1L Welcome Guide: WVU College of Law Library

The Law Library consists of a first floor (ground floor) and a second floor. The Law Library offers extensive table seating, soft seating, carrels, and study rooms throughout our physical space. To reserve a study room, see the "Reserve a Study Room Online" section of the 1L Welcome Guide.

Library Hours

WVU Law students have 24/7 swipe access to the Law Library. View the library's full semester calendar here. The Law Library's staffed hours are limited over semester breaks, and the library is closed without swipe access on home football game Saturdays. Law Library fall semester staffed hours are below.

First Floor (Ground Floor)

The Law Library's first floor contains the library's main entrance, Circulation Desk, three study rooms, and numerous library tables. Library staff offices are located on the first floor. View the large video monitor by the library's main entrance for updates on library services, programming, and resources. 

The first floor print collection includes the following key resources: 

• Core Legal Collection: Federal and 50-state primary and secondary legal sources.
• West Virginia Collection: West Virginia primary and secondary legal sources.
• Course Reserve: Select course textbooks and study aids and more.  
• Study Aids and Supplements: Comprehensive collection of leading law school study aids and supplements.
• Career Services: Leading titles on planning for a career in law and "JD advantage" work. 
• Fun and Function Collection: Laptop chargers, phone chargers, and other technology items in addition to "fun" items such as games intended for student relaxation.
• News and Magazines: Print news and popular reading content including leading newspapers and magazines.
• Faculty Scholarship Display: Latest law review articles and books by your College of Law professors. 
• Legal Leisure Collection: Popular works intended for student relaxation including fiction with a legal theme, fiction and non-fiction with an Appalachian theme, and fiction and non-fiction by West Virginia authors.
• Racial Justice Collection: Fiction and non-fiction works on racial justice and intersecting issues such as gender, class, and LGBTQ+ issues.

Second Floor

The Law Library's second floor boasts extensive table seating and soft seating next to floor-to-ceiling windows. The second floor also contains carrels, two study rooms, and the Carlin Instruction Room. The second floor print collection contains monographs, general legal and multi-disciplinary titles, and practice-oriented secondary legal sources.

Print Collection Policies

WVU Law students must have a WVU student ID card to borrow materials. Law students receive a semester loan for general collection books and a two-hour loan for course reserves. Loan periods vary for other circulating items and across different WVU campus libraries, which include the Downtown Library, Health Sciences Library, Evansdale Library, and satellite campus libraries.

Law students can renew general collection books three times and course reserves twice. Law students can renew items by calling the Library Circulation Desk at 304-293-5300 or via wvulawlibrary@mail.wvu.edu. View borrowing policies and procedures from other branch libraries here. View procedures on ordering items from other libraries worldwide via interlibrary loan here. 

• Overdue Fines and Replacement Costs: As a borrower you are responsible for knowing when library materials are due and returning or renewing them on or before the due date.