Guide to Columbia Law Library Services and Policies

Covered beverages and small snacks are permitted in most areas of the Law Library.

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

• Please do not eat or drink in the Computer Lab on the 2nd Floor or in the stacks next to books.

If you need to make or receive a phone call, please take it either outside of the Law Library or in the scanner corridor on the 4th floor. 

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

• items placed on reserve for a course
• items located in the Core Collection Reading Room or Reference Office
• primary law sources
• damaged items
• special collections materials

All borrowed materials must be returned to the Law Library. If you return a Law Library item to any other library, you will be responsible for any fines or replacement costs for the item.

Items may be renewed in person at the Circulation Desk 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. 

Columbia Law Library Study Rooms

• Study rooms can be reserved by current Columbia Law affiliates only.

• Study rooms may be reserved for up to two hours each day per individual using the room.

  • Reservations may be extended up to 1 hour, subject to availability, by visiting the circulation desk. 

• Study rooms can be booked up to 3 days in advance. 

Study Rooms

Room 209
Location: Next to the bottom of the stairs leading from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor
Occupancy: 6
Available: Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 10:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am to 7:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am to 10:30pm

Room 207
Location: Next to the library elevator on the 2nd floor
Occupancy: 5
Available: Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 10:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am to 7:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am to 10:30pm

Room 200N2

Location: In the NW corner of the 2nd floor, next to the Systems Office
Occupancy: 6
Available: Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 10:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am to 7:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am to 10:30pm

Room 401B

Location:4th floor
Occupancy: 5
Available: Monday to Friday: 6:00pm to 10:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am to 7:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am to 10:30pm

Handler Room (Rare Book Room)
Location: 3rd floor near the Circulation Desk
Occupancy: 6
Available: Monday to Friday: 8:30am to 10:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am to 7:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am to 10:30pm

To begin your study room reservation booking, please use the link below.

The Core Collection Reading Room, on the third floor, is limited to law students only, who enter by swiping through a turnstile using their CUID.

Books shelved in the Core Collection Reading Room may not be checked out, but may only be used within the Law Library.

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