Goodson Law Library

The Library's reservation system for law students includes study rooms and individual seats in the Law Library. Space in the Law Library is accessible only to current members of the Duke Law community. Users should sanitize spaces before and after use with provided supplies. Reservations may be made up to 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, including all requests for classroom spaces, should complete the events request form.

Borrowing Law Library Materials

Office delivery (routing) is available for faculty and staff. Contactless pickup is available to students who successfully complete baseline testing and ongoing surveillance testing as building access is required. The GoodScan service is available to law students, excluding course reserves, and subject to copyright limitations. If you are not sure of page numbers, please request a scan of the table of contents.

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 pickup on level 3 of the Law Library.

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 access limited 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; in addition to other drop locations, faculty and staff may 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.

Online Study Aids

Many popular study aids from the library’s Reserve collection are 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 pleased 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.
• 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.