Welcome

Welcome to the Ruth Lilly Law Library. We hope you will find the Library to be a comfortable setting for your legal research and study.

All Law Library staff work very hard to provide you with excellent library support and services. We want to make your law school experience as rewarding as possible and are always happy to help you with your legal research needs and to provide assistance in accessing and using library materials and information.  When you are learning how to conduct legal research, we expect to see you at the Reference Desk often.

For detailed information about hours, policies, location of materials, electronic database services, etc., please see the Law Library web page at http://indylaw.indiana.edu/library/library.htm.  To help us better meet your needs, we encourage your comments and suggestions. If you have any problems with Library services or have suggestions for improvement, I am always happy to speak with you in my office in the library, by phone at 274-3411, or via e-mail at juanspac@iupui.edu. 

The Law Library staff has been very busy this summer preparing the Library for your use. The addition of new electronic and print materials is just one example of the Law Library’s efforts. We encourage you to utilize our resources and our services.

Judith Anspach     

Fall 2011 Library Hours

Some Reminders about Library Services

Circulation and Reserve Services – Books that circulate check out for one month.  Reserve items may be checked out for two hours and used in the Law Library.  Reserve materials may be checked out for overnight use if done within one hour of the Library’s closing.

Getting materials delivered (ILLiad) - The Library will obtain any needed materials not already owned or accessible from any IU library. Use the ILLiad link on the Library main page. You will need to create your profile before you submit any requests. Requests are to be made under an individual’s name. Check to be sure the Law Library doesn’t own it, and it isn’t available through Lexis, Westlaw, or another online service (IU has access to numerous online resources).

Accessing non-law databases – University Library (IUPUI) databases are available for your use.  

Getting materials delivered (Request Delivery) - Books can be obtained from any IU library through IUCat’s Request Delivery service. Once you have logged into IUCat with your IU id, you can request a book to be delivered to the Law Library for you to pick up.

Please do not request a book before you need it and please return it on time. You will be responsible for any overdue fines or lost book charges. We are dependent on our ability to borrow from other libraries. If we don’t return their books, they won’t loan to us in the future.

Cite Checking tips -  Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations lists even the most obscure legal citation with a full explanation. 

Finding Articles by Citation - To get the full text of non-Lexis/Westlaw articles online, select ‘all’ libraries, then type in the name of the journal into IUCat. Click on the URL link on the screen and, if the full-text is available online you should be able to view the text from your browser.

For finding location (existence) of books, reports, studies, etc.:

For difficult Blue Booking questions - Use the index to the ALWD manual, to see what it says. That will often translate back into finding the correct Blue Book section. If you're desperate, go into the Westlaw TP-ALL database and type in the core part of the citation. If several notable published law reviews cite it that way, this might be a good tip.

Copiers and Printers - Copiers require a JagTag and  are located in the copier room of the first floor of the Law Library. General printing is available from the law school printers in the computer labs. Printing on the Lexis and Westlaw printers is free.

HeinOnline -  Don’t forget that, in addition to Lexis and Westlaw, you can access full-text law reviews and journals from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome?collection). You have the option of viewing articles either in pdf or html form. The pdf documents look exactly like the corresponding print. You also can use HeinOnline to search for a number of other resource collections, including state session laws, CFR and Federal Register documents, and U.S. treaty documents.

ProQuest Congressional -  If you’re searching for legislative history documents, ProQuest Congressional (formerly Lexis/Nexis Congressional Universe) is another useful resource. If you have document numbers, like the public law number, the senate or house report number, or the committee report number, you may search by those numbers, within a selected date range. If you don’t have those document numbers, you may still search by keyword or topic and limit your results by a particular date range as well.

Reference assistance -  Reference Librarians are available to assist with all research needs.

Study Rooms & Study Carrels - Study rooms are available for group study and are located on all three floors of the Law Library.  Study rooms may be reserved online using  the “Current Students” tab on the law school homepage.  Study rooms that have not been reserved are available on a first-come, first serve basis.  Students may use any carrel or table in the Law Library as long as it is unoccupied.

Food & drink are allowed in the Law Library, according to the policy posted on the Library website at http://indylaw.indiana.edu/library/policies.htm. Students are requested to clean up after themselves and to be courteous to other Library users.

The Law Library Now Subscribes to LoisLaw

The Law Library adds new subscriptions to expose students to the wide array of research services that they may use in the practice of law. The Law Library purchased a subscription to Loislaw in the spring of 2011.

Although students are readily familiar with Lexis and Westlaw, these two are not the only legal research databases on the market. There are a number of legal publishing companies that also provide caselaw and statutory searching services, like National Law Library, Quick Law America, CaseMaker, and VersusLaw. Loislaw is one such service.

Students may log into Loislaw at this link, from the Law Library’s electronic resources list:  http://www.loislaw.com/pns/index.htp?content=/pns/start.htp/. If you would like to get better acquainted with how Loislaw operates, click on the “Getting Started Tutorial” link at the bottom of the Loislaw Welcome screen. The tutorial will guide you through the research process and help you to understand what functionality Loislaw provides.

Loislaw also provides some custom design features that allow users to tailor Loislaw to their particular research needs. Keep in mind that there may be additional services from Loislaw that are not part of the law school subscription, much like the extended services on Lexis and Westlaw. If you have questions about any of these features, be sure to talk to a Reference Librarian about your options.

QR codes in the Ruth Lilly Law Library

You’ve probably seen some of these two-dimensional black-and-white barcodes throughout the Law Library, either on walls, at service points, on display cases, or even on shelves. This type of image is called a QR Code, which is short for Quick Response Code.

It contains data that you can capture from your smartphone, as long as your phone has an app loaded onto it which can read the code. You can use the following website to load an app for the QR Code onto your phone: http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-software/.


When you access a QR Code in the Law Library, it may contain a sound bite describing an artwork we own, the contents of a current display in the lobby area of the Library, an explanation of the Woodard Room for members of the bar, or a description of the first home of our law school, the Maennerchor Building.

It also can contain text, which may describe such things as how to use the JagTag machine near the circulation desk, or even how to use the Code of Federal Regulations effectively (available on the first shelf which contains the CFR). Once this type of textual data is accessed; it can also be saved on your smartphone for later reference.

Librarian and Staff News

Janice Watson, Senior Cataloging Specialist, retired from her position at the Ruth Lilly Law Library on June 30, after more than 35 years of dedicated service to libraries on the IUPUI campus. What many people may remember most about Janice are the zany skits and costumes she created for the Law School’s annual Halloween costume contest. What few people realize, though, are the contributions she made, behind the scenes, that make the Law Library a useful place for generations of students and faculty. If you have ever searched the library’s catalog for an item, found a law review article, or checked out a book, Janice almost certainly had a hand in providing that service. The Ruth Lilly Law Library staff will not only miss Janice’s diligence in her job, but also the sense of humor she brought to every situation.

Debra Denslaw, Reference Librarian, and Catherine Lemmer, Head of Information Services, presented “Teaching Legal Research Online” in the poster session of the Indiana University Librarians Day at the IUPUI University Library in Indianapolis, on June 10, 2011. They have also been invited to repeat this presentation at the Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference in Cincinnati, in October 2011.

Wendell Johnting, Cataloging and Government Documents Librarian, Kiyoshi Otsu, Automated Services and Media Librarian, and Richard Humphrey, Reference Librarian, co-presented a breakout session, titled The QR Code: What Is It? How do I Use It In My Library? at Indiana University Librarians Day, at the IUPUI University Library in Indianapolis, on June 10, 2011.  They have been invited to reprise their presentation at the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Librarians Association Annual Conference in October.

Ruth Lilly Law Library
 Lawrence W. Inlow Hall
 530 West New York Street
 Indianapolis, Indiana  46202-3325
Reference Desk - (317) 274-4026
Circulation Desk - (317) 274-4028

Hours are posted on the website and in the library.

Library hours - http://indylaw.indiana.edu/library/hours.htm
Reference hours - http://indylaw.indiana.edu/library/libservices.htm#RefHours