Guide to Columbia Law Library Services and Policies

Covered beverages and small snacks are permitted in the quiet study space in WJW 105.

No meals or hot food. Please be respectful of study spaces and fellow patrons by cleaning up after yourself, reporting spills, and disposing of trash in appropriate receptacles. 

Please do not make or receive a phone call in the WJW study space.

Students may borrow materials from the Law Library for one semester by bringing them to the Circulation Desk in WJW 101 to check out. Some items, however, do not circulate, including:

• damaged items
• special collections materials

All borrowed materials must be returned to the Law Library Circulation Desk in WJW 101.

Items may be renewed in person or online by viewing your patron record in Pegasus. For further information about your Law Library account, please contact the Circulation Desk.

Your Law Library books do not appear on your CLIO account; we do not use the same circulation system as the other Columbia University Libraries. 

By using the Law Library’s electronic resources, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by its Electronic Resource Use Policy.

The Law Library provides access to many electronic resources in its collections. Some of these resources are available on-site only; some are available remotely to the Law School community via proxy, VPN, or individual login; some are made available to the wider Columbia University community.

Access to electronic resources through the Law Library is governed by the following:

• University, Law School, and Law Library policies
• Contractual license and terms of service agreements with publishers and vendors
• Copyright law

The following actions constitute violations of appropriate use:

• Systematic or substantial downloading or printing of content. Please be aware that downloading an entire issue of a journal or an entire book is often viewed as systematic downloading. The use of spider or crawler programs to capture content is prohibited. Research often involves textual analysis of collections of materials; please consult with the Law Library about clearing such activities with database providers.
• Sharing content with unauthorized users. Sharing content or access to content outside the Columbia community may be seen as a violation.
• Altering content or creating derivative content.
• Use of content or access to content for commercial purposes.
• Any activity that may infringe or obfuscate the copyright notice or statement associated with the content.

Violators may be contacted by a representative of the Columbia University Libraries, the director of the Law Library, the dean of students of the Law School, Law School Information Technology, or Columbia University Information Technology. Violators’ access to the resource in question or to all Law Library-provided licensed electronic resources may be terminated. Please be aware that, for some violations, the vendor or publisher of the resource may terminate access unilaterally and for all members of the university community until the Law Library responds to the complaint.

If you believe you have a legitimate need to use a Law Library resource in a fashion that may constitute a violation, or you are not sure if your need would constitute a violation, please contact the Reference Librarian on duty for assistance.

More information:
Computing, Network, and Information Policies 
Law School IT Policies
Copyright Advisory Office of Columbia University