Does the Georgetown University Law Center Library have casebooks for Georgetown Law students to borrow? Or other law course textbooks?
Answer
Starting with Fall 2022, the Law Library will purchase the required texts for required 1L courses. The Law Library will not purchase casebooks outside of this policy.
The 1L required text readings will be housed in Casebook Reserve at the Circulation Desk for the entire semester and may be checked out for three hours per day by a Georgetown Law student. We also reserve a copy of the latest edition of any casebook donated by law students or faculty in Casebook Reserve. If we happen to have a upper level casebook on Casebook Reserve, it is because it was donated to the Law Library for that specified purpose.
If you search the Law Library's catalog, an entry of "Casebook Reserve" indicates that a reading is available at the Circulation Desk for a three-hour per day checkout.
The Law Library may also house non-casebook readings in our Course Reserve as long as your Georgetown Law faculty has specifically requested that we do so. Search the Course Reserves catalog for the course name, course ID or course instructor if your law faculty informs your class that the reading material is on Reserve.
The Law Library may happen to have a class reading in the general collection which has not been requested by the faculty to be placed on Reserves. You may find such titles by performing a search in the Law Library's general catalog and check the copy out for a normal loan period.
Unfortunately, we are not able to purchase electronic casebooks for the Law Library's collection because of the limitations placed by the publishers. Casebook publishers will not sell an ebook casebook that would allow for unlimited users to access them the way they may for scholarly, non-textbook publications.
We are unable to scan, or obtain via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service, pages out of casebooks. We also cannot borrow via ILL service electronic casebooks or textbooks due to licensing restrictions.
Non-law Georgetown University Capitol Campus students may contact Capitol Campus Library (111 Massachusetts Ave Room 4444) with questions.