With the advent of near-ubiquitous wireless internet access, distractions are hard to avoid.  The complete question we received was "Has the library ever considered having an internet-free room? That is, a study area where there is no internet/wireless access but computers are allowed. Just a (crazy archaic) thought for increasing paper-writing productivity.

We haven't yet considered this option, but we think it might not work very well in practice.  This is partly for technical reasons, and moreso because we think most students won't want it.

The technical issue is that it's difficult to reliably limit wireless internet access to a specific location. Wireless access points tend to overlap coverage areas, so we don't think it's easy to, say, turn it off for one area while not impacting another part of the library.

From a student perspective, we think people are concerned with more (and more reliable) Internet access, instead of technical restrictions.  A few years ago, we had a laptop-free zone in the library, but we found that many people didn't use it.  To better assess student preferences for quiet study, our 2007 Law Library Student Survey included the question: "What would your perfect quiet study space consist of?"  Almost everybody answering the survey responded to this question.  Somewhat to our surprise, the majority of students wanted laptops as well as headphone music, which you can see in this chart.



For students wanting to limit personal distractions, turning off your laptop wireless access might be the best way to avoid online distractions.  More advanced users might want to read "The Productivity Guide for a Computer Geek". The tips range from the obvious (e.g. turn off your computer, use a pen and paper) to the more advanced (e.g. altering your Windows host file).

One suggestion in this guide is to use a Firefox add-on called LeechBlock. This is a productivity tool that lets you block selected time-wasting sites you find most distracting. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

We have no plans to selectively disable wireless access, but we welcome ideas for other things we can do to help you be more productive.

We have several resources to help you with seminar papers and journal notes. Here are a few ideas:

The library has a research guide entitled Research Strategies for Seminar Papers & Journal Notes.

For those who want personalized research help feel free to come to either of our two reference desks or use our online Live Help service.

If you would like in-depth personal help, please sign up for a research consultation with a professional law librarian.

Whichever resource you pick, we are committed to helping you write a great paper.  After you are finished we can help you publish it.  Look for publishing tips on our Guide to Publishing Articles in Law Reviews & Journals.

Yes please do. We appreciate book purchase suggestions, especially from the Georgetown Law community.

Feel free to send them through the suggestions link at the bottom of the library's home page.

Alternatively, you can submit book purchase requests through the suggest purchases page of GULLiver, the library's catalog.

If you missed orientation please stop by the Reference Desk in the Williams Library. We would be happy to give you the library orientation folder with your Lexis and Westlaw passwords. The packet includes other library information and cds for CALI, a series of educational tutorials for your classes.

If you want to learn about the topics discussed during the library orientation, please look at the links available on our New Student Page.

All jobs, except for RAs, are posted on the student employment page listing job descriptions.
Students are invited to view the job descriptions and contact supervisors directly to inquire about availability.

The layout of the fourth floor in the Wolff Library does present some challenges if someone wishes to consult a large number of books at one time. The current arrangement was put in place after the materials were arranged, and since this plan had to be implemented simultaneously with the completion of a brand new building and space, we had to make sure we had room for the collection and create policies for carrel usage as well. We have reviewed several possible solutions; a general shift back would be considered only when there is a major move of materials somewhere else in the future. But here is a solution that works right away: we will make a book truck available by application to the circulation desk at Wolff. Stop by and the Wolff staff can make these arrangements with you, and we will offer the same to any other student who might indicate the same need. If you try it, we can see how well it works.

The Library offers many opportunities for students to learn more about legal research.

We've created tutorials for many legal research topics and research guides on many more. 

Lexis and Westlaw Representatives offer training sessions on how to use their databases. Dates and times are announced in What's Happening and are posted online. Access the Lexis class schedule here and the Westlaw schedule here.

Librarians will also be offering a cost-effective research training session in April.  Details will be posted on the Library Research Classes page.

Because it is a common question, the library maintains a website that explains how to find scholarly articles in law and in disciplines related to law topics.  This research guide identifies the best databases and indexes for quick and efficient research.   Once you have found a good citation, the research guide explains how to locate electronic copies of articles.

Learn more about journal research through the guide entitled: Using Articles for Legal & Non-Legal Research.  

No. The Georgetown Law Library does not charge Georgetown Law students, faculty, or staff for borrowing books or getting articles from other libraries through our Inter-Library Loan service. For answers to other questions on Interlibrary Loan, please review our page of Frequently Asked Questions.