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Acquisition & Delivery of Research Materials

The Law Library strives to maintain a collection that supports our faculty's teaching and research needs and encourages you to submit requests for books, articles, and other research materials to aid in your research. If the Law Library does not have the item you request we will attempt to obtain it via interlibrary loan. Please feel free to suggest items to be added to the Law Library's collection.

Borrowing Privileges
Faculty may borrow books from the Law Library for the academic school year. Periodicals, reserve materials, and videos have shorter loan periods. To request delivery of materials to your mailbox, contact Karen Taylor at 777-3367 or taylorkg@gwm.sc.edu.

Book delivery from Thomas Cooper Library
To have books from Thomas Cooper Library, the Business Library, or the Math Library delivered to your mailbox, go to www.sc.edu/library/pubserv/facbookfaq.html for more information and a link to the request form. Law Library staff can also check out and deliver books from Thomas Cooper Library to law faculty. If you would like the Law Library to retrieve a book from the Thomas Cooper Library, contact Karen Taylor at 777-3367 or taylorkg@gwm.sc.edu. If you have books to be returned to Thomas Cooper Library, bring or send them to the Circulation Desk. Faculty can also get proxy cards to enable their research assistants to check out materials from Thomas Cooper Library and other campus libraries. The online form is available at www.sc.edu/library/pubserv/proxy2.html.

Interlibrary Loan Requests
The forms for requesting an Interlibrary Loan are available at the Circulation desk or may be accessed here (PDF). Please return completed forms to Katie Holtz or Karen Taylor at the Circulation desk. To check the status of an interlibrary loan request, contact Katie Holtz at 777-1726 or kholtz@gwm.sc.edu or Karen Taylor at 777-3367 or taylorkg@gwm.sc.edu.

Requests to Purchase Materials
To request that the Law Library purchase specific materials, contact Sara Repinski at 777-3392 or repinski@gwm.sc.edu. The Law Library distributes a New Acquisitions List monthly to all faculty via email. The list is also available on the Law Library's Cocky Law Blawg at http://blawg.law.sc.edu/.

Course Reserves

Faculty may place materials such as books, articles, or videos on reserve in the Law Library. Reserve materials may come from the Law Library collection or from the faculty member's personal collection. Faculty may also wish to place sample exams on reserve for student reference. All reserve items are placed in the Reserve Room behind the Circulation Desk and may be checked out by students for use in the Law Library only.

Placing Materials on Reserve
To place materials on reserve, contact Karen Taylor at 777-3367 or taylorkg@gwm.sc.edu. If the Law Library does not have an item that you would like placed on reserve, you may contact Sara Repinski at 777-3392 or repinski@gwm.sc.edu to request that the Law Library purchase the item.

Law Review Submissions & Rankings Guides

Current Law Review Article Length Limits & Preferences
From Emory Law School: Alphabetical list of the 35 most-cited law reviews and journals, with focus on page/word limits

General Law Reviews
From the University of Southern California: Alphabetical list of general law reviews, links to publication homepages

Law Journals: Submissions and Ranking
From Washington & Lee: Sophisticated template lets you configure different variables to sort and rank journals.

Law Review Electronic Submissions
From Northern Kentucky: Alphabetical list of journals that accept electronic submissions, hot links, submission particulars

Law Reviews Online
From the Library of Congress: Alphabetical list of law reviews with links to homepages of individual publications

Reference & Research Assistance

The Law Library offers the following reference and research services in support of the law school's mission to produce quality legal scholarship:

Reference Services
Faculty and their research assistants may ask legal reference questions of the Law Library's Reference Librarians by contacting the Law Library Reference Desk at 777-5902 or lawref@gwm.sc.edu between 8:30 AM and 7:00 PM, Monday-Thursday, and between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM on Friday.

Faculty Research Support
Reference Librarians are available to consult individually with faculty and their research assistants to suggest relevant resources or search strategies for particular research projects. Law Librarians also conduct formal legal research training for research assistants in the spring before summer research projects begin and regularly assist research assistants with locating difficult-to-find materials. In addition, legal research seminars are offered throughout the school year on topics and databases to supplement the Introduction to Legal Research course. For extended research assistance, contact Greg Flowers, Office of Scholarly Research Support at 777-7785 or flowers@law.sc.edu.

Course Related Research Instruction
The Reference Librarians will provide customized guest lectures for your substantive law classes to familiarize students with key research sources in specific areas of law. Please provide as much advance notice as possible. To submit a request for a guest lecture either email lawref@gwm.sc.edu or contact an individual Reference Librarian.

Online Database Training

Training Workshops
The Reference Librarians will conduct training workshops for faculty on available online databases, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw, HeinOnline, LexisNexis Congressional, BNA, CCH, ELR and others. Please send your requests for training to lawref@gwm.sc.edu

Blackboard and TWEN
Blackboard and TWEN courseware instruction is also available for faculty. To schedule a training session contact Rebekah Maxwell at 777-1725 or rkmaxwel@gwm.sc.edu.

LexisNexis or Westlaw Accounts
LexisNexis or Westlaw Accounts are available to all faculty members. If you need help with your passwords or setting up either of these accounts, contact Rebekah Maxwell, Associate Director for Library Operations, at 777-1725 or rkmaxwell@gwm.sc.edu.

For new software, software upgrades, and technical problems, contact Deborah Johnson, PC Desktop Support Specialist, Rm. 219B, 803-777-8262 or e-mail: johnsond@law.sc.edu.

Current Awareness Resources

"Alert" Services
CILP and SmartCILP
LexisNexis and Westlaw
BNA Publications
Scholarly Working Papers
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Learning Research Network (LRN)
bePress Legal Repository
Law Library Services
New Acquisitions List
Print Journal Routing

"Alert" Services

CILP & SmartCILP
CILP, the Current Index to Legal Periodicals, is a weekly publication of the University of Washington School of Law that indexes over 525 law reviews and scholarly legal publications weeks before they are indexed by commercial periodical indexes (e.g., LegalTrac). CILP also includes tables of contents from the law reviews covered in each issue.
Print copies of CILP are located on the first floor of the Law Library near the Circulation Desk, next to the print Current Law Index and Index to Legal Periodicals. If you prefer to receive an individual print copy or an email version of each weekly CILP issue (PDF, Word or other electronic file formats) contact Sara Repinski, Acquisitions Librarian, at repinski@gwm.sc.edu or 777-3392.

SmartCILP is a customizable, electronic version of CILP that allows you to specify the particular subjects (e.g., civil rights, natural resources) and law review tables of contents that you wish to receive. After users register and create an individual user profile they will receive a weekly email of results.

To create your SmartCILP user profile:
  1. Go to http://depts.washington.edu/scilp/scilp3.cgi.
  2. Fill in your name, email address, affiliation (University of South Carolina), and authorization code (to get an authorization code, contact the Law Library Reference Desk at lawref@gwm.sc.edu or 777-5902).
  3. Mark your selections by clicking in the boxes to the left of any of the following items:
    • Topic Headings (clusters of subjects and law reviews)
    • Individual Subject Headings
    • Individual Journal Titles
  4. Complete the process by clicking on the Next button and then the Accept button.
  5. You can edit your user profile or unsubscribe at any time by filling out the form again (to unsubscribe simply deselect your choices).

To see a SmartCILP sample page go to http://lib.law.washington.edu/cilp/sample.html.
Note: CILP and SmartCILP are sold as subscriptions to law schools, law firms, and others. Please do not forward CILP or SmartCILP to other parties.

USC Law School Faculty Only:
To request copies of articles listed in CILP or SmartCILP, copy and paste the information about the article into an email message to Karen Taylor, Head of Circulation, at taylorkg@gwm.sc.edu. The law review issue will be checked out and delivered to you so that your research assistant may copy the article you want. To determine if the article you want is already available online, click on the highlighted Westlaw (W) or LexisNexis (L) links which appear in the results. Note that the links act as searches; if the database vendor has not added the article associated with the link you will receive an error message.

LexisNexis and Westlaw
LexisNexis Alert (LexisNexis) and WestClip (Westlaw) are current awareness services that automatically run predefined Terms and Connectors searches on a specified schedule (e.g., daily, weekly). The results of the searches can be emailed, printed, or viewed online. WestClips and LexisNexis Alerts can be modified or deleted at any time. KeyCite Alert is a service provided by Westlaw that monitors the status of a chosen case, statute, regulation, or administrative decision.

LexisNexis Alert
To set up a LexisNexis Alert complete the following steps after you have run a search in a selected database:
  1. Click on the "Save as Alert" link at the top of the screen.
  2. Fill in a name for the Alert.
  3. Select the desired settings (e.g., frequency, delivery method).
  4. Click "Save."
  5. Click "Save" to confirm Alert.
To see a list of all of your Alerts, click on the "Alerts" tab at the top of the screen and then select the "Alert" folder.

WestClip
WestClip queries can be set up either by creating an original WestClip or by creating a WestClip after you have run a search in a selected database and received a results list.

To create an original WestClip:
  1. Click the "Alert Center" drop-down link in the upper right hand side of the screen.
  2. Click the "Create Entry" link on the "WestClip" line.
  3. Under "Entry Details", fill in a name for the Clip, the desired database, and your search.
  4. Under "Delivery Settings", click on the "Edit" link to select frequency, etc. (click "Save" if you do this step).
  5. Click "Save".

To create a WestClip after you have run a search in a selected database and received a results list:
  1. Click on the "Add Search to WestClip" link in the upper left hand side of the screen.
  2. Under "Entry Details", fill in a name for the Clip, the desired database, and your search.
  3. Under "Delivery Settings", click on the "Edit" link to select frequency, etc. (click "Save" if you do this step).
  4. Click "Save".

For more information, click on the "Alert Center" drop-down link in the upper right hand side of the screen and then click the "Tips" link on the WestClip line, or, go to the Westlaw product page for WestClip.

KeyCite Alert
KeyCite Alert queries can be set up either by creating an original KeyCite Alert or by creating a KeyCite Alert after you have KeyCited a citation and received a results list.

To create an original KeyCite Alert:
  1. Click the "Alert Center" drop-down link in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
  2. Click the "Create Entry" link on the "KeyCite Alert" line.
  3. Enter the citation for the document you want to monitor and click "Go".
  4. Under "Entry Details", mark your desired selections.
  5. Under "Delivery Settings", click on the "Edit" link to select frequency, etc. (click "Save" if you do this step).
  6. Click "Save"

OR
  1. Click the "KeyCite" link in the top center of the screen.
  2. Enter the citation for the document you want to monitor and click "Go".
  3. Once your result appears, click on the "Monitor with KeyCite Alert" link on the left hand side of the screen.
  4. Using the "Next" button, follow the steps in the KeyCite Alert Wizard and click "Finish" when done to save your Alert.

To create a KeyCite Alert after you have KeyCited a citation and received a results list:
  1. Click on the "Monitor with KeyCite Alert" link on the left hand side of the screen.
  2. Using the "Next" button, follow the steps in the KeyCite Alert Wizard and click "Finish" when done.

For more information, click on the "Alert Center" drop-down link in the upper right hand side of the screen and then click the "Tips" link on the KeyCite Alert line, or, go to the Westlaw product page for KeyCite Alert.

BNA Publications
BNA E-Mail - News
Law School faculty may sign up for e-mail highlights from any of the services the Law Library subscribes to through the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA). To manage your e-mail preferences, simply follow the BNA link above to select from an alphabetical listing of BNA news services, from ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual to WTO Reporter. The e-mails will arrive in your inbox daily, weekly, or biweekly, depending upon the particular services you select. To get the username and password to access BNA off-campus, contact the Law Library Reference Desk at lawref@gwm.sc.edu or 777-5902.

Scholarly Working Papers

SSRN and LSN
SSRN, the Social Science Research Network, includes abstracts and full-text documents of scholarly working papers organized by major fields (e.g., law, economics). The website uses a searchable database containing abstracts of over 108,000 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers; almost 81,000 of the abstracts link to downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and are generally free.

LSN, the Legal Scholarship Network, is the topical component of SSRN that focuses specifically on research in law. In addition to including abstracts of working papers and articles accepted for publication, LSN also publishes weekly announcements that include professional meetings, calls for papers, and special issues of journals.

To subscribe to SSRN and LSN:
  1. Go to www.ssrn.com.
  2. Click the "Legal Scholarship Network" button on the left side of the screen.
  3. Click on "Subscribe to LSN Journals".
  4. Click on "Subscribe/Unsubscribe to SSRN Journals", fill in the required information, and click Submit.

bePress Legal Repository
The bePress Legal Repository, a part of the Berkeley Electronic Press, is a network of law-related working papers posted from law schools, institutes, and other subject-appropriate groups. The working papers are organized both by institution (e.g., University of Virginia,) and subject area (e.g., Environmental Law) and can be browsed or searched. To access the bePress Legal Repository, click the above link. If you would like to receive general alerts of new working papers via email, click the "Join Our Mailing List" button on the right side of the screen; you can also set up alerts by assigned subjects or keyword searches.

Library Services

New Acquisitions List
A list of new library acquisitions is compiled monthly. This list is automatically sent to faculty by email and is also posted on the Cocky Law Blawg. To request that materials from the list be routed to you, complete the form that accompanies the e-mail and send it to Karen Taylor, Access Services Librarian, via inter-office mail or to taylork@gwm.sc.edu.

Print Journal Routing
The law library will route newly received issues of law reviews and journals to faculty upon request. To add your name to the routing list for a specific journal, contact Vickie Laughlin at 777-1183 or laughlvc@gwm.sc.edu.

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