The Law Library catalog is fully integrated with University Libraries. All Law Library materials may be searched using the CAT, the online catalog.
Collection Development – Hein GreenSlip Service
The H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library maintains a subscription to Hein’s Electronic GreenSlip Service. This is a weekly list of bibliographic information for new, legal and law-related publications, arranged by subject. A weekly e-mail is sent to all law school and School of International Affairs faculty members with the bibliographic information. If you would like to request or recommend a title for the law library to acquire, just reply to the e-mail with the list you would like to request or recommend. If you have any questions about this service, please contact the Rebecca Mattson, Scholarly Communications and Faculty Services Librarina.
Physical Course Reserve - To place a physical item, such as a book, on reserve at the law library circulation desk, contact Alison Ruckert, Information Services Supervisor, at either location. (Articles and other easily scanned items will be placed on E-Reserve (electronic reserve).
Electronic Reserve (E-Reserve) – To make readings available online, place a request for an electronic reserve at https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/secure/forms/reservesforms/eres.html E-Reserve material may be accessed through the online library catalog or linked to your course Angel page.
The law library offers several ways for faculty members to remain up to date on current developments in their area of expertise. These include e-mail alerts from vendors such as BNA, CCH and others. The law library also subscribes to the Social Science Electronic Publishing (SSRN). This is comprised of nine legal research networks. Another resource is Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP), which is a current awareness tool utilized by the law library. This tool indexes over 500 legal publications, organized by subject headings. Along with CILP, the law library has purchased the SmartCILP service for the law school faculty. SmartCILP offers legal researchers automated, personalized e-mail delivery of CILP indexes delivered weekly. SmartCILP profiles can be changed weekly in order to meet your changing research needs. All of these services can be found on the law library’s home page.
The E-Journal Portal is a direct link to electronic journals available through the libraries. A link to the E-Journal portal can be found on the Law Library research page. Search for the journal title. If the journal is available through the libraries, a list of links will be provided to the various databases where the journal can be accessed.
Members of the law school faculty, in addition to a personal library account, have a “Faculty Office Account” and are permitted to check out law school owned materials to their office account. University Libraries owned materials may only be checked out to a personal account. Office checkouts do not have a due date, but are periodically inventoried by the law library. The office checkout allows faculty members to use materials owned by the law library on an on-going basis without having to renew the materials or to have the materials recalled for use by other library patrons. Faculty members can request items for purchase that may then be placed on office checkout. See Faculty Purchase Requests for more information.
The law library maintains displays of faculty publications. Law school and School of International Affairs faculty are strongly encouraged to submit copies of their publications, both books and articles, for display. Because of space requirements, older material may be removed from the display periodically and returned to the faculty member. Contact Rebecca Mattson, Scholarly Communications and Faculty Services Librarian for additional information.
The law library offers a streamlined method for faculty members to order library materials. If there is a title that you would like for your office or if you have a recommendation for the law library’s collection, please feel free to contact Jonathan Wallace, Library Acquisitions Assistant.
If you have a request or a question and are unsure which department or person to contact, send your request to library@pennstatelaw.psu.edu and we will forward your request to the appropriate person.
Fines and charges may be assessed for lost books, failure to return recalled materials, or overdue fines on certain materials. Members of the law school faculty are not subject to payroll wage garnishment for payment of fines and charges assessed by University Libraries. Borrowing privileges may be suspended until payment of charges is made through alternate means. Law school faculty members should make every effort to avoid fines and charges. In the event fines and charges are assessed, Alison Ruckert, Information Services Supervisor, should be notified for assistance with payment and resolution.
Provides the full text of over 200 legal journals from their inception; includes databases for U.S. agency, Congressional, Presidential, Supreme Court and foreign relations documents, reports and texts. Hein Online also contains a foreign and international law resource database along with a historical collection of famous and important trials. The collections may be browsed or searched.
“I Want It” is a feature of the CAT. Materials from any Penn State library location may be requested by clicking the “I Want It” button in the right column when the item desired is displayed. The pick-up location, any Penn State library, can be selected at the time the hold is placed.
Illiad is the name of the interlibrary loan system used by the Penn State University Libraries. This system allows faculty and students to request items (books, articles, DVDs, etc) from libraries outside of the Penn State network. This system is also used to request a document, such as a copy of an article, from another Penn State library. To request an item log onto your Illiad account at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/ill.html using your PSU credentials or contact Alison Ruckert, Information Services Supervisor.
Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law Access
All full-time faculty members will be assigned Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law passwords. Certain restrictions apply to faculty who are not full-time. The Law School cannot provide access to Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law to those individuals who are not affiliated with the Law School. Any questions should be addressed to Theresa Tarves, Emerging Technology and Digital Research Librarian.
The Library Proxy Service, allows a faculty member to authorize their research assistants to check out or place holds on library materials directly to the faculty member’s library account. In order to be authorized to use the service, the library requires both the faculty member and research assistant to sign an agreement form. The service must be renewed on a yearly basis. The forms can be obtained from Alison Ruckert, Information Services Supervisor.
This service only applies to items owned by the Penn State libraries. Inter-library loan materials must be requested by either the faculty member or the Access Services team; these items are non-transferable.
“My Library Account” is a feature of the online catalog that allows a user to view the status of materials that have been requested through the CAT, checked out, or recalled.
New books are displayed near the circulation desk of the law library. New books are marked with a month sticker on the spine to indicate when the book was placed on the shelf. Knowing when the books were added allows you to browse only the selections that you have not previously reviewed. You should check the shelves any time you are in the library as books are added and removed frequently. New books may be checked out for the normal loan period, through the end of the current semester.
The library maintains print subscriptions to various periodicals. If you would like to review library-owned periodicals on an ongoing basis, contact the Law Library Staff at library@pennstatelaw.psu.edu. You will be added to the routing list of the publication which will be sent to your office via interoffice mail. Many faculty members may be on the same routing list. When you are finished reading the material, check off your name and place the item in interoffice mail to be delivered to the next person on the list. After all names have been checked off, the item will be returned to the library via inter-office mail.
University Libraries Borrowing Privileges
Faculty may borrow books and other library material from any University Libraries location. You must have your university ID in order to check out material. As a borrower, you are also responsible for all materials charged to your account. See http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/lending/borrowingprivileges.html for more information