If you have questions about law library services, please contact the Law Library Administration office at (405) 325-4311.

Services for Students

Information on collections, services, facilities, and technology for students.

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

 

Services for Faculty

The Law Library is committed to supporting faculty research and supporting the curriculum.  Through a combination of collection development, interlibrary loan requests, and faculty acquisitions requests, the Law Library strives to maintain a collection which supports the faculty's research needs.

All faculty are welcome to submit requests for books, articles, and other research materials to the Law Library through one of the mechanisms listed below. If the Law Library currently has the item in stock, it will typically be delivered by the Circulation Desk staff to the faculty member's mailbox or office within 24 hours. If the Library does not have the item in stock, we will generally either purchase the item or attempt to interlibrary loan it. Faculty may also specifically request that an item be purchased and added to the collection. All faculty requests for purchases will be processed with the goal of delivering the item to the faculty member within one week.

Acquisition Requests

Document Delivery and InterLibrary Loan Requests

Research Assistance

Borrowing Privileges

  • The loan period for faculty is one year. Some items from the Reserve Collection and the Video Collection have shorter loan periods.

Bizzell Library Books

  • The Law Library is happy to retrieve books from or return books to Bizzell Library. Simply bring your books to the Circulation Desk. If you are bringing the books in person, let the attendant know that some or all of the books are from Bizzell Library. If you would like the Law Library to retrieve a book from Bizzell Library, please send email to Law-LibraryCirculation@ou.edu.

Faculty Research Support: The Law Library is happy to assist faculty with research projects and with locating research materials and sources. This service is not limited to the retrieval of documents by citation. We are happy to 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 between 8 AM and 5 PM, Monday-Friday or 8 AM - 4 PM on Saturday.

RA Training and Support: The Law Library is happy to meet with your research assistant to plan a strategy for locating information relating to your research projects.   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 Darin Fox at 325-6540 or darinfox@ou.edu.

Faculty may place materials on reserve in the Law Library by contacting Lisa Bowles, Circulation Librarian, 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, BNA, CCH, RIA, and other databases. If you would like to schedule a training session, please send 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 the Law Library for assistance. Joel Wegemer, Associate Director and Darin Fox, Director of the Law Library, can assist you.

Guest Lectures: The Law Librarians are happy to provide customized guest 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. The librarians will appreciate as much advance notice as you can provide.

Video Collection: The Law Library has a growing collection of videos (Blueray and DVD) for use in the classroom. Please search the OU Library catalog for titles. A libguide of our collection is forthcoming. If you don't find what you need in the catalog, you may ask the Law Library to purchase a video here.

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
Web: https://jay.law.ou.edu/intranet/fs/library/request.cfm?type=Book
Phone: (405) 325-5493

Acquisitions

Email: Law-LibraryAcquisitions@ou.edu
Web: https://jay.law.ou.edu/intranet/fs/library/acquisition_request.cfm
Phone: (405) 325-4311, press option 4
 
Administration

Darin Fox, Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library: darinfox@ou.edu
Joel Wegemer, Deputy Director of the Law Library: jwegemer@ou.edu
Elaine Bradshaw, Senior Law Librarian for Metadata and Digital Projects, ebradshaw@ou.edu
Phone: 325-4311, press option 4