Updates, News & Information: Law Library Blog

National Library Worker's Day 2019

National Library Worker's Day is April 9, 2019, and we're celebrating by asking the people who work in our library: "How do you describe the work you do in just one sentence?"

"Helping students find study aids." - Sara Hernandez, Student Worker

Several law school students work in the library. They work at the circulation desk, assist with filing, and lend a hand with other projects. Student workers are often the best people to ask for advice about the most useful study materials, because they've often taken the very same class in the past!

“I make it so you can’t steal the books.” - Melodie Hawkins, Library & Archive Assistant

Every book in the library goes through a multi-step process before it appears on the shelves. Each book must be selected by a librarian, purchased, checked in, classified, cataloged, and fully processed before it can take it's place in the collection. Part of a book's processing includes the application of a spine label with a call number, so that the book can be found on the shelf, and the application of a security device so that the book can't be removed from the library without being checked out first.

"I maintain order." - Scott Campbell, Technical Services Librarian

The library catalog allows everyone to find the book they need. Before a book is placed on the shelf it must be assigned a library call number, so that it can be located on the shelf, and be added to the catalog, so that we can quickly search for items on a particular topic, by a specific author, or with a specific title.

"I guess what questions library users will have and put the answers online." - Erin Gow, Online Services Librarian

Library resources are increasingly available electronically with databases and ebooks being added to the collection in addition to traditional print books and journals. The library website and social media accounts provide access to our electronic collection, and allow everyone to access library information from anywhere with an internet connection.

"To research and preserve the history of the law school." - Marcus Walker, Law Library Archivist & Digital Collections Librarian

The Law School's archive is located in the library, and collects the history of the building and the school. The Digital Collection provides electronic access to scans of original historical documents, that even those who can't visit the library in person can access.