Library Services
Law Students
Study Rooms & Library Spaces
24/7 access with your UCard
- 4 floors of study space, including 2 quiet floors (the basement and 3rd floor) and two collaborative floors (the first and second floor)
- Three printers and a copying/scanning station
Study Rooms
Ten individual and group study rooms that may be reserved at the Circulation Desk, with the following guidelines:
- Study rooms may be reserved for only two consecutive hours without prior permission. If no one reserves the time slot after yours, you may stay in the room unless and until another person or group signs up.
- You may use a study room without reservation if it is empty; however, be aware that someone may reserve it at any moment, and those who have signed up have priority.
- If someone is using a room you have reserved and refuses to leave after a polite explanation, or if you have any questions about the study rooms, contact Jane Oakland or one of the other librarians for assistance.
Display Window for Student Organizations
Our display window is located just outside the doors to the Law Library on the first floor and is an ideal place to advertise an upcoming event or to highlight an issue to which your group would like to draw attention. Available on a first-come, first-serve basis. To reserve the display window, contact David Haberman or Jonathan Voigt.
Interlibrary Loan
Current students, faculty, and staff may use interlibrary loan (ILL) to borrow books, journal articles, or other materials from thousands of other libraries.
How do I make a request?
- Submit an ILL Request Form
- Contact Jane Oakland or 701-777-3482
How long does it take after I request an item?
It usually takes 3-5 days for an ILL request to arrive at UND Law.
Borrowing & Renewing
How do I check out?
- Your UCard can be used to checkout materials
What can I check out?
- Books, periodicals and journals, DVDs
- Many materials are not available for check out and can only be used in the library.
Where can I check out?
- At the front desk
- At the self check out machine on the first floor
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Scan the barcode or slide the magnet strip on your student/ staff/ faculty ID or enter in your UND email and password
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Scan the barcode of the item you would like to checkout - the barcode reader is at the bottom of the tablet
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When you are done tap 'Log Out'. You will get an email receipt with your library material due dates.
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- Using the UND Libraries Checkout app (instructions from the Chester Fritz Library)
How long can I check items out?
- The check-out period varies from two hours for reserve items to three weeks for general materials
How do I renew?
- Most materials can be renewed online
- If you are having trouble contact the law library at 701-777-3482 or Jane Oakland.
Law Faculty & Staff
Library Instruction
At your request, the law librarians can provide classroom presentations on research tools and techniques, tours, or customized research guides for your students.
1L Legal Research Instruction
- Basic introduction to finding case law, statutes, and secondary sources
- Instruction in Westlaw and Lexis+
Upper-Level Courses
Legal research instruction may be especially useful for a seminar class where students have a substantial writing requirement or if the course covers topics where the legal research is especially complex (e.g., legislative history, administrative law, Indian law).
Course Reserves
- Instructors can put items (either personal or library materials) on reserve for check out duration of generally 2 hours, in library use only optional.
- Review copyright basics (Chester Fritz Library) when considering materials for instruction.
- Contact Jane Oakland to add reserves material.
Research and Publishing
Faculty Research
Types of research support include:
- General information retrieval
- Compiling data sets
- Compiling/locating legislative histories
- Creating bibliographies
- Completing research projects
- Legal research on a specific topic/area of law
Though we try to be as accommodating as possible we do not provide: data mining, Bluebooking of articles, creating footnotes, creating book indexes, or administrative tasks that should be performed by faculty support personnel.
Contact Jonathan Voigt with any questions regarding faculty publishing and research.
Student Research Assistants
We can provide research training to faculty research assistants, to include:
- Introduction to the library catalog and online resources relevant for the project
- Tips for improving legal research efficiency
- Fundamentals for research projects
Current Awareness
Current awareness services allow faculty to easily keep up with scholarship in areas of interest. David Haberman can assist with managing alerts and subscriptions and provide more information on the types of current awareness services that are available in your area of interest.
Publishing
Contact David Haberman or Jonathan Voigt for assistance with:
- Article submission using Scholastica
- SSRN account managements.
Interlibrary Loan
Current students, faculty, and staff may use interlibrary loan (ILL) to borrow books, journal articles, or other materials from thousands of other libraries.
How do I make a request?
- Submit an ILL Request Form
- Contact Jane Oakland or 701-777-3482
How long does it take after I request an item?
It usually takes 3-5 days for an ILL request to arrive at UND Law.
How do I check out?
- Your UCard can be used to checkout materials
- Research and Teaching Assistants are able to check out materials for faculty with faculty permission. Contact Jane Oakland with a list of authorized students.
What can I check out?
- Books, periodicals and journals, DVDs
- Some materials are not available for check out and can only be used in the library.
Where can I check out?
- At the front desk
- At the self check out machine on the first floor
-
Scan the barcode or slide the magnet strip on your student/ staff/ faculty ID or enter in your UND email and password
-
Scan the barcode of the item you would like to checkout - the barcode reader is at the bottom of the tablet
-
When you are done tap 'Log Out'. You will get an email receipt with your library material due dates.
-
- Using the UND Libraries Checkout app (instructions from the Chester Fritz Library)
- Contact Jane Oakland with citation information to have materials checked out and delivered.
How long can I check items out?
- Most materials can be checked out for a semester and are automatically renewed
How do I renew?
- Most materials can be renewed online
- If you are having trouble contact the law library at 701-777-3482 or Jane Oakland.
Collection Development
Collection development involves maintaining and improving our holdings. It encompasses both the acquisition of new treatises, journals, databases, and the retirement of outdated or damaged materials. Our collection reflects the Core Collection (Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, ch. 6) as set forth by the American Bar Association and includes such resources as case reporters, statutes, constitutions, legislative process materials, administrative materials, restatements, treatises, periodicals, and selected non-legal resources.
We are also able to assist you in purchasing items with professional development funds; note that law school policy requires that books purchased with professional development funds remain the property of the Law Library.
To recommend new books or databases, or to purchase an item using your professional development funds, contact David Haberman or Jonathan Voigt.
Alumni, NDUS Affiliated, and Community Members
Self-Help
The Thormodsgard Law Library at the University of North Dakota School of Law is a public law library serving the State of North Dakota. Though our primary mission is to serve the teaching and educational needs of Law School faculty and students, we are also proud to provide services to the rest of the University, the state bench and bar, and members of the general public.
What We Do
Our reference librarians are experts in legal research. We help our users to understand the legal system and to find the information that they are looking for. For instance, we can help you:
- Find the law on a particular topic
- Locate statutes, cases and regulations
- Search for legal forms
- Understand how laws are made in North Dakota.
However...
Law librarians are not permitted to provide legal advice. Although several of us are licensed attorneys, our role as law librarians is very different than that of practicing attorneys - we may help you find the law yourself, but we may not interpret it for you or otherwise tell you how it applies to your situation.
Finding an Attorney
The State Bar Association of North Dakota (SBAND) offers the Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS), a phone service in which, for a small fee, individuals may be matched with qualified attorneys specializing in their area of need. Note that the fee covers only the matching service; if an individual chooses to hire the attorney, he or she will be responsible for legal fees as specified by that attorney.
Legal Services of North Dakota
Who can check out materials?
- Anyone with a current library card from a North Dakota library is able to borrow books from the Law Library
What can I check out?
- Books, periodicals and journals, DVDs
- Many materials are not available for check out and can only be used in the library.
Where can I check out?
- At the front desk or the self check out machine on the first floor
How long can I check items out?
- The check-out period varies from two hours for reserve items to three weeks for general materials.
How do I renew?
- Most materials can be renewed online.
- If you are having trouble contact the law library at 701-777-3482 or Jane Oakland.