Summary of Services
The Law Library is committed to helping faculty succeed in their research and scholarship, as well as providing valuable teaching resources such as course reserves and assistance with course management technology. Browse the tabs below to learn more.
Educational Technology
Our Educational Technology page provides additional resources for successfully integrating technology and online learning with the classroom experience.
Library Liaison Program
The Law Library supports faculty research and instruction by pairing each faculty member with one of our Legal Information Librarians, each of whom has a JD and MLIS. Library liaisons endeavor to stay informed about faculty research projects and to explore ways in which they can support faculty research and classroom instruction. In addition to being available to give guest lectures in your courses, liaisons also can train and support faculty research assistants so that your student RAs can better support your research.
If you are not sure who your library liaison is, please contact the Legal Information Librarians by emailing lawresearchhelp@bc.edu or calling (617) 552-2971.
Promotion of Faculty Scholarship
The library is committed to helping BC Law faculty promote and disseminate their publications. The library posts faculty publications to the following locations:
- LIRA @ BC Law: The law school’s institutional repository, which contains permanently archived copies of most faculty works.
- Selected Publications: The library updates and and maintains a bibliography of all full-time BC Law faculty. These bibliographies are linked to each faculty's webpage in the faculty directory on the bc.edu domain.
- Social Science Research Network (SSRN): This subject repository is an important venue for new legal scholarship. Faculty have several options for posting to SSRN: you can post directly to SSRN, or you can email Avi Bauer to have a specifc item posted to SSRN. All BC Law articles in SSRN, whether posted by the library or by the faculty member, are included in the Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series.
In addition, the library provides lists of publications to the law school’s Communications department for various purposes. To ensure that your publications are included in all appropriate venues, please notify the library of your activities by contacting the Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communication Librarian, Avi Bauer (abraham.bauer@bc.edu, 617-552-8602).
If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above, or if there are changes that need to be made to your faculty webpage, please contact Avi Bauer.
Submitting to Law Reviews
The law school provides faculty members access to Scholastica for submitting manuscripts to law reviews. Over 650 law reviews, including Boston College Law Review, accept submisions through Scholastica. Log in with your bc.edu email address in order to take advantage of the law school's Scholastica account.
If you experience issues connecting to Scholastica, or if you have any other questions or concerns about the service, please contact the Digital Initiatives & Scholarly Communication Librarian, Avi Bauer (abraham.bauer@bc.edu, 617-522-8602).
The library also maintains a list of online companions to major U.S. law reviews. Online companions provide an opportunity to publish shorter pieces, usually on timely topics.
Interlibrary Loan
The Law Library will attempt to borrow materials needed for academic or research purposes that are not available at the Law Library. There is no charge for this service. Materials from other libraries can be found on WorldCat and requests are submitted through the ILLiad portal. For further instructions see the interlibrary loan user's guide.
Book Delivery
To have a book from the law library's collection delivered to your faculty mailbox, send an email to lawcirc@bc.edu. If you need a book immediately it is best to phone the Information Desk at 617-552-4434. It also is possible to request a book via the online Catalog, which will then be delivered to your faculty mailbox.
Requesting the Purchase of Books/Databases
The Law Library encourages you to request or recommend books and other materials of general interest or in your areas of teaching, research, and scholarship. Contact Deena Frazier (deena.frazier@bc.edu), Collection Services Librarian, with specific books or other items you would like us to add to the Law Library collection.
New Acquisitions Lists
The Law Library posts a new acquisitions list that can be used to find our newest resources.
Submitting Course Reserves
The Law Library manages course reserves for Law School courses. The library automatically places on reserve any required titles ordered through the University Bookstore. If you would like to have additional material placed on reserve for your course, please contact lawcoursersv@bc.edu.
Instructors can also use the new Course Resources tool, available within Canvas, to send us reading lists. To learn more about the Course Resources tool, see our Guide to Course Resources for Instructors. Please contact lawcoursersv@bc.edu with any questions.
Please submit your course reserve lists as soon as possible before the start of each semester. Some items may need to be ordered, recalled, scanned, or downloaded, which can cause a delay between the time the list is received and the time the materials are available for student use.
Types of Reserve Material
Course reserve material may include books, book chapters (scanned and available in PDF if allowed by copyright guidelines; otherwise the book will be placed on reserve), articles, and videos. The library will purchase items for course reserve, but personal copies may also be put on reserve; please bring them to the Information Desk for processing.
The Law Library does not purchase course packs or workbooks for reserve.
E-Course Reserves
For digital materials, the library is able to:
- Add digital items such as e-books to course reserve lists.
- Scan copies of book chapters or articles, which can then be added to course reserve lists or be uploaded directly to your Canvas site.
Every digitization request must be considered in light of fair use. Typically, for course reserves, the scanning of one entire chapter or ten percent of a book will comport with fair use, though slightly more may be appropriate when no digital options are available for purchase or licensing. For more information on copyright and fair use of scanned material, view the O'Neill e-course reserves copyright policy.
Non-Law Courses
The Law Library handles course reserves for Law School courses only. For all other courses, please email the Library Course Reserves group (reserves-ggroup@bc.edu).
Removing Course Reserve Materials at the End of the Semester
Items may be placed on reserves for Fall and Spring sessions. Course reserves lists display only for courses being taught during the current semester. Unless otherwise notified, physical items (e.g., books, personal copies, DVDs) will be removed from reserve status at the end of each semester.
Course Reserves & Canvas
The course reserves list appears in every Canvas site. To access the course reserves lists, navigate to the Course Resources tab in Canvas.