Services for Student Journal Members
Supporting journal students in their research-intensive production work.
The Library provides expanded services, including library training and liaison librarian support, to facilitate journal work. However, journal members must follow procedures that increase efficiency and fairness for all library users.
Finding Legal Materials in PDF is a great start for your cite-checking efforts.
Most items belonging to the Goodson Law Library may be checked out and stored in a journal office or the shelf outside the level one journal offices and renewed online. Items may be subject to recall after two weeks, so please watch your email and return items to avoid overdue recall fines. Journal students are responsible for books checked out in their name, including monitoring the due dates, requesting renewals, and returning items when recalled or due.
To obtain items faster, law students are encouraged to retrieve their own books from the Goodson Law Library if they are listed as "Available" in the catalog. Hold/recall requests should be placed for Law Library books that have been checked out by other users (see below).
Some Law Library items cannot be checked out, in order to ensure that they remain available for all users. These materials are frequently consulted by others and often contain a large volume of content beyond the portions which are needed by the journal. These materials may be photocopied or scanned from the library volumes, and may also be accessible electronically; see the library's research guide to Finding Legal Materials in PDF or consult the Reference Desk.
Items which generally cannot be checked out include:
- U.S. Primary Law materials - state codes, USC, USCA, and case reporters, such as United States Reports and Supreme Court Reporter
- Bound journal volumes
- Reference and Reserve collections
- Items with the status "Library Use Only" - e.g., most primary law materials for other countries. Because these items are requested less frequently by others, consult with a staff member if there are special circumstances.
Multiple editors often need to consult the same item. However, library staff are unable to disclose who has borrowed a particular title, due to North Carolina laws governing the confidentiality of library borrowing records. If the needed item is already checked out, take advantage of shared storage space and journal office shelving, and check there first before making a recall/hold request for the item. To request an item which has been checked out from the online catalog, click on the button labeled "Request."
If a Law Library book is listed in the catalog as being "Available" on the shelf, but you are unable to find it, please fill out a Missing Item Report Form. While library staff attempt to trace the missing item, you may request a copy from another Duke library (if available), or place an interlibrary loan request (include a note that the Law Library copy was not on the shelf).
Items belonging to other Duke Libraries or those requested through interlibrary loan (non-Duke libraries) can only be checked out to an individual student's personal library account and stored in the journal office or designated storage area. Items from any Duke library are also subject to recall requests by other users. Recalled items must be returned by the date listed in the recall email. Failure to do so will result in fines that the law library cannot waive.
Books received from other Duke Libraries are due at the end of the current academic year (earlier if recalled by another user); interlibrary loan material must be returned or renewed by the due date specified on the bookmark. Due dates are set by the owning library and can vary significantly. Failure to return ILL items could result in large fines and loss of the ability to borrow material from that institution. Renewal rules vary with each institution.
You can request delivery of books from other Duke Libraries from the catalog record, by clicking on the button labeled "Request."
If needed items are not owned by the Duke libraries, or have been checked out, request an interlibrary loan from other libraries using the library's ILLiad system. Requesting items from the Triangle Research Libraries Network (Duke, NCCU, NC State, UNC-CH) is the quickest method; use Search TRLN, the combined catalog for these libraries, to locate items.
Individual articles and book chapters also can be requested through ILL. They will be scanned and uploaded to your ILLiad account. This process is much quicker than requesting an entire book.
General ILL delivery guidelines:
- Items at Triangle-area libraries, and electronic deliveries, should arrive within 3-4 business days.
- Items from outside the Triangle may take a week or more.
- Very new or obscure titles may take longer.
Library staff request items using the fastest projected delivery timeframe, but are unable to rush requests. When requesting items which are owned by Duke libraries but not available (e.g. missing or lost), be sure to include a note on your ILL request stating that the items are unavailable at Duke, to prevent the cancellation of your request.
Often more than one journal staff member needs the same item. To avoid unnecessary delays, always add your journal's name to journal-related interlibrary loan requests so that staff can intercept any duplicate requests. Check the journal office and storage space for these items before requesting.
The following items cannot be borrowed through interlibrary loan service:
- Newspaper and magazine articles that are available electronically, on microform or in print at a Duke campus library;
- Journal articles that are available electronically in PDF with original pagination;
- Reference and Reserve materials;
- Audio and video materials.
You will be notified via email when your materials have arrived. If the request is for a photocopy, it will be delivered to your ILLiad account electronically. All other materials can be picked up in the Library Cabinet on level 3 of the Law Library.
Perma.cc accounts will be made available to select Duke Law journal members so that they may create permanent links to research cited in articles published by that journal. Accounts per journal are capped at 1/3 of the journal staff or 10 users, whichever amount is lower, per year to allow for oversight of Perma.cc link creation and facilitate management of user accounts. For questions about Perma administration, please contact your journal's liaison librarian or Wickliffe Shreve.
Questions or issues related to the borrowing or return of library materials may be directed to the Circulation Desk at (919) 613-7128 or cir@law.duke.edu. Questions about identifying and locating cited sources may be directed to the Reference Desk at (919) 613-7121 or ref@law.duke.edu.