Goodson Law Library

1/4/2021 update: Student access to the Law Library and Law School building is currently unavailable. Law student building access will resume in mid-January for students who are cleared for re-entry after baseline COVID testing and who participate in ongoing surveillance testing. The Law School will provide details on building access procedures by email.

The Law School's reservation system for law students includes individual seats in the Law Library as well as in the Law School. Space in the Law Library is accessible only to current members of the Duke Law community. Building access requires community members to adhere to Duke University and Law School health and safety requirements (symptom monitoring, masking, social distancing, and sanitizing spaces before and after use with provided supplies). Reservations may be made one week in advance and are currently available during the hours 8:30 am - 9:00 pm weekdays and weekends. Students who wish to reserve space for a group should complete the events request form. For questions about the reservation system, please contact seat_reservations@law.duke.edu.

Borrowing Law Library Materials

4/12/2021 update: Office routing is available for faculty and staff. Contactless pickup for students is available only for students who successfully complete baseline testing and ongoing surveillance testing as building access is required. Contactless pickup is unavailable at any campus library for students who do not participate in COVID surveillance testing. The GoodScan service is available to law students, excluding course reserves, and subject to copyright limitations.

Access to the Goodson Law Library stacks is currently restricted to designated Library staff. Law School community members may request circulating Law Library materials for contactless pickup via the Request button in the Duke Libraries Catalog. Following retrieval by staff and a quarantine period, borrowers will be contacted by email to schedule a pickup time at the service desk on level 3 via the Law School reservation system.

Members of the Duke University community may request circulating Law Library items for pickup at their home libraries via intercampus delivery. If you have questions, please contact Circulation staff.

Returning Law Library Materials

The Law School building is currently closed to the Duke University community and the general public, with limited access to the Duke Law community. The Law Library has an outdoor book return where books borrowed from any Duke library may be returned. The book return is located outside the main entrance to the law school, which is on Science Drive opposite the Sanford School for Public Policy.

Duke Law community members may also securely return items to the drop slot inside the Law Library entrance with a contactless pickup or seat reservation; faculty and staff may also use the return bins in the Law School's level 3 and 4 copy rooms.

Law Library items from borrowers who do not have Law School building access may be returned to the Duke University Libraries and they will be delivered to the Law Library. If you are not in Durham, please contact Circulation staff about return options.

Course Reserves

Safe handling of library materials requires at least a 48-hour quarantine between patrons. To ensure the safety of patrons and staff, the Law Library will not circulate Course Reserve books, bookstands, chargers, calculators, umbrellas, or other physical materials with short-term loan periods until further notice.

Law Library staff will scan the first two weeks of required assigned course readings for all courses and post them to each course’s Sakai page (unless the instructor has made alternative arrangements). Copyright restrictions prohibit scanning course reserve textbooks beyond that amount.

Online Study Aids

Many popular study aids from the library’s Reserve collection are now available electronically. West Academic Library Study Aids includes the series Concepts & Insights, Hornbooks, and Nutshells, among others. The Wolters Kluwer online study aid library includes Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, and more. Access these resources with your NetID and password.

E-Books

Find thousands of eBooks in the Library catalog by selecting "Available Online" from the filters on the left sidebar.

Electronic Articles

Electronic access to articles can be found through the catalog's Article search.

Legal Databases & Links

The Law Library also subscribes to various topical legal databases to that you can use from home by clicking on their link in our Legal Databases and Links page.

The Bluebook

The Law Library has no online access to The Bluebook citation manual. Individuals may purchase a print copy and/or electronic access to the new 21st edition through Hein and through The Bluebook website.

Goodson Law Library is pleases to again offer our popular GoodScan Service. Duke Law students, faculty, and staff can submit GoodScan requests using ILLiad, the same platform used for Interlibrary Loan. If you have not used ILLiad before, you will have to create an account briefly before reaching the request page.

Please note the following restrictions/limitations:

• Requests may be made for educational use only and are limited to two chapters from a book, or two articles from a journal, or up to 100 pages of other material, subject to copyright limitations.
• While we attempt to fulfill every request within one week, there may be unforeseen delays due to staffing availability and the ongoing global pandemic.
• Rare books, reserve materials, and already checked-out items are not eligible.
• Requests made for more than two chapters from a single book will be rejected.
• We reserve the right to reject any request which might constitute a copyright violation.
• We will meet your requests as quickly as possible, but we offer no rush service.

Email ill@law.duke.edu with any questions about interlibrary loans

The Duke University Libraries offer Library Takeout Service (for pickup of materials) or Scan & Deliver scanning service (for portions of materials). Requests for either service can be made via the green "Request" button for an item in the online catalog.

Need Research Assistance?

Get answers to your research, citation, and other questions from home!  Email your questions to ref@law.duke.edu for research help. 

Schedule a Consultation

For more complex research help, request a phone or Zoom consultation with a reference librarian by emailing ref@law.duke.edu.

Questions About Your Library Account?

Email cir@law.duke.edu for questions about loans or your library account.