BYU Patrons

Legal research lectures may be arranged for BYU undergraduate classes. These lectures are particularly helpful for students asked to conduct research in the law library. Law librarians can adapt their lectures to the subject matter of the course. To schedule a lecture, contact Annalee Hickman Pierson: (801) 422-3596 or HickmanA@law.byu.edu.

Law Library tours for teaching support may be scheduled through Annalee Hickman Pierson: (801) 422-3596 or HickmanA@law.byu.edu.

Reference services are available to help direct patrons to information and resources that may answer their questions or aid in their research. Be advised that library policy prohibits reference employees from doing research for patrons or answering specific legal questions; however, they can direct patrons to relevant sources and give instruction on their use. 

The physical Reference Desk is located on the main floor of the Library, and reference services are also offered virtually. Reference services are provided by both full-time librarians and part-time law student reference assistants. If you need a full-time librarian’s assistance, you should make an appointment to guarantee their availability by emailing reference@law.byu.edu. 

Research consultations are recommended for BYU faculty and students who are doing academic legal research. A consultation consists of an appointment with a full-time librarian where your research question is submitted to them in advance so they can prepare resources that may be good for your research. To request a research consultation for academic legal research, email reference@law.byu.edu. 

For reference hours, see here. 

The following are methods for contacting the reference employees virtually:

Email

You may email us your reference question or schedule an appointment at reference@law.byu.edu. For public patrons, we will attempt to answer reference questions within two business days, and we remind you that we cannot offer legal advice; we can provide answers to brief, factual research questions and resource inquiries. For example, we can help identify and locate legal materials or provide guidance in using legal resources or tools.

Call

To receive reference services by talking with a reference employee over the phone, call 801-422-6658. If a reference employee does not answer, feel free to leave a voicemail because it is checked regularly.

All patrons who have a BYU ID card may borrow Law Library materials. BYU employees and BYU students will need to use their university identification card to check out materials.

All books are subject to hold and recall. A patron is guaranteed a minimum of two weeks use per book before a recall will be allowed. When a book is recalled, the borrowing patron will be notified via e-mail.

Patrons will be assessed the cost of replacing any lost/unreturned library items plus a $15.00 processing fee. Alternatively, a replacement copy may be accepted. Replacement copies can be new or used, if they are in good condition. For items that are out of print and not available to purchase used, the amount charged will be calculated based on the subclass value listed on the Library of Congress’s Insurance Valuation spreadsheet. An item is considered lost if it is not returned within 28 days of the due date.

Loan Periods:

General Collection Items-Students	3 weeks
General Collection Items-Faculty	6 months
Audio cassettes, videos & software	24 hours
Course Reserve/Study Guides	2 hours
Non-circulating materials (e.g. Reference, Reserve)	None

There is no grace period on overdue items.

Overdue Fines:

General Collection Items	Items overdue for 4 weeks are billed for replacement
Course Reserve/Study Guides	$1.00 per hour / $20 maximum per item
Audio/Video	$1.00 per day per item
Periodicals	$1.00 per day per item

Because of the teaching and research needs of an academic law library, much of the material must remain on site and does not circulate. The following types of materials cannot be checked out: administrative regulations, codes, dictionaries, digests, encyclopedias, materials in the second floor looseleaf collection, materials in the Reserve Room, microforms, periodicals, rare books, reference books, reporters, restatements, session laws, and Shepard’s citators.

Abuse of any of these policies or of the library personnel may result in the loss of library privileges. Any appeals of fines or other policies should be directed to Melanie Coleman.

Westlaw Patron Access is a version of Westlaw open to the public. It is available on two of the three computers that are currently open to the public near the Reference Desk. Westlaw Patron Access allows access to all federal and state cases and statutes, KeyCite, ALR, and AmJur (plus many different parts of the AmJur series, like Forms and Causes of Action).

Use of the Patron Access terminal is limited to 30 minutes when someone else is waiting.

Patrons who visit the Law Library in person can access some Law Library electronic resources, such as Westlaw, depending on our contract with the database vendor. Public access to many main campus (Lee Library) databases is also available to visitors in the Law Library. For questions about access to specific databases, please contact Reference Services. Remote (from home) access to Law Library databases is not available to visitors, although some databases are available remotely to Utah attorneys and BYU Law alumni. For information about access to HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library for BYU Law alumni, click here. For information about access to the LexisNexis Digital Library (Lexis treatises such as Nimmer on Copyright, the Utah Code Annotated, and more) for Utah attorneys and BYU Law alumni, click here.

Members of the public are welcome to use the library and its resources on the second (main) floor of the library. Materials can be retrieved from the first and third floors, but tables, study rooms, Zoom booths, and carrels on these floors are restricted to current law students, faculty, and staff.

Step 1: Find the book listed in our law library website’s search (“the catalog”).  

Step 2: Write down or take a picture of the collection name, the call number, and any further information listed. Example: 

In the picture above, the collection name is “Law Library Main Collection,” the call number is “K 3258 .D874 2010”, and the further information is that it is available on the 3rd floor. The main collection is–you guessed it–our main collection and what most of our shelves are a part of. 

Step 3: Check the map (link to maps here) to see more or less where it will be and then go scouting. The ends of the shelves have labels to say which call numbers are down that aisle and they are all alphabetically and then numerically in order.

Step 4: You either successfully found the book (yay!), or you may need to ask Reference Services for help. You can call (801) 422-6658, text (801) 422-3596, or email reference@law.byu.edu for help. A link to the book on our website is always helpful to share with them. For reference hours, see here. 

Note: Most call numbers for law library books begin with KF, which is the category for “law.” So any call number in the main collection before KF is in the northwest corner of the 3rd floor of the law library. Anything after KF tends to be on the 1st floor (the basement floor) of the law library. 

For other collection names besides “Law Library Main Collection,” the green information will tell you which floor it is on. You may also want to ask Reference Services for help on finding where that collection may be located.

NOTE: We are undergoing renovation in some library areas. Please contact Circulation/ILL to request any item that is unavailable.

First Floor (basement)

Second Floor (main)

Third Floor

Materials located in the Rare Book Room are available to patrons from 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday. Patrons, including BYU faculty, should contact the Reference Desk for help accessing materials from the Rare Book Room. A librarian will locate the book and bring it to the patron in the Law Library Reserve Room next to the Circulation Desk. Patrons are not permitted to remove any items from the Rare Book Room from the Reserve Room. The book will be checked out to the patron during use. Patrons must return all materials from the Rare Book Room to the circulation clerk when finished.

The BYU Law Digital Repository contains open access copies of the scholarly works of Law School faculty, annual reports and other official publications, and the online archives of the various legal journals published at BYU Law.

Open-access consortia seek to make high-quality academic work available throughout the world at minimal cost to students, academics and scholars of all levels. The full archives of the BYU Law Review, BYU Journal of Public Law, BYU Education and Law Journal, and BYU International Law & Management Review are available through the Law Review Commons. Other publications such as the Clark Memorandum, Advocate (and annual reports), Life in the Law and the scholarly works published by Law School Faculty are all accessible to researchers through the more-expansive Law Commons. The Digital Commons network includes works from all areas of scholarly and academic inquiry, and contains millions of individual articles produced at hundreds of universities.

The Library has a limited number of legal research desktop computers in the reference area for public use. Resources such as Westlaw Patron Access and HeinOnline are available, as well as selected CCH and ProQuest Databases; and OIT-licensed campus resources can be utilized following proper authentication.

We no longer have public-access printers, so results need to be saved to email or a USB drive.

The Law Library does not have any printers available for public patrons. The Law Library provides document scanners, which allow the option of saving a document as a PDF to save and print at home, for use by the BYU Law school community and for use by public patrons who are scanning library materials. If you need an on campus printing option, BYU has several Print Centers or Printer Kiosks across campus. 

The Y App can help you find the closest pharos printer. The Print and Mail website provides more information about these options. 

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The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The person using the equipment is liable for any infringement.

Please note that scanning all or even a substantial portion of a book in order to avoid purchasing a copy is not a Fair Use (see § 107(4)).

Scanned PDFs may be saved to USB flash drives, uploaded to cloud-based systems like your own Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox account, or emailed using web-based accounts such as Yahoo or Gmail.

Scanner Locations

The Law Library currently has:

• two KIC Bookeye open-face scanners (the newer one near the Reference Desk and the older one in the Reserve Room);
• four flatbed book scanners (2 near the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor, 1 in the Reserve Room, and 1 on the 3rd floor near the Rex E. Lee room); and
• two multi-page feed scanners (1 near the wall that at the end of the table has the reference co-op printer and another on the 3rd floor near the Rex E. Lee room).

Employees at the Circulation and Reference are trained and ready to assist anyone in the BYU Law community who needs help with scanning and anyone from the public who needs help scanning library materials.

Microform

Copies of documents on microform can be made as digital scans on the public computer in the Microform area (first floor). Patrons may email those scans on that computer to themselves.

BYU Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint Printers

BYU students use the BYU Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint printing system with their BYU ID cards.

Patrons who are not BYU students may use the Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint system to print with a courtesy card. Courtesy cards are free when you add money to the card. You can add any amount you would like. You can get a courtesy card at the Circulation Desk. You may always deposit more money onto your reusable courtesy card. There are several ways funds can be added to Courtesy Cards.

There is a color printer in the law school for student and community use. This printer is a BYU Campus Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint printer (named BYU Campus Public Color), and it works like the other BYU Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint printers across campus. It is on the third floor of the law library near the Rex E. Lee room. There is actually a BYU Campus Public Color printer and a BYU Campus Public B&W printer there. There is also a BYU Campus Public B&W printer (but not a color printer) in the following additional location: on the second floor (the ground floor) of the law library by the reference desk.

Anyone can print from one of the public computers in the law library on the second floor (the ground floor).

To print to one of the Pharos/Open Access/ExpressPrint printers from your own computer, you must download the BYU Pharos Printer drive.

1. Go to software.byu.edu.
2. If prompted, enter your BYU net ID and password.
3. Under the “Vendors” heading, click the “Pharos” link.
4. Click the “Download Now” button that corresponds with your computer’s operating system.
5. Click the plus sign button that corresponds with your computer’s operating system.
6. Click “Continue” to download the program.
7. Once the printer drive is downloaded to your computer, the BYU Campus Public Color printer will be available in your print dialogue box when selecting a printer. (The BYU Campus Public B&W printer will also be available.)

To print to the BYU Campus Public Color printer or the BYU Campus Public B&W printer from a law library computer or your own computer that has the BYU Pharos Printer drive:

1. From the File menu of your document, select Print.
2. From the drop-down menu on the Print dialogue box, select BYU Campus Public Color to print all the pages in your document on a color printer, or select BYU Campus Public B&W to print all the pages in your document on a black and white printer. Click “Ok.”
3. A window will pop up asking your net ID and a name for the print job; enter the number on your courtesy card as the net ID and give it any name you want and click “Print.” Your print job is then sent to a print queue that you can access from any printing release station on campus.
4. To print in color at the law school, go to the third floor of the law library near the Rex E. Lee room. There is actually a BYU Campus Public Color printer and a BYU Campus Public B&W printer there.
5. Swipe your courtesy card at the printing release station, and follow the instructions on the screen in order to select and print your job.

Please note:

• These two BYU public printers, and the cost associated with printing to them, are in no way affiliated or connected with the BYU Law Co-Op printing.
• When you download the BYU Pharos Printer drive, you will be downloading both the BYU Campus Public Color printer and the BYU Campus Public B&W printer.
• The cost of one sheet from the color printer, regardless of whether it actually has color on it, is $0.15.
• The cost of one sheet from the black and white printer is $0.07.
• The BYU Campus Public Color printer and the BYU Campus Public B&W printer share a screen at the printing release station on the third floor of the law library. This screen is used to swipe your courtesy card and select the job(s) to print. However, the BYU Campus Public Color printer and the BYU Campus Public B&W printer are two separate printers. Because there is no way to select between the two printers from the printing release station, your document will print from the printer you selected on your computer. The cost for that document will depend on the printer you chose from your computer, not on whether it has color. (For example, if you print a black and white document on the BYU Campus Public Color printer, you will be charged $0.15 per page. There are no refunds for mistakes.)
• Double-sided printing is considered the same as printing two pages and is charged accordingly.
• When you swipe your courtesy card at the printing release station and subsequently select a job to print, the cost is automatically deducted from the money on your courtesy card.