Services for Students & Faculty

The University of Oklahoma Law Library serves both the university community and the citizens of Oklahoma. Persons with proper identification may check out materials at the circulation desk. Registration at the circulation desk is required of all patrons to check out materials. OU faculty, students and staff must show their registered university ID card. Members of the general public who are at least 18 years of age must show their Oklahoma driver's license with a current address and photograph. The ID card will be held while reserve materials are in use. A military ID will be accepted. Proxy privileges may be extended by Law faculty to research assistant.

Loan Periods

• Undergraduates/Graduates/Honors - 60 days, 2 renewals

• Staff - 30 days, 5 renewals

• Faculty - 1 year, 1 renewal

• Public Patrons - 30 days, 2 renewals

Reserve items have a limited circulation as defined in the section about the reserve collection. Reserve items must be returned to the circulation desk. Non-reserve items may be returned either to the circulation desk, the outside book drop on the south side of the building or at the main campus library. We will renew 30-day materials by phone for a total of two renewal periods. Patrons may also renew their own books through the library's online catalog.

• Undergraduates/Graduates/Honors - 60 days, 2 renewals

• Staff - 30 days, 5 renewals

• Faculty - 1 year, 1 renewal

• Public Patrons - 30 days, 2 renewals

Reserve items have a limited circulation as defined in the section about the reserve collection. Reserve items must be returned to the circulation desk. Non-reserve items may be returned either to the circulation desk, the outside book drop on the south side of the building or at the main campus library. We will renew 30-day materials by phone for a total of two renewal periods. Patrons may also renew their own books through the library's online catalog.

The reserve collection consists of course materials that professors have put on reserve (i.e., tests, books, photocopies and journals) and items in high demand such as Siegel's, Q&A, and Examples and Explanations . 

Reserve items may be checked-out for four hours. Reserve files and red-stickered reserve books may not leave the library. Yellow-stickered reserve books may be taken out of the library and can be used overnight if checked out within four hours of closing. They are due back one hour after the library opens the following day. No more than three reserve items may be checked out at one time. Please feel free to ask a library staff member for assistance in locating these materials. 

The Law Library provides access to a wide variety of online study aids for student use at no charge.   West Academic study aids, including Nutshells, Hornbooks, Law Stories, etc. are available on lawschool.westlaw.com.  Wolters Kluwer Online Study Aid Library is located at ebooks.aspenlaw.com/librarycard/login. For more information, please see a reference librarian at Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu, 325-5268 or the Reference Desk.

Interlibrary Loan Services, available only to currently enrolled OU law students, faculty and staff, are for materials not in the collection of the Law Library or other libraries on campus. We can usually borrow materials from other libraries free of charge, but occasionally there may be a charge imposed by the lending library. The amount of time it takes to receive a book borrowed from another library varies, but it usually takes from two to four weeks. Request forms for interlibrary loans are available at the circulation counter and must be made in person.

Please contact the staff at the circulation counter for assistance in locating a book not found on the shelf. It may be on reserve, checked-out, or misshelved. Please give the attendant the call number of the item you can't find. The circulation counter attendant can put a hold on an item that has been checked-out. If an item is not checked-out, please complete a search form. You will be notified when the item is found.

Please check at both the circulation counter and student services if you misplace anything. All other items are kept at the Circulation Desk until the end of the day and then transferred to the Office of Student Engagement.

Photocopiers with scanning and emailing features are provided by the Law Library.   Photocopiers are located near the Circulation Desk, on the east side of the main floor, and on the west side of the third floor.

Law students may send faxes of up to 10 pages including a cover sheet within the United States at no charge.  Please see the Circulation Desk for assistance. 

Select past exams are located on the OU Law Courtyard.  Please check with your individual professors for additional information.

The Rare Book Room is not open to the public because of the fragile nature of many of the items housed there. Materials in the Rare Book Room can be used only on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. When the Online Public Access Catalog indicates that an item is located in the Rare Book Room, please place a request to use it at the information desk or the circulation counter. Give the call number of the work you want to see and a librarian will retrieve it for you at an arranged time. You must use the rare book in the administrative office in the Law Library.

The Law Library is a Federal Depository Library.  The library provides free access to select U.S. Government documents and publications.

Federal Depository Library Program

Faculty Research Support: The Law Library assists faculty with research projects.  These reference and research services are conducted either by the law librarians or library research assistants.  This service is not limited to the retrieval of documents by citation. We can consult with you on your research project, plan an approach, and locate relevant materials. To submit a research request to the reference librarians, please send an email to Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu, call us at 325-5268, or visit the Law Library Reference Desk.

RA Training and Support: If faculty have their own RAs, the law library can assist them in conducting their research, introduce them to resources, and provide research instruction to them.  Upon request, the Library will act as an advisor and primary point of contact to RAs who are working on research projects for faculty.

The Law Library offers several services designed to provide you with current awareness information on topics relating to your research and teaching areas.

• BNA Publications - the Law Library subscribes to the online versions of several BNA publications. The "Highlights" sections of these publications may be sent to you automatically via email. The email version of BNA Highlights include short summaries of recent cases with links to more complete news stories. This service is available for U.S. Law Week, Criminal Law Reporter, Family Law Reporter, Labor and Employment Law Reporter, International Trade Reporter, Securities Regulation Law Reporter, Corporate Counsel Weekly, and Antitrust and Trade Regulation Reports.
• Lexis Eclipse and Westlaw Westclip - the Law Library can assist you with creating customized searches in Lexis and Westlaw databases which run automatically every day. Results may be sent to your email account or printed.
• SmartCILP - SmartCILP is a personalized periodical awareness tool for legal researchers. After setting up a SmartCILP profile, subscribers receive an e-mail message each week that identifies journal articles which match their profile. The service focuses only on the subject headings and journals that the faculty member selects.
• New Books and Databases List - The campus-wide library system has recently switched to a new Library Services Platform, and the Law Library is working on a notification system using this new technology.  Older versions of the New Books and Databases List can be obtained by contacting Elaine Bradshaw at 325-4679 or ebradshaw@ou.edu.
• Print Journal Routing - the Law Library maintains a collection of hundreds of printed legal journals and law reviews. These journals can be routed to you as they arrive. To be added to the routing list of any journal, just send email toLaw-LibraryAcquisitions@ou.edu.
• SSRN and Bepress - the Law Library subscribes to both of these resources which make available faculty working paper series from dozens of law schools. Faculty can setup profiles on these web sites which will keep you informed about new papers which have been published in your areas of interest. If you are interested in setting up an author page on SSRN (www.ssrn.com) or BePress (www.bepress.com), please contact Robert Linz at 405-325-7673, or robert.linz@ou.edu.

Faculty may place materials on reserve in the Law Library by contacting Anna Dobbins or any member of the Circulation Desk staff. Reserve items may come from the Law Library collection or from the faculty member's personal collection. All reserve items will be placed in the Law Library Reserve Room behind the Circulation Desk. These items will circulate for 4 hours only, and they may not leave the Law Library. If the Law Library does not have an item that needs to be placed on reserve, faculty may request that the Law Library purchase the item using the Acquisitions mechanism mentioned above.

Online Research Training: In this era of "information overload," it is easy to miss the announcement of new research sources. New databases are constantly being created. The Law Library is happy to provide one-on-one instruction on any online databases that are available to law school faculty, including Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline, ProQuest, and other databases. If you would like to schedule a training session, please send an email to Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu.

LexisNexis/Westlaw Passwords and Training: If you need a LexisNexis or Westlaw password of if you have any difficulty with your password, feel free to contact Jacob Black for assistance. 

Guest Lectures: The Law Librarians will provide customized research lectures for your substantive law classes. This can be particularly useful just before assigning a major research assignment, such as a paper or class presentation. The Law Librarians will prepare a lecture (typically with a hands-on component) to familiarize your students with the major research sources in a particular area. We can work with you to develop assignments related to this instruction. To schedule a guest lecture, please send email to Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu or contact Robert Linz. 

Video Collection: The Law Library still maintains a collection of videos (Blueray and DVD) for use in the classroom. Please search the OU Library catalog for titles or contact the library for assistance.

Courtroom View Network - a library of actual courtroom footages arranged into specific stages of a trials. Allows faculty and students to easily view samples of opening statements, closing statements, presentation of evidence, use of technology in the courtroom and much more.

Reference Desk

Email: Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu
Phone: (405) 325-5268
 
Circulation Desk (Document Delivery / Interlibrary Loan)

Email: Law-LibraryCirculation@ou.edu
Phone: (405) 325-5493

Acquisitions

Email: Law-LibraryAcquisitions@ou.edu
Phone: (405) 325-4311, press option 4