On Wednesday, July 25 we will begin moving books from the third to the fourth floor of the library. This project will be completed by Friday, July 27. The fourth floor will now house our International and Foreign Law materials.
During the move, please plan to use the main or second floor of the library for quiet study.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
July 24 – August 11
Reference librarians will be available Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
The library will have extended Summer hours July 5 – July 22:
GMUSL Students: If you have library fines above $25.00, a hold will be placed on your account and you will not be able to register for classes. Registration begins tomorrow, so please stop by the library and pay by check or cash (exact change, no credit cards). Questions? Call the Circulation Desk 703.993.8120.
The main collection of Virginia materials is located on the second floor, shelf ranges 228 and 229. In that area you can find: the Virginia Code (both Lexis and West editions), the Virginia and West Virginia Digest, Michie’s Jurisprudence, form books, rules, jury instructions, court opinions, legislative materials, treatises, and Virginia Continuing Legal Education materials.
As a convenience to patrons, the library also has a small Virginia quick reference collection on the first floor, Range 121, providing duplicate copies of frequently used items, including: the Virginia Code (Lexis edition), Virginia Forms, Rules, Michie’s Jurisprudence, and the Virginia & West Virginia Digest. Some heavily used Virginia titles are on permanent or faculty reserve behind the circulation desk
The law library staff congratulates 2012 George Mason University School of Law Graduates!
Please remember that library services continue to be available to you after graduation. Student IDs are valid through October 8, 2012—so recent grads may reserve study rooms, check out books (until Sept. 30), and use the computer labs.
The library is open to the public, so please feel free to use our print resources and publicly available databases (includes in-library access to Keycite, Shepards, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw Patron Access Terminals). Reference librarians are also happy to assist you in person, by phone, or via email.
Best of Luck Class of 2012!!
Courtesy emails about overdue books are sent from an automated system. Normally, the reminders are sent one week before a book is due and one day after the due date. But occasionally the system goes down, and a reminder is not sent.
So, please make a note of due dates to avoid fines. If you need to check due dates for library materials, the circulation staff is happy to help in person or by phone (703.993.8120). Items may be renewed online via the library catalog if they are not overdue and do not have any holds or other renewal restrictions.
Google Books is able to provide access to digitized materials consistent with U.S. Copyright Laws. In short, the only titles that are available in full-text are those in the public domain—i.e. their copyright protection has expired or they are not copyrightable.
A very brief history: Google developed a project to create an online digital library of the world’s books. Google launched this project by partnering with a number of major research libraries that allowed Google to scan their collections—both those books in the public domain as well as books still under copyright. Google’s scanning of books and offering them up on a searchable database led copyright owners (authors and publishers) to bring a copyright infringement claim against Google. On March 22, 2011, a U.S. District Court Judge rejected an amended settlement agreement.
So while the law library cannot provide greater access to titles via Google Books, if a book is not in our collection, students may be able to acquire a copy through Inter-Library Loan from another GMU library or other university libraries.
We have recently added five very popular new study rooms on the fourth floor of the library. Several students indicated how much they like these new study rooms and the other new fourth floor study space. The new study rooms have helped to alleviate the heavier exam time crunch for study room space.
Some study rooms are colder than others due to their proximity to the computer room. If you prefer a warmer room, request rooms other than 245, 359, and 360, which are generally cooler than the other study rooms.
Books on permanent reserve may be renewed for longer than the initial two hours if no one else has requested to use them. Books on reserve are often in demand, especially during study periods before exams, and need to be available to all our students. The library has older editions of some of these books in the collection that can be signed out.
And, as we announced previously, starting in the fall semester, the library will be providing students with access to electronic study aids. The new West Study Aids subscription will include titles from eleven popular series including the Concise Hornbook Series, the Nutshell Series, Gilbert Law Summaries, Sum & Substance Quick Reviews, as well as other Thomson Reuters study materials. Students will be able to access e-book versions of over 350 study aids, search within the texts, highlight, take notes, and print from them in limited quantities. Want to try this product sooner? Activate a free 2-day trial here.