The Law Library promotes an environment that is conducive to quiet study and research. We ask that all of the following policies are followed in order to preserve the library's facilities, environment, and collections.
Boston College Law School students working on major research projects may reserve a carrel for their use. This policy is intended to give students extended use of non-circulating library materials without inconveniencing other patrons. Non-library materials are not protected, and the library is not responsible for thefts. Any student may use an unoccupied reserved carrel, but must relinquish the carrel when the designated user needs it.
Eligibility
To be eligible for a reserved carrel you must be conducting research which requires extended use of non-circulating library materials.
Those who may be eligible for a reserved carrel include:
- Faculty research assistants
- Law journal staff members who are writing an article
- Students writing substantive papers for an independent study project or seminar
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Location of Reserved Carrels
The library has 62 carrels that can be reserved by students. The carrels are located on Levels 1 and 3, and are numbered. Carrels can be reserved for one academic year. If there is sufficient demand, students may be asked to share carrels.
Procedure for Reserving a Carrel
Students wishing to reserve a carrel should pick up a Carrel Reservation Form at the Information Desk and have their supervisor (editor or faculty advisor) sign it. The completed and signed Carrel Reservation Form should be brought back to the Information Desk.
Checking Out Materials to Carrels
All library books remaining in an authorized carrel must be checked out to the carrel. Please bring books to be checked out to the Information Desk. A book truck will be lent to you if you have a large number of books to check out. There is a limit of 50 non-circulating books per carrel.
High-Use Materials
The following types of high-use materials cannot be checked out to your carrel:
- Course reserve materials (books or photocopies)
- Permanent Reserve books (including unbound journals)
- Reference books
- Index volumes
- Digest volumes
- Code volumes
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Carrel Maintenance
Carrels are monitored regularly for books not properly checked out. If a book is not properly checked out, or if it falls into one of the high-use categories listed above, it will be removed immediately. Reserved carrels are not private offices; please do not store personal materials there.听 Materials left in unreserved carrels will be removed.
Access to Reserved Carrels by Others
When you are not sitting at your carrel other patrons may use it until you arrive. For this reason you should take any personal papers and notes with you when you are not in the carrel. The writing surface should always be clear when you are not using the carrel. Food is not permitted in carrels. Drinks are permitted in spill-resistant mugs or squeeze bottles only.
Expiration of Carrel Reservation Period
When your reserved carrel period expires please remove all books and other materials from the carrel. You are responsible for making sure that all library materials are checked in at the Information Desk. You may borrow a book truck if you need it.
Questions or Problems
You are responsible for keeping your authorization current and the materials in your carrel properly checked out. Please come to the Information Desk if you need an extension or if you have any problems related to the use of your carrel.
Borrowing Privileges
Many items in the law library collection do not circulate. Items in the circulating collection may be borrowed by current Boston College students, faculty and staff only. Borrowers are responsible for the material they have checked out.
Loan periods:
Law and Graduate Students
120 days
Undergraduate Students
28 days
Faculty
one year
Staff
120 days
Note: Boston College alumni and others with guest borrowing privileges administered through the O'Neill Library are not eligible to borrow materials from the Law Library.
Borrower Responsibility
Replacement bills are issued for late, lost, or damaged library materials. In place of paying the replacement costs, you听may听be able to purchase a new or like-new copy of the exact item, email听lawcirc@bc.edu听to ask about this option before buying a replacement. For Boston College students, library fees are sent to University Student Accounts. Failure to听resolve account charges听may prevent students from registering for classes, receiving diplomas, or securing transcripts.
Students who do not return library property on time may also be referred to听Student Conduct听(see section 10.3).
Renewals
Items from the law library's collection may be renewed unless they have been requested by another user or the renewal limit has been reached. Sign into your to renew your checked out items.
Recalls and Other Requests
Sign into your to request items from other 51茶馆 libraries, or items which are currently checked out, indicated by "unavailable". Be sure to select pickup location "Law". You will receive an email notification when your requested item is available for pickup at the Law Library's Information Desk.
Reserves Collections
Course Reserves and Permanent Reserves Collections are located behind the Information Desk. Items can be borrowed for 2 hours and can be renewed for additional 2-hour periods if they have not been requested by other patrons.
Study Room Reservations
Study room reservations are limited to two hours per day per group. The library mediates all requests and may delete reservations which attempt to circumvent this restriction. Please be considerate of your fellow students.
Study rooms are only available to Boston College Law School students.
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Table Reservation
The library has six tables set aside for citation and substance checking. These tables are located on Level 1. To reserve a citation and substance checking table, please visit the Information Desk.
Citation and substance checking tables are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Materials
Materials left on citation and substance checking tables must be checked out. Reference materials cannot be left on citation and substance checking tables. Materials left on these tables for more than one week will be reshelved.
When citation checking is complete, the individual who conducted the check must return all of their materials at the Information Desk.
We recognize that a comfortable study environment requires a food and drink policy that is not overly restrictive. We count on everyone to exercise cooperation and good judgment as we strive to maintain a clean and congenial environment for all of our users.
Food-Free Zone in Fourth Floor Quiet Area
The fourth floor Quiet Area (in the Campbell Wing) is a drinks-only zone.
Drinks
All drink containers must have lids. "Pop-top" aluminum cans are also acceptable. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed.
Food
With the exception of the food-free zone, finger foods or snack foods may be consumed in the library, provided that they are not damaging to the collections and facilities (i.e. not sticky, greasy, drippy, messy, wet, etc.) or distracting to other users (i.e. not noisy, smelly, etc.)
Examples:
- Acceptable:听Pretzels,听Nuts,听Candy,听Granola bars,听Cookies,听Bagels,听Grapes, Raisins
- Not Acceptable: Pizza, Burgers, French fries, Salads, Soup, Meals from the cafeteria, Food requiring utensils
Outside delivery of food to the library is not permitted.
Cleanup
- Be considerate of your fellow students and clean up after yourself.
- In the event of spills, clean-up supplies are available at the Information Desk.
- Discard all food and drink-related trash when you leave.
- A container for recyclable bottles and cans is located on each floor.
- Food left unattended -- packaged or otherwise -- will be removed and discarded.
NOTE: Food and drink are NOT PERMITTED in any of the Computer Labs or in the Rare Book Room.
The Law Library will attempt to borrow materials needed for academic or research purposes that are not available at the Law Library. There is no charge for this service. Click here for access to the interlibrary loan user's guide.
The Law Library's interlibrary loan service is available only to current Boston College Law School faculty, students and staff. The service is not available to Boston College Law School alumni or other visitors to the Law Library. All other 51茶馆 affiliates please see the University Libraries' web page . Users not affiliated with Boston College should seek assistance from the library at their home institution or from their local public library.
Time Required
Interlibrary loan requests generally take from one to several weeks to be filled. Most requests are placed via the OCLC interlibrary loan subsystem which requires that we identify up to fifteen potential lenders and then allow each one up to four days to accept or reject our request.
Unfilled Requests
On rare occasions, we are unable to fill requests. This generally occurs when the item is held by only one or two libraries and they are unable to comply with our request. There are a number of reasons why materials are not loaned: they may be checked out, missing, or lost, they may be on reserve, or they may fall into a non-circulating category. You will be notified if your request cannot be filled.
Notification
When a request has been filled, and the item has arrived at the Law Library's interlibrary loan office, we will notify you via your 51茶馆 e-mail account. Items can be picked up at the Information Desk in the Law Library. We will hold a borrowed item at the Information Desk for two weeks. After that time, it will be returned to the lending library. Requests for faculty members are usually delivered directly to their offices or mailboxes.
Length of Borrowing Period
Borrowing periods vary,depending on the policy of the lending library. The due date will be clearly indicated on the interlibrary loan sticker placed on the front cover of each borrowed item. It is possible to request renewals, although they are granted at the discretion of the lending library. Some libraries do not permit renewals for materials borrowed through interlibrary loan. In those cases, the "no renewal" status will also be clearly indicated on the sticker. Please direct renewal requests to the Information Desk at 617-552-4434 or via e-mail at lawill@bc.edu. We will contact you to let you know the status of your renewal request.
Loss of Interlibrary Loan Materials
You are responsible for materials which you have taken from the Law Library. Charges for damaged or lost materials are assessed by the lending library and are the responsibility of the borrowing patron. Loss, damage, or failure to return borrowed materials promptly may result in the forfeiture of interlibrary loan privileges. Materials lost in transit to the Law Library from the lending library or after they have been returned to the Law Library by the user will be the responsibility of the Law Library.
Notice: Warning Concerning Copyright Restrictions
The copyright law of the United States () governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a photocopying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would violate copyright law. (This information is posted in compliance with .)
The library complies with US copyright law and the . To insure compliance, users who submit an online interlibrary loan form must acknowledge that they are aware of copyright restrictions affecting their use of the requested material. In cases where requests from a user violate copyright law, the library will inform the user and attempt to provide alternative access to the information.
Lending
The Law Library will lend items or supply copies of articles or documents in its collections to other libraries via interlibrary loan. OCLC member libraries should place requests via the OCLC interlibrary loan subsystem. Non-OCLC libraries may submit requests by completing an ALA interlibrary loan request form and emailing to lawill@bc.edu or mailing it to:
Interlibrary Loan Office
Boston College Law Library
885 Centre Street
Netwon Centre, MA 02459
The library supplies materials free of charge to libraries that are members of the New England Law Library Consortium (), the Boston Library Consortium (), and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (). There is a limit of 30 pages per request. For all other institutions, the fee schedule is as follows:
- $20.00 for copy requests made by for-profit libraries
- $12.00 for copy requests made by non-profit libraries
- $20.00 for loan requests made by for-profit libraries
- $15.00 for loan requests made by non-profit libraries
For questions about interlibrary lending services and policies, contact the interlibrary loan office at 617-552-4066 or via e-mail at lawill@bc.edu. The library lends materials, supplies photocopies, and transmits documents electronically only to members of the Boston College Law School community and to other libraries. General document delivery service is not provided to individuals, companies or institutions. Organizations and individuals not affiliated with the law school may wish to investigate services available from other sites which offer fee-based document delivery options. One such service is provided by the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library at Columbia Law School. 听for more information on services and charges.
51茶馆 Law and 51茶馆 community members
The 51茶馆 Law Library鈥檚 primary mission is to serve the current students, faculty and staff of Boston College Law School. 51茶馆 Law Library offers research assistance and access to the Library鈥檚 collections to the students, faculty, staff and alumni of 51茶馆 Law. Members of the 51茶馆 community, 51茶馆 faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and alumni, who require access to legal materials and assistance with legal research are welcome to use the Law Library collection.
The Law Library is card access only to Law School community members Monday through Friday after 5pm and on Saturdays from 9am - 9pm and Sundays from 10am - 11pm.听 To enter,听Law School community members may swipe their card, located to the right of the entrance doors, to gain access.听During evening hours, all individuals will be required to stop at the security desk.
Undergraduate students are not permitted to study in the Law Library.
Electronic collections
Access to certain electronic collections is limited to the 51茶馆 Law community due to licensing restrictions.
Other law schools鈥� students
Law students from other law schools may access the 51茶馆 Law Library but restrictions apply during evening hours, reading, and exam periods. A current law school ID is required.
Students from colleges and universities in the have access to the Law Library upon presentation of a Consortium ID. IDs are issued by a student's home institution and verify the need to use specific materials from the law library's collections.
Federal documents depository and access
51茶馆 Law Library is not a public institution. Individuals interested in using the Law Library鈥檚 documents acquired in its role as a federal depository are entitled to use this segment of the collection. Access to these federal documents is available during weekday business hours. Researchers should search the prior to visiting to determine if the desired federal document is owned by the Law Library.
Public law libraries in Massachusetts
The听, located in the State House in Boston, contains a law collection; this facility is open to the public. The , located around the state, are open to the public as well. Check with the local trial court law library for specific questions and collections and access to electronic resources such as LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Access to other libraries for 51茶馆 Law community members
The Boston College Law Library is a member of the , Conference of Law Libraries of the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities, and the . Benefits of membership include access to most member libraries for Boston College Law School faculty, students and staff. Access policies at other libraries vary. Consult the particular library in question to determine if there are access restrictions. If a referral or letter of introduction is required, stop by the Information Desk or call 617-552-4434 to speak with a reference librarian.
Legal Research Databases
Access to subscription legal research databases depends upon the terms of Boston College Law Library鈥檚 subscription agreement with the vendor.
Lexis Advance
New graduates will have free access to Lexis+, excluding public records, with their law school IDs through December 31, 2023. By July 9, 2023, new graduates鈥� view of the Law School Home Page will switch to the graduate view. This new view provides helpful information for careers and job searching. Graduates can select a 鈥淕raduate Gift鈥� from the new graduate view of the Law School Home Page. This year鈥檚 gifts are LexisNexis eBooks and online subscriptions for Practical Guidance, Intelligize, Lexis for Microsoft Office, and Law360.
New graduates have until June 30, 2023, to redeem LexisNexis Reward points.
New graduates who are heading into certain 501(c)(3) public interest positions may qualify for the Lexis Aspire program, which provides 12 months of free access to Lexis+.
For more details on Lexis鈥檚 New Graduate Access and Aspire programs, visit
Westlaw
New graduates have access to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for 18 months after graduation, but only if they extend access using one of the links below. 鈥淕rad Elite鈥� access provides 60 hours of usage per month, with no restrictions on the use of Westlaw for professional purposes. These tools include the following:
Westlaw
Practical Law
Practical Law Connect
Drafting Assistant Essential
Doc and Form Builder
ProView
West LegalEdcenter - one year, no CLE
Knowledge Center eLearnings and Tutorials
You must opt in to Grad Elite Access (and can do so in one of two ways):
1) Go to , and, after logging on, use the drop-down menu by your name to go to Grad Elite Status
2) Or Click on this link:
Bloomberg Law
New law school graduates may continue to use their existing Bloomberg Law academic subscription provided by 51茶馆 Law Library for six months after graduation for any purpose, including research for employers. If you haven鈥檛 already registered with Bloomberg Law and would like to do so, register for your Bloomberg Law account at . You do not need an activation code. If you have any questions, please contact the Bloomberg Law 24/7 Help Desk at 1-888-560-BLAW or blawhelp@bna.com.
Other Online Services
Spring 2023 graduates from Boston College Law School will have continued access to their 51茶馆 Google account (which includes 51茶馆 email), Agora Portal, Microsoft 365, eduroam, and all other 51茶馆 services (except 51茶馆 Zoom and 51茶馆 LinkedIn Learning) until June 2024. To ensure a smooth transition, a reminder will be sent one month prior to the access being revoked. Access to 51茶馆 Zoom and 51茶馆 LinkedIn Learning accounts will expire in June 2023.
Rules for Readers at the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room
- The following rules govern the use of rare books and special collections in the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room.
- Persons wishing to use rare materials must provide 24 hours notice. Please email the details of your request to lawcirc@bc.edu.
- Items will be retrieved between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The Rare Book Room is open Monday - Friday 9 to 5, except on summer Fridays when it closes at 1 p.m.
- All readers must complete a Registration Form.
- A maximum of 4 items may be checked out at one time.
- Rare materials may be used only in the Rare Book Room, in the presence of a library staff member. Readers must return all materials to the staff member whenever the reader leaves the room.
- Please deposit coats, backpacks, briefcases, and other bulky items behind the law library鈥檚 Information Desk. Items brought into the Rare Book Room are subject to search before and after using rare items. The university is not responsible for lost or stolen personal belongings.
- No food or drink is allowed in the Rare Book Room.
- Notetaking is allowed on laptop computers (preferred) or with pencil only.
- Please handle rare materials with care:
- 听 听 Open covers with care and turn pages slowly. Never force open a rare book.
- 听听听听Keep pens and white-out away from books. Do not write in rare books.
- 听听听听Do not write upon, lean upon, or stack rare books.
- 听听听听Acid-free bookmarks will be provided upon request; do not use paper clips, sticky notes, or any other object as a bookmark.
- Library staff will scan rare materials unless the materials are too fragile to withstand scanning. A library staff member will decide which materials may be scanned. A maximum of 30 total exposures per book is allowed. Turnaround time is 24 hours.The library makes no representation that it is the owner of common law copyright or literary property in any unpublished manuscript. Written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright owner. Readers assume full and sole responsibility for any and all legal action resulting from their use of the material. By signing this form, readers agree to indemnify and hold harmless Boston College, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he/she is an owner of the common law copyright or literary property.
- Proper credit shall be given in citations and shall read:
- 听听听听Boston College Law Library, Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room
We ask that all users keep noise to a minimum throughout the Library, and that students utilize our Group Study Rooms to engage in discussions and collaborative work.
On occasion, the Library will host events that increase the level of noise in the Library. Whenever possible, the Library staff will provide advance notice of such events so users can plan accordingly.
Level 2: Library Help Desks and Staff Offices
Level 2 will generally be the loudest area of the Library, as it houses the Information and Reference Desks, the Technology Help Center, and staff offices. Please refrain from loud or unnecessary conversation on Level 2, as sound travels up and down the atrium to other floors.
Levels 1, 3, and 4: General Use and Quiet Study Areas
Levels 1, 3 and 4 provide general independent study space. The Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Wing and the Joseph Campbell Wing on Level 4 are designated as Quiet Study Areas, as shown below.
| 听Levels 1, 3, & 4: General Use 听 | 听Level 4: Quiet Study Areas听 |
|---|---|
| 听Food and beverages allowed.* 听 | 听NO FOOD, only beverages allowed.* 听 |
| 听Users are asked to keep conversation to a minimum. 听 | 听NO TALKING permitted. 听 |
*See the Library Food and Drink Policy for further detail.
Note that all floors experience greater ambient noise in the area immediately surrounding the central atrium. Users looking for greater quiet may wish to use the tables and carrels located in the library wings on each floor.
Library staff will occasionally bring users or classes to Levels 1, 3, or 4 for educational purposes, which will briefly increase noise on these levels. Earplugs are always available to all users at the Information Desk.
Cell Phone Use
All cell phones must be kept off or on vibrate within the Library. No cell phone calls are permitted inside the Library, including in all stairwells, restrooms, or the Contemplation Room. If you need to make or receive a phone call, please move to the foyer or the designated phone room outside the Library main entrance.
Noise Complaints
The 51茶馆 Law Library depends on cooperation from all users to make the library a quiet space that is conducive for studying and reading.
Please use the to report loud, uncongenial behavior in the library during weekday or Saturday business hours. The issue will be routed to on-duty staff and they will respond as quickly as possible. Outside of business hours and on Sundays, please call (617-552-4434) or come to the Information desk for assistance.