Welcome to Georgetown Law! This guide includes information about getting ready for class, where to study, Law Library locations to know, and practical tips to make your life easier.
We can't wait to help you with using the Law Library's services. We're here to help, so please ask if you have any questions!
We will be offering Law Library Tours for new students during the week of Orientation. Tours meet in the Atrium of the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library building and take approximately 30 minutes.
Sign up for a Law Library tour (registration required).
We will also be hosting a Research Fair on Tuesday, August 20 from 11:00am to 4:00pm in the Law Library's Atrium. Stop by to meet your librarians and vendor representatives for the legal research platforms Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw. Special Collections will be open to view rare books and archival materials related to the law and legal history.
If you have any questions, please email the Reference Desk. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made to the Law Library's Reference Desk at least 2 business days before the scheduled tour or Research Fair.
New students will receive an email from the Law Library during Orientation with registration information for legal research platforms Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law.
Please register immediately for all three services and always use your Georgetown email as the contact email. First year J.D. students will need these before the first Legal Practice: Writing & Analysis class. The email from the Law Library will be sent to your Georgetown email address. If you do not see the email in your inbox or spam folder, please contact the Law Library's Reference Desk in-person, or by Chatting with a Librarian, emailing the Reference Desk, or calling the Reference Desk (202.662.9140).
For more information about use policies for the platforms during the school year or over the summer, please see our Lexis, Westlaw & Bloomberg Law webpage.
You can view the books that your professors have selected for your classes on the Georgetown Law Bookstore website (check the Law Center's Curriculum Guide for course information). You can buy the books directly from the Bookstore's website, or you can use the ISBN listed to find the exact same edition at any online bookseller or ebook vendor.
For assistance with Canvas, please contact the Information Systems Technology Service Desk at caphelp@georgetown.edu. For assistance with TWEN, please call the TWEN Support Line at 1-800-850-9378.
Electronic. The Law Library subscribes to West Academic Study Aids. The West Academic study aids platform includes Nutshells, Concepts & Insights, the Law Stories series, Hornbooks, Gilbert Law Summaries, Sum & Substance, and several others. For a step-by-step instructional video for accessing the platform, please view Electronic Study Aids.
There are two ways to access this platform:
West also has a quick-start guide for their Study Aids collection as well as instructions for offline reading.
Print. A wide selection of current-edition hornbooks, nutshells, and other study aids is available in the Reading Room Study Aids collection on the 2nd Floor of the Law Library. Because they are so popular, these books must be used in the Reading Room. Search the Law Library's catalog for older editions that can be checked out.
The Law Library maintains an electronic collection of past Law Center exams. Exams from the previous five years for current faculty are available in the Past Exams database (NetID required).
CALI provides hundreds of interactive legal instructional lessons on a wide variety of topics at all academic levels. New students will receive an email from the Law Library during Orientation with a registration code. Students who do not receive a code or need a new one should go to CALI Lessons for Students.
The Georgetown Law Student Bar Association (SBA) maintains an outline and syllabus bank (NetID required).
The main floor of the Law Library, where you enter the building, is the 2nd Floor, pictured above. Here are some key locations to know on that floor:
Other library locations to know include...
View a complete map of each floor of the Law Library.
For an overview of the Quiet Zones, Community Zones, and Collaborative Zones in the Law Library, see Noise Zones. The Law Library strives to offer a range of supportive learning environments. The success of this depends on all users honoring these noise zone designations and being kind and respectful to those around them.
The Reading Room is a popular place to study and is a designated Quiet Zone. The Reading Room Mezzanine on the 3rd Floor is also a Quiet Zone.
Open carrel seating is available on the 3rd Floor (West), 4th Floor, 5th Floor, and in the Reading Room Mezzanine on a first-come, first-served basis. See Study Carrels & Research Shelves for more information.
Several study carrels on the 4th Floor are also available for short-term reservations by using the Study Space Booking System. Reservations may be made up to one week in advance and up to eight hours per day.
Group Study Rooms on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Floors may be booked through the Study Space Booking System. Reservations for larger rooms may be made by three or more students for a period of three hours per group, per day. For smaller Zoom Rooms (Scholar Studies), reservations may be made by one or two students for a period of three hours per day. Reservations for Group Study Rooms may be made up to one week in advance while Zoom Rooms may be reserved up to two days in advance.
An Open Collaborative Area is located on the 1st Floor, which includes a mix of tables, standing desks, soft seating, and rolling whiteboards. No advance registration is needed to use the Open Collaborative Area.
The Loewinger Lounge (on the 2nd Floor at the West end of the Reading Room) and the Atrium Lounge on the 5th Floor have comfortable, plush chairs and ottomans. Consult the Law Library floor maps for their specific locations.
| Georgetown Law Library Book | Use the "Place hold for pickup" option in the Law Library's catalog after signing into your library account. You can also retrieve books from the stacks and use the self-checkout kiosk. |
| Book from a Local Academic Library (including Lauinger Library on the main campus) | Use the "Request book from a Local Academic Library" option in the Law Library's catalog after signing into your library account (remember to change the search scope to "Georgetown Univ. + Local Academic Libraries"). |
| Books, chapters, and articles not owned by or accessible at Georgetown Law Library | Submit an Interlibrary Loan request. Please note that we are not able to borrow casebooks, textbooks, or study aids for required course readings through Interlibrary Loan. |
See a list of frequently used databases or search the full collection of databases available to you through the Law Library. For database-related issues, refer to our guide to troubleshooting database connection problems and send us details of problems you cannot resolve.
Find a list of treatises and study aids organized by legal subject area.
Start with our research guides to identify resources by topic or jurisdiction.
New researchers of U.S. law may be interested in our Introduction to U.S. Legal Research guide and Bluebook guide.
Schedule an individual research consultation with a librarian for help with your papers or other research projects. A librarian will contact you within two business days of receiving your request to set up a meeting and will prepare for your topic. Consultations are generally scheduled Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, but we are happy to make special arrangements if you let us know.
Get more advice from fellow students and recent grads here!