Library Services for Law Faculty

If you would like print material delivered to you (or online resources emailed to you), contact lawfacultyservices@colorado.edu to request the material. 

If you are confused about where to look to locate a resource, don't hesitate to contact lawfacultyservices@colorado.edu for the librarians to locate the resource for you, or to request a training on using the different library catalogs.

Searching library materials generally:

For a quick overview of searching for library materials view this 8 minute video.

Searching for books:

You can search the Law Library catalog here. The main search bar defaults to searching Law books, but you can search all university materials by removing the "Law Library" as the location limitation. See this tutorial for searching materials in both Law and University Library catalogs.

You can request print materials from the Law Library or University Libraries to be delivered to your mailbox, using the "Place a hold" link.  See this Request a Book tutorial for instructions. 

Searching for articles:

If you need to search for articles you can search all materials (articles, books, and other publications) via OneSearch. Sometimes it makes more sense to use OneSearch to find articles, but in other situations it may make more sense to search within specific databases. Law databases are available here, and University databases are available here. View this tutorial for the basics of searching using OneSearch.

If a resource is not available from the Law Library or the University Libraries, you can order materials through inter-library loan (ILL). We do not order via ILL any materials which are currently held by a library on the CU Boulder campus.

The following links and instructions should be used to submit ILL borrowing requests. Please note that new releases and current editions of legal casebooks are often difficult to obtain in a timely fashion. Whenever possible, we recommend requesting scans of articles, chapters or specific pages instead of requesting book loans. Scans often arrive much faster than loans and do not have due dates to worry about. 

FirstSearch

FirstSearch: a catalog containing the records of thousands of libraries across the United States and worldwide (if off-campus, use the CU VPN). You can use FirstSearch to locate and request books or articles from participating libraries and have them delivered to your campus mailbox. Fees associated with the use of this service will usually be covered by the Law Library but in extreme cases faculty may be asked to cover part of the cost from their development accounts. To search for and order books or articles through FirstSearch:

1. Always search for the book in the Law and University Library catalog before requesting the item via FirstSearch. If no match is found or none are available, then use FirstSearch to request the material. Please note that in order to use the FirstSearch database you will need to be on the university’s network or logged in to the CU VPN. Our Remote Access to Library Resources page has more information.

2. Once you have located the item you wish to request in FirstSearch, click on the icon above “ILL” at the top left.

3. Next, you must enter your first name, last name, and CU email address. You may also enter comments. Please use this field to indicate:

• If you need a scan of an article, chapter or specific pages, list the cite information here. Include author, article/chapter title, volume/date, and pagination if known.
• If a campus library owns the item you are requesting, but it is unavailable, list that

4. Click on "Submit.” The next screen will confirm that your request was successfully received or alert you to an error.

5. When the item is received by the Law Library, a notice will be emailed to you. Books will be delivered to your faculty mailbox.