What’s there?
Behind the Circulation/Reference Desk are books and photocopied materials on temporary reserve and books on permanent reserve. We keep certain high-use items behind the desk (such as Kentucky Law Summary) as well as basic treatises, hornbooks, nutshells, video tapes, DVDs and CDs. Unbound current issues of law reviews and periodicals are also behind the desk.

How long may a borrower keep an item from behind the desk?
The items on reserve are there because they are used heavily and always in demand. In order to make these materials available to as many users as possible, they have a four-hour check-out limit. In addition, reserve materials must be used in the library.

NOTE: In order to make certain high-use Kentucky practice items available to everyone, the library maintains a Kentucky collection on Range F-134 on the State Side. Shelved near the KRS and the Kentucky Digest, the collection includes Kentucky
Practice and several form books.

Which Law Library materials may be checked out for longer periods?
In the library’s Basement, directly in front of the staircase, you will find the classified collection. “Classified” means that these books are arranged by topic in Library of Congress classification number order. Access to these books (and to all library materials) is through the online catalog, Minerva. Many of the books in the classified collection circulate and may be checked out at the Circulation/Reference Desk for two weeks, with two renewals of two weeks each.

What is Minerva?
Minerva is the U of L libraries’ computerized version of the traditional card catalog. Minerva offers many points of access (such as author, title, subject, keyword, or call number) for most materials in all of the university’s libraries. Not only can you find titles, call numbers, and locations with the click of a mouse, but you can access this information from any computer with Internet  access. You can access Minerva by going to the Law Library’s home page.

Minerva will tell you if the book you want is checked out and when it is due. The Law Library provides PCs on which the public can access Minerva. One is located just outside the Circulation/Reference Desk; one is in the Basement by the staircase. In addition, keep in mind that law students can access Minerva on the computers in either of the library’s two computer labs and that the public can access Minerva through the public Internet PCs in the Reading Room.

What is the procedure for checking out a book?
The Law Library’s automated circulation system requires a current validated identification card from each borrower. You must present your Cardinal Card (or a current U of L borrower’s card if you are not a U of L student, faculty, or staff member) at the time of check-out. Bring the item(s) you’ve selected and your card to the Circulation/Reference Desk. The staff member at the desk will scan your card and the bar code on each item you want to check out. You may keep the items for two weeks, and renew them twice.

A word of warning:When your card is scanned, the computer will check to see if you have overdue materials from any of U of L’s libraries. If you do, the system automatically “blocks” your borrowing privileges. If this occurs, you will not be able to check out materials until you return all overdue items. The library does not charge fines if all items are returned.

You follow the same basic procedure when checking out reserve materials from behind the Circulation/Reference Desk: we will scan your card and the items you want to use. The major differences are that you must use these materials in the library and you must return reserve materials within four hours.

Do periodicals circulate? Where are they shelved?
Like most libraries, we do not allow our periodicals to circulate. This rule applies to bound periodicals, which are shelved alphabetically by title on the Second Floor, and to unbound current issues of periodicals, which are kept behind the  circulation/Reference Desk.

Subject access to the periodicals is through the various indexes, which are shelved next to the staircase on the Second Floor. Index to Legal Periodicals and Books and Current Law Index are among the indexes you will find. LegalTrac (which provides access to Current Law Index) and Index to Legal Periodicals and Books are available electronically in the Reading Room on the public Internet PCs and on each of the computers in both labs.

Are there other materials that never circulate?
The vast majority of the library’s collection does not circulate. This includes all of the items found on the State Side and the Federal Side of the First Floor, all materials shelved in the Reference section in the Reading Room, all materials in the Tax, Labor, and Looseleaf sections on the Second Floor, all state materials on the Mezzanine level (between the Basement and the First Floor), and all materials in the Foreign/International Law Section in the Sub-basement.

Here is a short list of items that never circulate:

• Court Reports (such as Kentucky Decisions or Southwestern Reporter)
• Digests (such as Kentucky Digest or Pacific Digest)
• Encyclopedias (such as American Jurisprudence 2d and Corpus Juris Secundum)
• Looseleaf Services (such as the CCH Utilities Law Reporter and BNA’s U.S. Law Week)
• Periodicals
• Regulatory Materials (such as Kentucky Administrative Regulations Service and
• U.S. Code of Federal Regulations)
• Specialized Reporters (such as the Uniform Commercial Code Reporting Service)
• Statutory Materials (all state codes and all three versions of U.S. Code)

What if the book I need is not on the shelf where it is supposed to be?
If you are unable to locate an item, whether it is a circulating or a non-circulating item, check at the Circulation/Reference Desk to see if it has been reported lost. If the book is missing and we are unable to track it down at the time you report it missing, you may request that a search be made for it.We will print out the Minerva screen that contains the bibliographic information we need and record your name and phone number on the printout. A staff member will notify you when the item becomes available.

What if I need a book or a periodical that the Law Library does not own?
The Law Library will borrow titles for law students and law faculty through interlibrary loan.