Library Services

Research Guides

Course-related Research Instruction: The reference services librarians are available to teach specialized research resources in all areas of law, from administrative law to water resources law. Any professor, whether or not a research project is assigned for the course, may take advantage of this service.

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First-year Legal Research: The first-year research course is combined with legal writing in the first semester of the first year. Taught by the reference services librarians, this course offers an overview of the legal bibliography and hands-on experience working with the leading online and print research tools and resources.

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LexisNexis and Westlaw Instruction: The vendors offer introductions to LexisNexis and Westlaw, the two major online databases for legal research, early in the first semester of law school; passwords are distributed during orientation. The vendors employ students who are available in the computer lab during the week, and the vendors' representatives make frequent trips to the law school to offer training sessions.

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MELP Research Instruction: New MELP students receive legal research instruction during orientation from the environmental law librarian, Christine Ryan, and during the academic year in the legal research and writing course.

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Request Instruction: Any student, professor, staff member, or group can request research instruction, in addition to the occasional research sessions we offer during the school year and summer. Please contact any librarian to request research instruction or to recommend a topic for a session offered to the VLS community as a whole.