Research Support
One of the Law Library's highest priorities is providing exceptional research support for the curricular and scholarly needs of our regular and visiting law school faculty members. The Library also assists emeriti and affiliated faculty members with research to the extent that assistance does not impede the Library's ability to support our regular faculty members. For more information, see our Research Support Provided to University of Minnesota Law Faculty Policy and/or contact Vicente Garces (garce003@umn.edu; 624-2597) to discuss ways in which the Law Library can best provide assistance.
+Reference Services
Law School faculty members are given the highest priority by our reference librarians. We try to respond to faculty requests immediately. If lengthy research is required, you will be contacted promptly with an estimate of the amount of time this research will take.
Reference Office Contact: 625-4309; law-ref@umn.edu, Chat Reference.
Voice mail & email are checked frequently during our reference office hours.
Feel free to contact any of our reference librarians directly if you would like their assistance:
- Vicente Garces, 612-624-2597, garce003@umn.edu
- Scott Dewey, 612-625-0187, shdewey@umn.edu
- Loren Turner, 612-625-2905, lturner@umn.edu
- Michael Hannon, 612-625-0173, mhannon@umn.edu
- Andrew Martineau, 612-624-5334, amartine@umn.edu
- Sandy Jacobson, 612-625-4309, jacobsos@umn.edu
+Faculty RA Assistance and Training
Our reference librarians are available to consult with faculty research assistants. To utilize this service, please refer your RA to a member of the reference staff or to the reference office to arrange a consultation. A formal orientation is offered for faculty RAs once a year. You can arrange to allow your RA to borrow items from the law library and other libraries on campus by downloading and completing the 
Application for Proxy Borrowing Privileges form.
+Bloomberg, Lexis, & Westlaw Access
The Law Library provides access for Law School faculty members to Bloomberg Law, Lexis and Westlaw. Contact Vicente Garces, 624- 2597, garce003@umn.edu or the Reference Office (law-ref@umn.edu, 625-4309) to register for access.
+New Books List & Current Awareness/Alert Services
The Law Library posts a selective monthly list of new books and other items acquired in the previous month. Librarians can also arrange for you to receive current awareness services that are tailored to your interests. Some of the more popular services of general interest are listed below. To identify the best means for you to keep current, please contact Connie Lenz at 625-4301 or lenzx009@umn.edu.
Faculty members may request delivery of this monthly list via email attachment or in hard copy by contacting the library’s ASAP service at 625-9534 or x-asap@umn.edu.
Routing Service
The Law Library will route current issues of periodicals and other serials to your office. To add your name to the routing list for a specific title, please contact David Zopfi-Jordan at 625-1513 or x-asap@umn.edu.
Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP)
This weekly service indexes 500+ legal periodicals into over 100 subject headings. In addition to the subject index, it lists the table of contents for each new journal issue covered. Weekly issues archived back to 1999 may be browsed or downloaded.
This weekly electronic service selectively lists articles indexed in Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) according to your subject interests. Follow the instructions available here for creating your own profile listing the subject headings and/or the periodicals that you wish to track. Based on this profile, you will receive weekly email updates listing the new articles that are of interest to you. If you have questions or need assistance in creating or editing a profile, please contact Vicente Garces (garce003@umn.edu).
This service offers separate electronic “journals” with abstracts of working papers and articles on various legal topics. The Law Library will assist you in becoming a subscriber to the journals in your areas of interest, after which you will receive new issues of the journals via email.
Berkeley Electronic Press Legal Repository
Bepress Legal Repository contains working papers and pre-prints from legal scholars and professionals. In addition, the bepress Legal Repository includes articles from bepress’ roster of peer-reviewed journals and dissertations from top law programs. Bepress also offers an alert service called bealerts to help you track newly published content tailored to your interests.
Database Alerts (Bloomberg Law, Lexis Westlaw)
Bloomberg Law, Lexis and Westlaw offer an alerts feature that allows you to track the development of issues by running predefined searches in databases and on a schedule that you choose. Our reference librarians can help formulate and set up searches to run according to your needs and interests. Results can be delivered to you electronically or in hard copy.
+Off-Campus Access to Electronic Resources
The library guide, Off-Campus Access to Electronic Resources, provides information on locating and logging into resources, as well as creating links that connect to our server successfully. Information on using additional tools to facilitate access to library resources from off-campus locations is also included.
+Assistance in Visiting Other Librares
If your research requires a visit to a library off-campus, the Law Library is happy to assist you in accessing the collections and services at other research libraries. Please contact Vicente Garces (garce003@umn.edu) to arrange access to libraries in the United States and abroad.
+Promotion of Faculty Scholarship (Scholarship Repository, SSRN, Archives, Publication Displays)
The Law Library offers services to assist faculty members in promoting their scholarship:
- The University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository provides full-text, open access to Law School faculty publications. When permitted by publication agreements and with express permission from the faculty member, the Repository hosts the published versions of scholarly articles authored by the Law faculty during their tenure at the Law School. For information about adding your work to the Repository, contact Vicente Garces at garce003@umn.edu or 624-2597.
- SSRN Submissions: The Law Library facilitates submission of Law School faculty scholarship to the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Papers posted to SSRN also appear on the Law School’s Working Papers page. To submit your work to the series, use the Law School’s SSRN Submission Form or contact Vicente Garces at garce003@umn.edu or 624-2597.
- Faculty Publications Pages: The Law Library maintains a faculty scholarship database that generates the faculty publications pages on each Law School faculty member’s Law School profile page. The database also feeds into the Law School’s Recent Faculty Publications page, which features new books, journal articles, and book chapters authored by members of the Law faculty. For more information, contact Connie Lenz at lenzx009@umn.edu or 625-4301.
- Online Author Profiles: The Law Library provides information on how to create and maintain online author profiles, which can increase the visibility and impact of your scholarship, and ensure that it is properly accounted for in the U.S. News & World report rankings. For more information, please visit the Library’s Guide to Law Scholarship Impact and Visibility, or contact Vicente Garces at garce003@umn.edu or 624-2597
- Faculty Publications Displays: Recent faculty publications are displayed in the main lobby of the Law School. Copies of all monographs authored or edited by current faculty members are displayed in the Ballard Spahr Conference Room. For more information, contact Connie Lenz at lenzx009@umn.edu or 625-4301.
The Law Library maintains an archive of faculty writings located in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center.
+Resources for Scholarly Writing and Publishing
The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors., By Laura Portwood-Stacer. Available in eBook format from JSTOR ebooks
Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals, Rostron, Allen K. and Levit, Nancy, (Revised Jan. 12, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1019029 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1019029.
Abstract
This document contains information about submitting articles to law reviews and journals, including the methods for submitting an article, any special formatting requirements, how to contact them to request an expedited review, and how to contact them to withdraw an article from consideration. It covers 195 law reviews.
Information for Submitting Articles to Specialty & Non-Flagship Law Journals, Goodyear, Michael, (August 28, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3682908 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3682908
Abstract
This document contains charts with information about submitting articles to specialty (non-flagship) law journals at ABA-accredited law schools in the United States, including links to the journal’s page, the accepted methods for submitting an article, special formatting or length requirements, whether the journal accepts outside student submissions, and whether the journal offers any non-traditional publishing options. It covers over 450 law journals.
Modern Legal Scholarship: A Guide to Producing and Publishing Scholarly and Professional Writing. By Christine Nero Coughlin, Sandy Patrick, Matthew T Houston & Liz M Johnson. Law Library Reserve KF250.C684 2020. Link to catalog record (includes table of contents).
The Legal Scholar's Guidebook. By Elizabeth E. Berenguer. Law Library Reserve KF250 .B47 2020. Link to catalog record.
In Search of the Read Footnote: Techniques for Writing Legal Scholarship and Having It Published., By Christian C. Day, 6 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 229 (2000). Available on HeinOnline.
How to Write a Law Review Article, By Richard Delgado, 20 U.S.F.L. Rev. 445 (1986). Available on HeinOnline.