Services
Ask a Librarian / Research Assistance
The Reference Team at Washington and Lee consists of law librarians who assist faculty, administrators, staff, students, and other patrons with their research needs. The Reference Team may not provide legal advice or services. For more information, please email us at LawRef@wlu.edu.
The Lewis F. Powell Jr. Archives contain the papers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. and other primary sources of legal history; Rare Book Collection; W&L Law faculty publications; law school administrative records; teaching and examination materials; moot court materials; law school publications of record; and student organization records. For more information, or to request assistance with archival materials, please contact the Archives at Powell@wlu.edu or visit the Archives on Level 1.
Research and Instructional Services for Faculty
The Reference Team assists faculty members in identifying and locating resources to support academic and scholarly interests, creating topic specific bibliographies, and providing assistance and instruction for faculty research assistants. Law librarians are also available to provide class instruction, guest lectures, or online assistance with research techniques and resources, database introduction and exploration, topical research guides in print or online, and library tours.
The Andrew W. McThenia Faculty Research Assistants, a pool of second- and third-year law students selected and overseen by a law librarian, provide curated research support for the scholarly activities of the W&L Law faculty and administration. The McThenia RAs assist with faculty projects of varying scope and duration.
The Law Library also employs a second- or third-year student as a Library Research Assistant, who is available to assist faculty, librarians, and staff with a range of non-scholarly research tasks and administrative projects.
For more information or assistance with any of your research or instructional needs, please contact Kerry Shibib at KShibib@wlu.edu.
Research Assistance for Law Students
The Reference Team assists law students in planning their research strategy, identifying relevant resources for their research endeavors, and locating materials for their academic studies. For assistance, please email us at LawRef@wlu.edu.
Current Awareness and Alert Services
To receive a customized current awareness newsletter or to set up alerts from Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis, Westlaw, Scholarly Commons, or SSRN, please contact Andrew Christensen at ChristensenA@wlu.edu.
Publishing Resources for Authors
The W&L Law Journal Rankings are a nationally recognized resource for authors looking to publish in law-focused scholarly periodicals. The tool allows authors to evaluate hundreds of law journals based on citation data. Users may rank journals in groups by subject matter and other characteristics to identify suitable publications for their submissions. It also serves as a directory of active law journals and provides links to their websites and submission policies. For more information regarding the Law Journal Rankings Project, please contact Andrew Christensen at ChristensenA@wlu.edu.
Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN): Faculty who wish to include their working papers on SSRN may contact Andrew Christensen at ChristensenA@wlu.edu for assistance posting, managing, and disseminating their work through the W&L Law Research Paper Series and accompanying eJournal subscription.
Library Spaces
While studying in the Law Library, please be respectful of your other users. Limit conversations and use headphones when listening to audio. The Law Library provides complimentary ear plugs for those seeking quieter study at the Circulation Desk on the third floor.
Food and drink are permitted in the Law Library. Please use beverage containers that can be closed. Alcoholic beverages are only permitted at law school events held in the Law Library. The Law Library is a non-smoking, non-vaping area.
Carrels and Lockers
All first-year law students receive an assigned carrel for use during the fall and spring semesters. Please refer to your carrel contract for relevant policies.
Recent W&L Law graduates may request a carrel for use during bar study. Carrels are generally available to recent graduates between June 1 and August 1.
Lockers are available for second- and third-year law students through a lottery system available at the beginning of the fall semester. Locker lottery winners may keep their locker through graduation. Once a student graduates, lockers must be emptied no later than August 1. Any items remaining after this date will be donated.
Please direct all locker and carrel inquiries to the Law Library Administration in room 324.
Computer Work Stations
The Law Library has six computer work stations near the third floor entrance. The Reserve Room has three computer work stations. The loft, where the chessboard is located, has two work stations. There are two additional work stations in the Moot Court Alcove off the Moot Court Lobby. Additionally, each of the study rooms (304-309) has a large screen on the wall that you can access with your laptop for a mirrored desktop or an extended desktop.
Course Reserves
The Law Library provides Course Reserves as a service for teaching faculty each semester. Professors may choose to put copies of their required texts, supplemental readings, or study aids on Course Reserve as a shared resource for students to check out for up to two hours at a time.
Items may include materials from the Library's collection, or a professor's personal copies that will be returned at the end of the semester. Course Reserves are kept just inside the door of the Reserve Room on the third floor of the Law Library, in containers labeled with the professor's name and course. Course Reserve materials are also listed in the Library Catalog, where they can be searched by course name or number, instructor, title, or author.
To place items on Course Reserve, or to review the policies and procedures, please contact Milea Webb at MWebb@wlu.edu.
Interlibrary Loans (ILL) and Document Delivery
For inquiries relating to Interlibrary Loans (ILL), or to renew a previously requested item, please contact the ILL department at interlibrarylaw@wlu.edu. For new ILL requests, please complete the ILL Form.
The Law Library offers delivery of books and other items (Document Delivery) from the Law Library, Leyburn Library, and the Science Library to law faculty and staff only. To request materials from one of these libraries, please contact Milea Webb at MWebb@wlu.edu.
Notary Public
Notary public services are available in the Law Library for members of the W&L community at no charge between 9:00am and 3:00pm, Monday through Friday. Please visit the Circulation Desk for notary services, or email Andrew Christensen at ChristensenA@wlu.edu to make an appointment or for additional information.
Past Exams
A selection of past exams for W&L Law courses is available online. (WLU credentials are required for access.) Please note that this collection is not comprehensive, and exams are only added to this collection at the request of the professor who wrote them. Students wishing to see an exam not currently online should contact the author of the exam they seek. Professors wishing to add their past exams to the online collection should contact Kerry Shibib at KShibib@wlu.edu.
Archival paper copies of some past exams are held by the Powell Archives. Contact the Archives at Powell@wlu.edu or visit the Archives on Level 1 to view these exams. Please note that access to exams of current faculty members is allowed only with the permission of the professor who wrote the exam.
Renew a Book
Materials may be renewed by accessing your Library Record online or by contacting Milea Webb at MWebb@wlu.edu. Renewals are subject to requests for the materials from another patron and the existence of overdue items. For more information regarding lending periods, please visit the Lending Policies.
Reserve a Study Room
The Law Library has five study rooms on level 3 that accommodate up to two people: Rooms 305, 306, 307, 308, and 309. Additionally, Room 304 may accommodate up to eight people, observing respectful noise levels.
To reserve a study room, please visit W&L's 25Live Reservation System or scan the QR code on the study room's door. (WLU log-in credentials are required.) Reservations are permitted for a maximum of four hours per person per day, across all six study rooms.
During Reading Days and Exam Periods, use of Law Library study rooms is limited to law students. Students may not take exams in a study room.
During the times when Law School courses are not in session (i.e., winter holiday break or summer months), study rooms 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, and 309 may be used in a "first come, first served" basis; reservations via 25Live will not be necessary.
Self-Checkout with Meescan
Use the W&L Meescan mobile app to check out an item anytime, anyplace in the Law Library using your phone. Download the app from Apple App Store for iPhone or Google Play for Android, or scan the QR code posted throughout the Library. Patrons may also use the self-service Meescan station at the Circulation Desk at any time to check out materials, which does not require the mobile app.