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Law Library News & Announcements

Noise Policy for Reading Period/Final Exams (4/28/12)

The following policy is in effect Saturday, April 28 through Thursday, May 17:

Noise Policy for Reading & Final Exam Periods

In response to student requests, and to provide an environment conducive to study, library users are requested to keep all conversations very low in volume. If those nearby can hear them, the volume is too high.

Library staff will ask those violating this policy to reduce the sound level; a second violation will result in being asked to leave the library.

Ringers on cell phones are to be silenced (i.e., set on vibrate). When a call is received or a patron needs to make a call, the patron should leave the library to conduct the call.

Thank you for your compliance with this policy and best wishes for success on your exams!

Four-hour loans on study aids (4/27/12)

From Friday afternoon, April 27 through Thursday, May 17, all volumes on Reserve in the "Understanding" and "Examples & Explanations" series will be on 4-hour loan. These titles will revert to one-day loans after the Reading Period & Final Exams end.

Reading Period/Final Exam Hours (4/27/12)

The Law Library will be open extended hours from Saturday, April 28 through Thursday, May 17. Please see our Hours page for details.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals - free trial until May 12 (4/18/12)

The Law Library is pleased to offer current students, faculty and staff trial access to the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals through HeinOnline through Saturday, May 12. Coverage includes selected international and comparative law periodicals and collections of essays from 1985 to date. Since we are evaluating this database for possible purchase by the library, we would appreciate your opinion about the content and search capabilities of this database. Please send your comments and questions to Sharon Nelson, Assistant Technical Services & Systems Librarian, at slnelson@niu.edu.

I-Share catalog adds HathiTrust records (4/18/12)

As of April 17, 1.2 million new records have been added to the I-Share catalog that describe and link to public domain (freely available) electronic full text materials from the HathiTrust collection, including a substantial subset of legal resources. The records can be searched for and faceted just like any other resources in the I-Share catalog. HathiTrust is composed of the digitized resources of over 60 major research institutions and libraries.

The Law Library is on Facebook (3/19/12)

The Law Library will be posting news & events on the College of Law's Facebook page from time to time. Be sure to "Like" the NIUCOL Facebook page to get the latest library updates!

Mobile apps for law (1/12/12)

Several of the library's databases now have mobile versions of their websites, or mobile apps to get to their content. We've developed a new webpage, Mobile apps and interfaces for law, that puts links to these mobile versions in one convenient place. Check back often to see what's new!

New policies for lost/overdue I-Share materials (1/5/12)

As of January 5, 2012, the I-Share consortium has implemented new policies regarding lost and overdue materials. These policies only apply to materials borrowed from other I-Share libraries, not NIU libraries. In addition, the limits below are not combined with any applicable limits for NIU libraries.

If the following limits are exceeded, the patron will be blocked from being able to request additional  materials in I-Share (both in-person and online):

  • 25 items overdue
  • 1 item recalled and overdue
  • 3 items lost
  • 10 "claims returned" items
  • 10 items self-shelved (returned to library shelf without being discharged)
  • $200 total owed in fines or fees to I-Share libraries

If you have any questions on the above, please contact Sharon Nelson at slnelson@niu.edu or 753-2021.

Primo search interface debuts (1/3/12)

The University Libraries has implemented Primo, a "Google-like" search interface to the NIU catalog and selected databases. (Please note that at this time most Law-related databases are not in Primo.) For more information about Primo, how it works, and the type of information that can be found through it, see this announcement and the Primo search page.  A link to Primo will be added to the Law Library home page shortly.