General Rules

A few rules are necessary to protect the interests of all the people who use the Law Library.

For the protection of books and furnishings, eating, and smoking are not permitted in the Law Library. Drinks are allowed in "authorized" cups. Please check the display at the Library's entrance or ask a staff member for information. We ask that your attire include shirts and shoes.

Please treat the Law Library collection and furnishings with care. Chairs and tables should not be moved from the present positions. Kindly refrain from placing your feet on the furniture, if you are wearing shoes. Sock or stocking-clad feet are permitted on furniture.

Finally, we ask that you show courtesy and respect for the rights of others who are using the Law Library facilities.

A quiet atmosphere must be maintained at all times.

Who May Use the Library?

The Law Library is open primarily for the use of Law School students and faculty. The open-stack arrangement of the Law Library permits easy access to the collection. Most materials are for reference within the Law Library in order to insure that the collection is available to all patrons. Please reshelve books with the spine placed upwards. The library staff will revise the stacks regularly.

Assistance with the use of Law Library materials and facilities is provided by the Public Services staff. Help is also given with reference and research questions. The staff cannot provide any interpretation of the information contained in the materials. Please feel free to ask for assistance.

Circulation Policies

General Circulation Procedures

Circulating materials may be checked out by all University of Dayton faculty and students with a validated, bar-coded University of Dayton identification card. Circulating volumes, mainly treatises, may be checked out at the Circulation Desk for three weeks. Reserve materials circulate within the Library for two hours at a time and some may be checked out for overnight use two hours before closing. Reserves in the Reserve Room (Room 212P) do not have to be checked out if they are used exclusively in the Reserve Room.    

Administration of the Law Library is independent of other campus libraries. Therefore, all materials that have been checked out of the Law Library should be returned to the Circulation Desk at the Law Library and NOT the Roesch Library.    

Fines for overdue materials will be charged as follows:  

$.50 per day for OhioLINK items
$.25 per hour on overdue reserve materials with maximum $3 per day
$.10 per day on overdue circulating volumes    
These fines will be strictly enforced. Overdue notices will be placed in student mailboxes. All fines must be paid before final exams. If they are not paid, delinquent notices will be sent to the Registrar of the Law School.  

Library Materials

Classification of Materials

The Law Library collection is arranged by subject according to the Library of Congress Classification System. The following list shows the order of classification numbers in the main collection:    

• A - Z (excluding K) Law Related - Int'l Law (Room 301)
• K Law in General (Room 301)
• KB - KWX (excluding KF) Foreign Law (Room 301)
• KF1 - KF153 American Law (Room 212F)
• KF154 - KF9999 American Law (Room 305)
• KFA-KFZ(excluding KFO) American States & Cities (Room 301)
• KFO1 - KFO599 Ohio Law (Room 212)
• Bound Periodicals Alphabetical by Title (Room 321)

The call numbers associated with materials indicate the location of the book within the Law Library. The classification numbers of books on each range are posted on the end panels of each range. Materials in the Reserve collection at the Circulation desk or in the Reference area are identified by a "Reserve" or "Reference" indicator on the online catalog record.

Periodicals and Indexes

All bound legal periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title in Room 321. Current unbound issues are kept in the Reserve Room (Room 212P). On some occasions you will need a periodical or article that we do not have. The Law Library can acquire copies of the articles you need via interlibrary loan. Index to Legal Periodicals, Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law, and the Current Law Index are located in the Reference collection on the second floor. Index to Legal Periodicals is also available on OhioLINK as a searchable database. 

Microforms

An extensive collection of microfiche and microfilm materials is maintained in the Microforms Room (Room 212Q). Indexes to various titles are located on the microforms cabinets. Equipment for viewing and coin-operated photocopying of the materials is available in the Microforms Room. Instructions for operating the readers and reader-printers are posted by the machines. Please inquire at the Circulation Desk for assistance. Do Not refile used microforms. Place them in the file boxes on the microforms cabinets and the library staff will refile them. 

Newspapers

The Law Library subscribes to various newspapers and magazines of a legal and non-legal nature. The issues are kept in Room 452 and may not be removed from that area. The Dayton Daily News is kept at the Circulation Desk.

Rare Books

A collection of older volumes of the Statutes of Ohio, the Weekly Law Bulletin, treatises and codes of other states are kept in locked compact shelving for their protection. Please contact a staff member if you need access to these materials. 

Interlibrary Loans

Materials that are not available in either the Law Library or via OhioLINK library may be secured for UDSL Faculty and students via interlibrary loan (ILL).  Place your request at the Circulation Desk with Beth Smith. You should allow one to three weeks for your request to be completed. Separate forms are available at the Circulation Desk for requesting either a book or a copy of an article.

Reference Policies

The reference staff consists of three full-time reference librarians who are available over 60 hours a week for reference assistance. There are two reference desks within the Zimmerman law library – one next to the stairs across from the library entrance, and one at the top of the stairs. The librarians have an open door policy. The reference staff is ably assisted by the circulation staff with any ready reference questions.

Food, Drink, and Tobacco Policy

To preserve the collections, equipment, and furnishings of the library, we ask that you observe the following rules.

Food: Food is not permitted in the library.

Beverages: All drinks must be in spill proof bottles or cups. Disposable cups, cans, and screw top bottles are not acceptable. A display of acceptable containers is located across from the circulation desk at the entrance of the library. Questions about which type of drink containers are permitted should be directed to a circulation or reference staff member.

Beverages are not permitted in the computer training center.

Anyone who brings food or open beverage containers into the library will be asked to dispose of it or leave the library.

Tobacco: Use of tobacco in any form is prohibited in the library.

Cell Phone and Pager Policy

Cell Phones: Please turn the cell phone ringer to low or to vibrate in the library. Cell phone use is acceptable in

• unoccupied study rooms
• copy rooms
• third floor balcony
• fourth floor reading room

Please use a low voice when using a cell phone in the acceptable areas.

The library reserves the right to ask patrons to leave if they are using cell phones in restricted areas or disturbing others in any area of the library.

Pagers: Pagers should be set to vibrate in the library.

Study Rooms

One very nice feature of our law library is the availability of eight group study rooms. The rooms are several different sizes and will accommodate groups from four up to twenty. You may hold impromptu gatherings in a study room if some group has not scheduled the particular room for use or if no member of the scheduling group or some other person is occupying the room at the time you wish to meet. If you wish to meet with a study group for one session or at a regular time every week, you should reserve one of the study rooms to be certain that you will have a place for your meeting. To reserve a group study room, see the Law Library Administrative Assistant, Caroline Phipps, in Room 315.

The group study rooms may only be reserved during hours that the law library is open. Three of our group study rooms, however, are available to you during hours that Keller Hall is open but the law library is closed. Rooms 212A, 212B, and 321A each have one door that opens into the law library and one door that opens to the Keller Hall atrium. When the library is open, one gains access to these rooms from the library. When the library is closed, one gains access to these rooms from the atrium. No materials may be checked out to Rooms 212A, 212B, or 321A.

All library materials kept in study rooms must be checked out at the Circulation Desk. Any materials not checked out will be reshelved daily.