Using the Library During Final Exams

Please extend special courtesies to your colleagues during final exams.

Food & Drink

Food, including candy and other snacks, is not permitted in the Library. Food attracts insects and roaches which stay to eat the books. Beverages may only be brought into the Library in spill-proof containers like car cups. Please note that Styrofoam or paper cups with lids and water or soda bottles with screw type caps do not qualify as spill-proof containers.

Cell Phones

The Law Library is a quiet study environment.  Please step outside into the atrium lounge for cell phone conversations. Cell phones and pagers may not be used in the Law Library to make or receive calls or to check messages. Please turn off the ring feature on your cell phone or pager so the noise doesn’t disturb other patrons. 

Carrels & Study Rooms

The ten study rooms located on the Law Library’s second and third floors are dedicated for group study.   A study room may be reserved through the law school's web page at http://www.iulaw.indy.indiana.edu/ under the tab at the top entitled “Current Students.” Reservations by a single group are limited to a maximum of two hours per day, and they may not be made more than one day in advance.  Study rooms that have not been reserved are available on a first-come, first-served basis. All library policies apply in the study rooms.

Computer Labs

The Law School has three computer labs for student use. Two of the computer labs, Rooms 235D and 235G, are located on the second floor of the Law Library. Room 235E can be entered from the classroom wing on the second floor. All of the computers require that you log in with your IU ID and password.  The law school computer labs are managed by the University Information Technology department.  Any questions regarding problems with the computer labs should be directed toward the IT department.

Note library closing dates and special hours

Personal Safety and Securing Your Belongings

Do not leave laptop computers, book bags, purses, or other items unattended anywhere in the library.  If you find personal items left anywhere in the building, turn them in to Therese Kamm at the Receptionist’s Desk in the atrium.  Therese will post Lost & Found notices on the law school listservs.   If you do not feel safe leaving the law school, Contact the Campus Police for an escort.

Police:  274-7911     

Escort service:  274-SAFE  (7233)

Library Hours - Fall 2008

News You Can Use - Exam Resources

Need help studying for exams?  Check out the Law Library's display - Thanksgiving for the Abundance ... of Exam Prep Resources!

Indiana University School of Law -- Indianapolis Exams

Some exams from IU law professors are available on the Ruth Lilly Law Library website at http://indylaw.indiana.edu/library/examfiles.html or on reserve.

Access to these exams is restricted to IU students. To access exams available on the website, you will need to logon with your IU username and password.

The exams are arranged by course name or the name of the professor.  The Law Library relies on professors to submit electronic copies of their exams for this collection. Please contact your professor to inquire about the availability of previous exams that are not available in the Law Library.

Other Collections of Exams

Several law schools and libraries maintain freely available collections of their school's exams. For lists of links see Findlaw, Law School Exams and Jurist, Law School Exams.

Preparing for & Taking Exams

The following materials can assist you in your exam preparation:

• William R. Andersen, Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure. This is a CALI lesson. To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Ronald Brown & Joseph Grohman, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 2 (podcast).  This is a CALI podcast.  To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Scott Burnham,  Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (podcast).  This is a CALI podcast.  To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Ann M. Burkhart & Robert A. Stein, Law School Success in a Nutshell: A Guide to Studying Law and Taking Law School Exams (2d ed. 2008). Display (normally Reserves) KF283 .B87 2008
• Charles R. Calleros, Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win (2007). Display  (Normally Stacks) KF283 .C35 2007
• John C. Dernbach, Writing Essay Exams to Succeed (Not Just to Survive) (2d ed. 2007). Display (Normally Stacks) KF283 .D47 2007
• John C. Dernbach, A Practical Guide to Writing Law School Essay Exams (2001). Reserves KF283 .D47 2001
• Ronald Eades, John Farago & Patrick Wiseman, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 1 (podcast).  This is a CALI podcast.  To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Barbara Glesner Fines, Exam Preparation Strategies
• Richard Michael Fischl and Jeremy Paul, Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams (1999). KF283 .F47 1999
• John H. Langbien, Writing Law Examinations
• Jennifer Martin, Top  10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay (podcast).  This is a CALI podcast.  To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Carol Nygren, Using Professors' Old Exams To Prepare
• Carol Nygren, Confronting Your Final Exam - Torts
• Jerry J. Phillips, Thirteen Rules for Taking Law Exams, 72 Tenn. L. Rev. 797 (2005).
• Daryl Wilson, Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students: Panel 3 (podcast).  This is a CALI podcast.  To obtain a password to register and use CALI, contact a reference librarian.
• Patrick Wiseman, "When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It," and Other Sage Advice for First-Time Law School Exam Takers, 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 653 (2006). 

Spotlight on the BNA International Environment Reporter

The International Environment Reporter is published by the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), a longstanding publisher of legal materials in environmental law.  This resource helps researchers understand the environment and safety news, laws, regulations, and policies in all major industrialized and developing countries and international governmental and nongovernmental organizations.  It is a reference source that provides news, analysis, guidance, and primary source material to our faculty and students.  Our law library subscribes to this web product, and it is available at http://news.bna.com/ieln/. 

The BNA International Environment Reporter helps researchers find out about global environmental legislation before it becomes law.  BNA researchers track proposed legislation and regulations before they are enacted or later amended.  It also enables practitioners to avoid costly fines for non-compliance with the legal provisions of other countries.

Additionally, the International Environment Reporter helps researchers follow the development of the directives of the European Union, United Nations, International Maritime Organization, and Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development.  BNA editors become aware of what is on the agenda in international legislatures, regulatory agencies, and organizations, and they prepare information that addresses the emerging issues.

With the International Environment Reporter, you can also locate key agencies and officials in charge of environmental and safety laws, regulations, and policies in individual countries and organizations.  You can access hard-to-find materials from around the world, not otherwise readily available.  News, essential documents, expert analysis, and other materials are available from this source.  BNA uses a global network of reporters and correspondents to provide subscribers with a current perspective on developing international environmental and safety laws and standards.

The Advance Search feature allows one to search the International Environment Reporter and the Indexes to the International Environment  Reporter simultaneously.  After you run your search and your search results are returned, you may split the screen and see your results on the left-hand side of the screen and the full-text of the document on the right-hand of the screen.

With the International Environment Reporter, faculty and students have various searching options.  They can search the full-text of all of the issues published from February 4, 1998 until today or search the index of all of those issues for their topic of interest.   With the Advanced Search, users can search both the full-text and the index of all issues as shown below.  In the example below, the search phrase, “rainforests and sustainable /s development” with no restrictions was used. 

There is an archive of back issues that you can access to February 7, 1996, however, to search issues between February 7, 1996 and February 18, 1998, researchers must use the special Search articles link in the Advanced Search form.

Major topics covered by this important resource include most of today’s important environmental issues, such as biological diversity, biotechnology, carbon taxes, climate change, environmental impact assessment, greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous waste cleanup, industrial auditing, NAFTA, ozone depletion, rainforests, sustainable development, transboundary pollution, and waste management.  BNA includes a Quick Reference card link for subscribers that reviews all of the features of the product.  There is also a quick product tour for subscribers that reviews these features.  Both of these features are links on the International Environment Reporter homepage under the “Getting Started” corner.

Did You Know -- International Law Encyclopaedia

One of the Law Library’s best resources for researching foreign and comparative law subject matter is the International Encyclopaedia of Laws (IEL).  The IEL collection is a series of loose-leaf publications currently covering 25 distinct areas of law.  Each encyclopedia on a major field of law contains monographs that describe how the law of each national system governs that field.

The Law Library collection includes these encyclopedia titles:

• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts
• Criminal Law
• Environmental Law
• Insurance Law
• Medical Law
• Social Security Law
• Tort Law
• Transport Law

Each monograph includes detailed historical background, an introduction to the legal framework, and in-depth analysis of relevant legislation.  Subject indexes within each monograph provide useful reference aids.  A detailed topical table of contents for each monograph facilitates country-to-country and subject-to-subject comparisons.  For some volumes, primary legislation as well as the most important relevant case law from international courts has been included.

Because international law supersedes national law in many areas, some subsets also include international monographs.  International monographs supplement the national collection, providing details about supranational organizations that affect the field or a comparative perspective of the field.

The national monographs are drafted by experts in each field.  The international monographs are written by lawyers who work in the organizations they describe (e.g., the European Union, the International Labour Organization, the League of Arab States, and the World Health Organization).

These titles can be found through an IUCat search using the term “international encyclopaedia of laws” or by browsing in the subject areas of the library shelves on the 3rd floor.

Useful "Business Services" Outside of the Law Library

University Library provides the following useful "business services:"

• Change (under $20)
• Fax service ($1/page)
• Scanners ($1/page)
• Color printers & photo printers (no color copier) 
• Dual-sided copies (one page at a time)
• Office supplies for sale – disks, flash drives, pens, etc. 
• Closest JagTag machine
  

Color printing is also available at:

• Eskenazi Hall (Herron)
• Nursing
• Business/SPEA
• Informatics & Communications Technology Complex (across Vermont Street)

Scanners are also available at:

• Business/SPEA
• Informatics & Communications Technology Complex

For large copy projects and other services:
FedEx/Kinko’s
120 Monument Circle

Recently Asked Questions

Q.  How do I get a book from another library?

A. Students may place online requests to obtain most books located at most other IU libraries without using traditional interlibrary loan methods or filling out a form. This service is called Request Delivery.  You must log on to IUCat using your IU ID and Password in order to use Request Delivery. When you find a title that is owned by another library that you would like to check out, click on the Request Delivery link located on the right side of the screen. Select Indpls - Ruth Lilly Law Library as your pick-up library and click on the Request Delivery button.  The book will be delivered to the Law Library and you will be notified when it comes.  Please remember that all library communications are sent to your IUPUI email account so be sure and check it regularly or forward it to an email account that you do check regularly.

ILL (interlibrary loan) for books and articles that the library does not own is available through ILLiad.  You can logon and place your interlibrary loan request or create a profile (first time users of ILLiad must create a profile before using it) at: http://ill.ulib.iupui.edu/ILLiad/ILI/logon.html.  

Q.  How do I access databases from off-campus?

A. Some online resources are restricted to “in the library” use only due to the vendor’s licensing agreement, but many of the Library’s databases may be accessed remotely.  When you select the resource you want to use, you will be presented with an authentication page requiring you to input your IU ID and password.

Another method of authentication is to log in through a VPN (Virtual Private Network).  Logging in through a VPN allows your computer to be recognized as if you were on campus and can save you from having to login every time you access campus online resources.   The easiest way to set up a VPN on your computer is to use the VPN installers provided by UITS:  http://iuware.iu.edu/list.aspx?id=134.

Q.  Why can’t I find this 1982 law review article on Westlaw or Lexis?

A. The law review databases on Westlaw and Lexis, with only a few exceptions, don’t go back beyond the early 1990s. Use HeinOnline for older law review articles.

Librarian and Staff News

Several of the law librarians on the Ruth Lilly Law Library staff have made significant contributions to the profession or attended conferences during 2008.Below is a summary of contributions made by several of them, or attendance at meetings:

Judith Ford Anspach, Professor of Law and Director, attended the Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark Law School on October 17 - 19, 2008.

Susan Boland, Head of Information Services, attended the 2008 Indiana Library Federation (ILF) Conference in November in Indianapolis.  She also gave a presentation at the Mid-American Law Library Association’s annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The name of the session was “Life on a Stick: Traveling Light with Portable Software Applications.”

Debra Denslaw, Reference Librarian and Circulation Supervisor, is currently vice-chair of the Indiana Library Federation’s Interlibrary Loan & Circulation Division, as well as chair of the Indiana University Library Faculty Council’s Faculty Standards Committee. She offered a program—“An Interdisciplinary Approach: Finding and Using Law Resources”—at the Indiana Library Federation’s 2008 annual conference.  The hour-long presentation introduced sources of the law and sources explaining the law to academic librarians working in non-law disciplines and to public librarians seeking free sources for public patrons.

Chris Long, Catalog Librarian, (with Rachel Applegate), wrote an article entitled “Bridging the Gap in Digital Library Continuing Education: How Librarians Who Were Not ‘Born Digital’ Are Keeping Up” which was published in Library Administration and Management 22:4 (Fall 2008): 172-182.

Steve Miller, Reference Librarian, presented the topic, “Effective In-Class, Instructional Techniques for the Next Generation,” at the Indiana Library Federation’s Annual Conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center on November, 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.  The 50-minute, presentation was given from a teaching librarian’s perspective.  Steve shared some of his experiences since beginning to teach formally in the classroom at Northwestern in the spring semester of 2000.  Steve presented to a broad audience of school librarians and educators who have been grappling with the issue of students who are overwhelmed with an increasing amount of online information and are often distracted by their perceived need to multitask in the classroom.    

Steve also spoke about defending library materials for about 15 minutes at the Indiana Library Federation’s Annual Conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center last Thursday, November 20, as part of a panel discussion about intellectual freedom.

Mahnaz Moshfegh, Acquisitions and Serials Librarian, presented, as part of a panel discussion, the use of “Interns in Library Technical Services Departments,” also at the 2008 Indiana Library Federation annual conference.

Miriam Murphy, Associate Director, was presenter on a panel which discussed “When to Call the Police and When Not To: Building Good Library/Police Relations” at the 2008 ILF annual conference.  She also presided over a session at the same conference dealing with the basics of podcasting in libraries.

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