Library Tour for University of London LLM students

Library Tour for University of London LLM students Institute of Advanced Legal Studies 2004

Introduction • Welcome to the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library • This tour by PowerPoint aims to give you a brief introduction to Library services to new University of London LLM students. • It follows coverage of a normal 20 minute tour around the Library given by Library staff at the beginning of each academic year

Main users of the Library (1) • The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies is a postgraduate law institute of the University of London. • The main day-to-day users of the Library are postgraduate students from the various University of London colleges • It is also used by research students and academic staff from around the world

Main users of the Library (2) • Practising lawyers also use the Library on payment of a fee • Undergraduate students and students doing their professional qualifications are not admitted to the Library

Opening hours • Opening hours are 9am - 8pm Monday- Friday and 10am - 5.30pm on Saturday. The Library is closed on Sundays • These opening hours remain the same throughout the summer • The Library is closed for a few days over Christmas and New Year and at Easter

Entrance and exit • The Library entrance and exit are on the 4th floor of the building • You will always need your Library card to come in to the Library. You simply need to swipe it through the turnstile. • There is a £1 charge if you forget you card and a £5 charge for a replacement if you lose your card

The dos and don’ts • You are welcome to bring bags and coats into the Library but you can hire a locker for £5 for the year if you wish. Simply ask at the ground floor entrance desk. • Mobile phones must be switched off before coming into the Library. • Food and drink is not allowed in the Library.

Noticeboards • There is an LLM noticeboard next to the main lifts on the 4th floor which has the LLM timetable, any amendments eg room changes, class cancellations and any Library notices relevant to LLM students. • There is also a more general Library noticeboard just inside the turnstile on the left-hand side

Subject guides – printed and online • There are around 20 printed subject guides which are aimed mainly to help new LLM students. They cover subjects like EU law, International Economic Law, Commercial Law etc. Copies of these are available to pick up in the Library entrance area. • There is also a new and growing series of online subject guides on the website which aim to introduce students to useful printed and electronic resources for their subject.

Other Library guides – printed and online • There are a number of printed Library guides available in the library including Finding your way round the Library, Finding Journal articles, Finding cases and legislation as well as guides on our electronic information services, and on connecting your computer laptops and using email • There are also a number of online library guides on our website to finding different types of legal information

Issue & enquiry desk • The issue & enquiry desk is located on the 4th floor in the Library Concourse area. It is staffed by 2 librarians throughout the library opening hours. It closes 15 minutes before the Library closes each day. • It is the only enquiry point in the Library. • Do ask at the desk if you are having difficulties finding the materials you need.

LLM material • We aim to make available all of the law texts which appear on LLM reading lists. Some of the interdisciplinary titles may be available at the relevant college Library. • If you are unable to find a particular title in the Library do fill out a recommendation form on the 4th floor or let us know at the issue & enquiry desk.

Short loan & offprint collection (1) • The Short loan collection is held behind the issue & enquiry desk. It contains the most heavily used core textbooks on LLM reading lists and a few journal and law report titles. • You simply need to ask at the desk for items by author and title.

Short loan & offprint collection (2) • The offprint collection is held at the issue & enquiry desk and is a collection of copies of journal articles, law reports etc which have been deposited by lecturers for particular LLM courses. They are arranged in number order. • You can search for offprints in the catalogue by keyword or by course name and you simply need to ask for offprints by number at the desk.

Borrowing from the Short loan & offprint collection • You can borrow 2 textbooks from the Short loan collection, up to 5 journal volumes and 5 offprints at one time. • All material from the Short loan and offprint collection is issued for 3 hours at a time. After 4.45pm (2.15pm Sat) the textbooks can be borrowed overnight until 10am (11am Sat).

Borrowing from the main collection • You can borrow 2 books from the main collection for one day at a time. Books are due back by 7.45pm (5.15pm Sat) the following day, or Monday if borrowed on Saturday. • These books can be renewed up to 3 times, reservations permitting, either at the enquiry desk or offsite via the Library catalogue

Reference material • Material which is for reference use in the Library only includes: • journals • law reports • series of legislation • looseleafs • Items with the classmark RF

Library catalogue (1) • This is quite likely to be the first place you look to see whether the Library holds the material you need. • There are several dedicated catalogue terminals in the Library but it is also possible to access our catalogue from any PC with internet access. It is available on our website

Library catalogue (2) • The catalogue contains all book and journal titles. • The search options include Author, Title, Keyword, Subject heading etc. • It is often worth trying more than one type of search if your first one is unsuccessful. For instance try a keyword search if an exact title search was unsuccessful.

Library catalogue (3) • When you have found the title you are looking for the catalogue entry will show you a classmark such as SG75 HIG. You can use our floor directories or the Finding your way round the Library guide to find out which floor that classmark is on. • Please note that the catalogue includes the holdings of several other institutes so you may need to check that the location is IALS.

Library catalogue (4) • You may come across the following classmark entries on the catalogue: • FOL - This stands for folio and means the item is a larger volume shelved across the corridor from the main collection on the relevant floor. • Depository - this means the item is held in our closed basement. You simply need to request the item by filling out a blue form at the desk. Material can be collected within 15 minutes.

Other Library catalogues • There are links from our Library catalogue front page (in the Other Resources menu) to union catalogues which may be useful if you wish to see whether a title which we do not have is held elsewhere. • These include the Union List of Serials and InforM25 covering academic libraries in the London area and the national COPAC.

List of serials - printed • The list of serials is a useful quick reference tool. It is an alphabetical wall list of all of our current serial titles (including journals, law reports, legislation). • All of the same information is available in our catalogue but the list of serials can speed up your search. It gives you the relevant classmark and floor of the Library.

List of serials - online • The list of serials is also available on our website via the electronic law library The web list also has links to any available electronic version of a title which we hold in paper form. • The list does NOT include titles which we don’t have in paper form but which may be contained within one of the databases. For these you need to search the individual databases Lexis, Westlaw and HeinOnline.

Legal abbreviations • You need the full title of a journal or law report to search for it in the list of serials or in the catalogue. • If you need to find out the full title of an abbreviated serial on your reading list eg All E R try the selected list of abbreviations at the front of the list of serials or the web Cardiff index to legal abbreviations.

Electronic information services (1) • Most of the Library PCs are located on the 4th floor (on the Concourse and in the Electronic Information Unit). All PCs are open access with no passwords required. They work on a first come first served basis. • All PCs have access to the same resources including internet access, access to all of our electronic resources, word processing

Electronic information services (2) • The main gateway through to our electronic resources is the IALS electronic law library. You will find an icon for this page on every PC desktop. • The electronic law library lists all of our electronic resources alphabetically with links to each one.

Electronic information services (3) • Some electronic resources are available onsite only. This includes Lexis and Westlaw databases. • The reason is that you can get offsite access to many legal databases via your own college library (usually an Athens password). Simply ask at your college library for details.

Electronic information services (4) • The databases to which we do offer offsite access for UL postgraduate students are: • HeinOnline database of US law journals • Justis.com databases – including Celex, UK Statutes and Weekly law reports • Butterworths direct services - including All England Direct and Legislation Direct • Lawtel UK database of summaries of UK cases, legislation and journal articles • Casetrack database of unreported UK cases

Laptops • Laptop computers can be connected at points all around the Library with the exception of one designated area on the 2nd floor. • It is possible to access all IALS web based resources via laptops. • Refer to the Connecting your computer laptop guide for assistance.

Printing • There are networked printers on the Library Concourse, in the Electronic Information Unit and on floor L2. • You need to purchase a copycard first (see photocopying section below) • Simply send your job to print, make a note of the PC number you are at eg Reader12, go to any one of the printers with your copy card and follow the instructions provided.

Photocopying (1) • Most of the Library photocopiers are located on the 4th floor. There is one down on floor L2. • You can bring material up from other library floors to be photocopied but please return it to the reshelving shelves opposite the Library lift on the relevant floor when you have finished.

Photocopying (2) • You will need to buy a copy card before making either photocopies or printing. • You can buy a plastic copy card for £1 from a dispensing machine by the 4th floor photocopiers. It has 18 units on it. • You can re-charge this card with coins or notes in revaluators next to the dispensing machine. 18 units are added for every £1.

And finally… • I hope you find the IALS Library services useful to you during your LLM course. • If you have any queries about Library resources and services do ask at the Issue & enquiry desk or contact us on ials@sas.ac.uk.

Library Tour for University of London LLM students