaw)
Automatic searches of Westlaw databases can be set up to run according to your needs and interests. Results can be delivered to you electronically or in hard copy.

Assistance in Visiting Other Libraries
The Law Library participates in the Research Libraries Group Shares Program. This program entitles you to visit the collections and use the services of many other research libraries. Please contact Suzanne Thorpe to arrange access to libraries in the United States and overseas.

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Classroom Support

Placing Materials on Reserve
Several weeks before the beginning of each term, you will be asked to provide a list of the course materials that you would like to have placed on reserve. You may add materials to reserve at any time during the semester. The Law Library will try to obtain any materials not owned by the library through purchase or interlibrary loan. We will also include materials you own on reserve. If you would like to include photocopies, please provide the number of copies needed and secure copyright permission as necessary. Please send your list and materials 2 weeks before the reserve materials are needed to Daniel Matthews in the circulation department. For further information, please contact him at 625-5262 or email: matth036@umn.edu. Each term, the Law Library compiles an online course reserves list of your reserve materials. Consult the document, 10 Things to Know About Electronic Reserve for more information about placing materials, including sample exams, on electronic reserve. We will also make selected materials electronically available to students via the library home page. Due to space constraints and copyright issues, materials will be kept on reserve for the current term only and they will be returned to you at the end of the academic year.
Exam File
If you are currently teaching a course, you will receive a list of the old exams that you have previously given to the Law Library for this course. You will be asked to review these old exams and to sign the attached release forms for any of the exams that you would like to make available during the term. If you wish to provide us with an exam that we do not already have, please sign a release form and provide us with a paper copy of the exam. Model answers will also be made available when you provide them to the library. When we receive your signed releases, we will immediately make your exams/answers available to students via the library home page and/or in hard copy at the reserve desk (as you specify on the release forms). The Law Library maintains an online list of the exams and model answers currently available. Please email Daniel Matthews at matth036@umn.edu or call 625-5262 for assistance with exams.
Research Instruction - Presentations/Tours/Guides
At your request, the reference librarians can provide classroom presentations on research tools and techniques, tours, or customized research guides for your students. Please contact Suzanne Thorpe.
CALI Exercises
As a member of the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, the law school offers a complete set of the CALI exercises to supplement your classroom instruction. Further information on the exercises is available at the CALI Web site. Contact the library Reference Office (612-625-4309) for the faculty authorization code needed to register and access CALI materials from the CALI Web site.

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Technology Support

Technology support within law school is organized under four main divisions:

Law Information and Technology Services (LITS): responsible of law school network and computer hardware and software issues, including email and listserv issues.
Contact Information for LITS
- Web Site: https://inside.law.umn.edu/technology
- Help Desk: https://intranet.law.umn.edu/helpdesk/index.php
- Phone: (612) 625-0740
Educational Technology: assists faculty with all aspects of classroom and instructional technology issues, including equipment, training, course web sites (including TWEN), course listservs.
- Creating Course Web Sites, e.g. TWEN
  Many law school faculty members use The West Education Network (TWEN) to create Web sites for their courses. LexisNexis also offers a similar electronic courseware product, LexisNexis Web Courses. In addition, the University of Minnesota offers a course management software product called WebCT/Vista and the Education Technology staff can work with faculty to create their own password-free Web sites. For further information about setting up a course Web site, please contact Mike Hannon, Associate Director for Library and Educational Technology at 625-0173 or mhannon@umn.edu.
Contact Information for Education Technology
- Web Site: https://inside.law.umn.edu/technology
- Room & Technology Equipment Information and Reservations: https://inside.law.umn.edu/rooms/index.html
- Phone: (612) 625-6385
- Email: LawEdTec@umn.edu
Web Services: manages the law school web site, assists web page content managers within the law school in maintaining their web pages, manages the law school intranet and maintains selected law school email distribution lists.
Contact Information for Web Services
- Web Site: https://inside.law.umn.edu/web
- Email: law-webmaster@umn.edu
Law Student Computer Services: manages the law student laptop program including the laptop center.
Contact Information for Law Student Computer Services
- Lap Top Center location: Library Suite 260
- Web Site: https://inside.law.umn.edu/lscs
- Phone: 612-624-8702
- Email: lscs@umn.edu
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Obtaining Materials

Library Catalogs
If you would like to search for books, journals, and other resources that are available on campus, please consult MNCAT. If you do not find what you need on campus, searching WorldCat or another local law library may be helpful.
Periodical Indexes
If you would like to find articles published in legal periodicals, please consult LegalTrac, Index to Legal Periodicals, or Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. These electronic indexes cover articles published 1980 to date. To find articles published before 1980 use the Index to Legal Periodicals Retro which covers articles published between 1908 and 1981 or the Index to Legal Periodical Literature 1786-1922. Additional electronic indexes to journals, magazines, newspapers, dissertations and theses can be accessed from the web at the University Libraries Indexes & Databases web page.
ASAP Retrieval Service
The Law Library offers you an expedited document retrieval service called ASAP. The ASAP staff will retrieve materials from the Law Library and other libraries on campus and deliver them to your office (usually the same day requested). To request materials, please contact David Zopfi-Jordan at 625-1513 or Piper Walters at 625-9534 or send an email to: x-asap@umn.edu.
Interlibrary Loan
When materials that you request are not available on campus, you will be notified by the ASAP or reference staff. The library will request them from another library for you. You can request materials from other libraries by contacting David Zopfi-Jordan, email: x-asap@umn.edu or phone: 625-1513. It may take a few weeks for materials requested on interlibrary loan to arrive, so if you need them immediately, please let us know and we will try to obtain them on a RUSH basis.
Borrowing Privileges
The Law Library offers extended loan periods to law faculty members. For questions about borrowing, please contact Paula Seeger at 625-1547 or seege030@umn.edu. The University Libraries offer you more limited loan periods. If you borrow materials from other campus libraries, please be aware of the due dates on these materials. You may receive a bill for materials that are overdue or are not returned. Failure to respond can result in loss of your borrowing privileges.
Proxy Borrowing
If you would like your research assistants to borrow materials for your use, please complete a proxy card application (you can download an application or pick one up at the circulation desk). After you have returned the signed form, we will provide each research assistant with a proxy card to use. Materials borrowed with the proxy card will be in your name and you will be responsible for the late return or loss of these materials. For questions about proxy borrowing, please contact David Zopfi-Jordan at 625-1513 or x-asap@umn.edu.
Returns and Recalls
When you are finished using library materials, the ASAP staff can return them for you. If you receive a recall notice, please try to return the recalled materials as soon as possible as another person is waiting for them. It is very helpful to create a designated space in your office to leave materials for pick-up by the library.
Routing Service
The Law Library will route current issues of periodicals and other serials to your office. To add your name to the routing list for a specific title, please contact David Zopfi-Jordan at 625-1513 or x-asap@tc.umn.edu.
Library Purchase Recommendations
If you would like to recommend materials for the Law Library to acquire and add to the collection, contact Connie Lenz, Associate Director for Collection Development at 625-4301 or lenzx009@umn.edu.
Personal Purchase Assistance
The Law Library can also purchase personal copies of materials for you and charge them to your faculty funds. We will place your orders and deliver the materials to you. Please contact Ingrid Miza at 626-1607 or i-miza@umn.edu for this service.

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Collections

Collection Overview
The library is nationally recognized for its outstanding collections consisting of more than one million volumes. These collections support in-depth scholarly research in most fields of Anglo-American law and include extensive sections devoted to foreign (especially Western European), comparative, and international law (particularly in the areas of international trade and human rights). If you have any questions regarding our collections or would like to suggest that we acquire a specific book or periodical, please contact Connie Lenz, Associate Director for Collection Development at 625-4301 or lenzx009@umn.edu. The Law Library's rare book collection is one of the finest in the country. Questions regarding our rare book collection may be directed to Katherine Hedin, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at 625-7323 or k-hedi@umn.edu. With some exceptions, (e.g., periodicals), most collections are arranged according to the following Library of Congress classification scheme.
Floor location guides to these classes are available throughout the library. Class K for law is subdivided by jurisdiction. U.S. federal law is found in subclass KF; U.S. state law is found in KFA-KFZ (e.g., KFM for Minnesota). Each topic within a jurisdiction is represented by a number. Some of the more common categories of federal law and their corresponding classification numbers are posted throughout the library. For more specific subjects or particular titles, check MNCAT or ask a reference librarian for assistance. A guide to frequently requested materials is available to assist you in finding library materials. Below are descriptions of the collections on each floor.
Collection Locations
- First Floor Collections
  The first floor houses current statutes, regulations, and cases from all U.S. jurisdictions. It also contains collections of looseleaf services and treatises covering American law, periodicals, and microform materials.
- Second Floor Collections
  The second floor houses collections of state, federal, and U.N. documents, treatises covering philosophy, religion, history, and social science topics, and duplicate case digests and reporters.
- Third Floor Collections
  The Faculty Library located on the third floor of the library, contains selected periodicals. The third floor also houses non-current state and federal statutes, U.N. documents, treaties, works on international and comparative law, human rights, and the law of the United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies.
- Fourth Floor Collections
  The fourth floor houses primary and secondary works on the law of foreign jurisdictions not found on the third floor and treatises covering education, science, medicine, and technology, and duplicate case digests and reporters and periodicals.
- Rare Book Collection
  The Law Library's rare book collection is located in the Riesenfeld Rare Book Center on the subplaza of the new addition. It contains several thousand volumes of early English and American statutes, reports, and treatises. For assistance in using the rare books collection, please contact Katherine Hedin, Rare Books and Special Collections Curator, (k-hedi@umn.edu, 625-7323).
- Faculty Archive
  The Law Library maintains a collection of faculty writings located in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center. Recent faculty publications are displayed in the main lobby of the Law School. You are encouraged to donate copies of your publications for cataloging and preservation by the library. Please contact Connie Lenz (lenzx009@umn.edu, 625-4301) for more information on donating items for the display cases and the faculty archive.
Electronic Collection
The Law Library collection of electronic resources includes a number of abstracting and indexing services as well as full text databases. A collection of CD-ROM titles and workstation for viewing them are available in the Reference Office. This collection is supported in part by the generous donation of law school alumunus, James Levee.
Basement Storage Collection
The storage area in the basement houses older treatises, superseded volumes of looseleaf services, federal court briefs, and materials from India and Pakistan. Please contact the ASAP staff (x-asap@umn.edu, 625-9520) to have any materials housed in the basement retrieved for you.
Donations
The Law Library welcomes donations from faculty members. If you wish to donate materials, please contact the ASAP staff (x-asap@umn.edu, 625-9520) to arrange for pick up. We will supply a letter of acknowledgment for donated materials.
Library Purchase Requests
If you would like to recommend materials for the Law Library to acquire and add to the collection, contact Connie Lenz, Associate Director of Collection Development at 625-4301 or lexzx009@umn.edu.
Personal Purchase Assistance
The Law Library can also purchase personal copies of materials for you and charge them to your faculty funds. We will place your orders and deliver the materials to you. Please contact Ingrid Miza at 626-1607 or i-miza@umn.edu for this service.

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