Circulation Services

Study Carrels and Group Study Rooms

Study carrels located on the 9th and 10th floors are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Study rooms located on the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th floors are for the exclusive use of UIC Law students. UIC Law students can reserve study rooms and 8th floor Collaboration Commons rooms online. Please check the use policies for the 8th floor Collaboration Commons.

Exams on Reserve

The Law Library maintains an online database of professors’ exams from prior semesters. The database only includes exams provided to the library by faculty members; it is not a comprehensive collection of all UIC Law exams. Students can access the exam database via the library’s home page.

Course Reserves

Course reserves consist of books, DVDs, and other materials that professors have selected for their courses and may include required or suggested readings. Items in the Law Library’s collection and professors’ personal copies of materials may be placed on reserve. Copyrighted items may be placed on reserve for one semester only. Faculty members interested in placing personal copies on reserve should leave the item with the circulation desk, noting the semester, course name, and course number. Faculty interested in placing an item from the library’s collection on reserve should contact Catrina Williams. Faculty may also post articles and other materials on their Blackboard course pages within the parameters of copyright law.

Printing, Copying, and Scanning

Multifunction Canon printer/copier/scanner devices can be found on the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th floors. Copies and printouts cost 15 cents per page, whether printing single- or double-sided, so double-sided is more cost effective. UIC Law students initially receive a balance of $125.00 on their i-cards to print and copy. There is no charge for scanning. Please do not leave books on the copiers.

UIC Law students, faculty, and staff can log into any of these units by touching their i-card to the card reader attached to the printer or copier. Students may add value online with a credit card. If you have a problem with your ID card, you must visit the Campus Safety & Security office. Students who wish to print from a laptop must configure the device to connect to the Law-Printers queue. Set-up instructions are available online, or students may go to the ITS help desk on the 7th floor of the State St. building for assistance.

A Wepa print station—managed by UIC’s main campus—is located on the 6th floor in the Law Library. You can print to a Wepa printer remotely from your phone or computer.

Visitors without i-cards who wish to print or copy must create a Wepa account and add money to it. 

Loan Periods

Loan periods for the circulating collection are based on the type of material, the anticipated demand for the item, and the number of copies available. Please contact the circulation desk if you have questions about the current loan periods and policies. General categories and loan periods are listed below:

Borrowing by UIC Students, Faculty, and Staff

• General Circulation – 16-week loan (Renewable)
  Includes books in the general collection (most monographs and single-volume treatises on the 9th and 10th floors), Chinese IP Law collection (10th floor), Popular Reading section (6th floor), National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) collection (6th floor), and the Careers collection (6th floor).
• Limited Circulation – 4-hour loan (No Renewals)
  Includes general reserves and course reserves. The general reserve collection consists of materials in high demand, including hornbooks and some high-use study guides and treatises. Course reserves consist of materials that professors have selected for their courses. Reserve materials circulate for a maximum of four hours to ensure that all patrons have access to them.
• Limited Circulation – 7-day loan (No Renewals)
  Encompasses books in the Academic Success collection, Academic Success AV materials, AV equipment and technology, CD-ROMs, DVDs, CDs, videocassettes, and law journals.
• Non-circulating
  The following are some of the materials that do not circulate: case reporters, multivolume sets, loose-leafs, unbound periodicals, bound periodicals, archives collection, reference collection, government documents, microforms, and materials in special locations (Kratovil Reading Room, faculty publications, and display cases).

Borrowing by Law School Alumni

Alumni with a borrowing card may borrow certain items. To request a borrowing card, please fill out the UIC main library’s request form.

• 7-day loan (No Renewals): CD-ROMs, DVDs, and CDs
• 4-week loan (Renewable): books in the general collection, Popular Reading collection, NAVS collection, Career Success collection, and the Chinese IP collection.

Borrowing by members of I-Share libraries

• 28-day loan (Renewable): loans are limited to books in the general collection, Popular Reading collection, NAVS collection, Career Success collection, and the Chinese IP collection.

Public Access

Members of the public, including Illinois attorneys who are not alumni of UIC or the John Marshall Law School, may use the library but do not have borrowing privileges.

Requesting Materials

UIC patrons may request materials that circulate, excluding reserves and course reserves, to be delivered to them at any I-Share location. If an item is checked out, a UIC patron may place a request and join a queue for the item upon its return. For items with long loan durations and renewals, it may be more expeditious to request the item from another I-Share library. A queued request does not prevent renewals.

Charges for lost and unreturned items

After 35 days overdue (5 days for items with limited, short-term loan periods), a checked-out item moves to lost status, and the patron will be billed. The default charge is $125.00 per item, but more expensive items may have higher values assigned and charged. The library may waive the charge if the item is returned. Students are responsible for all library charges.

Microfiche Retrieval

The Law Library’s collection of microfiche is located in a basement storage area, and fiche must be retrieved by a library staff member. Retrieval requests received by 11 a.m., Monday through Friday, will be completed by 2 p.m. that day. Requests received after 11 a.m. may not be completed until the following day. Requests received over the weekend will be fulfilled on Monday. Retrieved microfiche will be held for two days before being refiled. Contact us by e-mail or phone at 312-427-2737, ext. 710, for retrieval requests.

Library Security

The Law Library has a security system that triggers an alarm when a patron leaves the library with materials that have not been properly checked out. Occasionally, non-library devices and materials will trigger the alarm. If this should happen, please return to the circulation desk so that a staff member can determine the cause. The security system is a safeguard, and we regret any inconvenience it may cause.