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Law Library Policies

Circulation Policies | Interlibrary Loan Policies | Carrel Policies

Circulation Policies

Anyone with a library card from the Law Library may check out any book that circulates. However, the majority of the collection is non-circulating.

Borrower's cards are available during most library service hours to all SIU students, SIU faculty, and Illinois residents. Please have a picture ID such as a student ID card, faculty ID card, Illinois driver's license or Illinois state ID card when applying for a borrower's card.

Borrowing privileges will be blocked for non-return of materials, or for excessive late returns of materials. Details on the latter are available at the Law Library.

Photocopies may be made of any Law Library materials except for some books too fragile for such handling. Please ask for assistance at the Circulation Desk if you have not made copies in our library before.

For further information contact the Law Library Circulation Desk at (618) 453-8796.

Interlibrary Loan Policies

The Law Library will try to borrow law-related materials from other sources for law students and law faculty only.

Allow several weeks for the materials to arrive by mail. To request an item, please fill out the goldenrod ILL form available in the Law Library, using whichever side is appropriate (requesting a photocopy from a book or the entire book), and turn it in to the Circulation Desk. You will be notified when the material arrives or if we cannot obtain it for you.

GIVE THE INFORMATION EXACTLY AS YOU FIND IT in whatever source you use, without trying to figure out what the abbreviations might mean. PLEASE FILL IN THE SOURCE INFORMATION as well, indicating where you found the reference (i.e., the citation to the page in the case, article, or book where it was cited, Legaltrac, WilsonWeb, etc. This can speed handling your request if problems arise with it.)

For further information contact Sherleta Dreux or Sarah Robey at (618) 453-8798 or lawill@siu.edu.

Carrel Policies

A limited number of small lockable rooms called carrels are available to law students in the Law Library. Carrels offer a place to assemble law library materials needed for extended research. Materials that are properly checked out to a carrel occupant will not be re-shelved by library staff.

A carrel is usually shared by as many as four people. Scheduling time is up to the occupants.

Several carrels are set aside for handicapped patrons and for library administrative use.

First priority for carrel occupancy each semester goes to law students meeting the categories below. After a short sign up opportunity for these students, remaining spaces are made available on a first-come basis for other law students.

1. Graduate assistants who will be doing research for Law School professors. (Does not include copy clerks, Moot Court Board members, computer lab assistants, research assistants for non-law faculty, etc., due to space constraints).
2. Law students taking a seminar or any other class that requires a research paper, including a faculty approved independent research project.
3. Law Journal editors actively engaged in research or editorial work who do not have desk space in the Law Journal office.
4. Competitive moot court team members during the semester(s) of preparation and competition.

Notices of carrel availability and sign-up procedure are posted in the Law Library at the beginning of each new term.

Carrel occupants sign an agreement setting forth rules and criteria for use of the carrels. Misuse of the carrel is grounds for revocation of the carrel privilege. Library staff monitor use or misuse of carrels.

Food and beverages are not allowed in carrels. If food residue or vermin are found in any carrel, it may be fumigated for pest control.

Carrels are not substitutes for lockers, and the Law Library cannot guarantee safety of any personal belongings left in a carrel.

For further information contact Laura Cates Duncan at 453-8787 or lcates@siu.edu.