How to find books held by University of Minnesota Libraries
Access Libraries Search - Catalog mode
Sign in with your U of M Internet credentials by clicking on the "Sign in" link in the top right corner of the Libraries Search page.
Try running searches in various "Fields", e.g. title, author/editor, ISBN. For book titles that appear to be correct, search the title field and change the filter from "contains," to either "contains exact phrase" or "starts with"
For Books Held by the Law Library:
If you find a catalog record for the book you're searching for and it is held by the Law Library, note the call number and retrieve the book from the library stacks. Bring the book to the Circulation desk and ask to have the book checked out to your journal's account (a.k.a. racked).
For Books Held at Other Libraries on the Twin Cities Campus
If the book is held at another library on campus, you can request to have the book sent to the Law Library by using the University Libraries' Get It! service. When viewing the record for the book (see screenshot below) scroll to the Get It! section and click on the Get It! link. Then select TC Law Library as the Pickup Location. You will receive an email message when your book is available for pickup at the Law Library Circulation desk.
Please note: books retrieved from libraries (other than the Law Library) are checked out to your personal library account and cannot be checked out to your journal's account. You will be held personally responsible for any recall, overdue or replacement fines or fees.
If You Do Not Find Your Book in the Libraries Search - Catalog
Check with a Reference Librarian
Stop by the Reference Office or email law-ref@umn.edu and let the librarian know you're doing a source pull and couldn't find the book in Libraries Search Catalog. The librarian will double check Libraries Search Catalog to verify that the book is not held on-campus (searching Libraries Search Catalog can be tricky).
Notify your Articles Editor & Place an ILL Request
Notify your Articles editor that you checked with a Reference librarian and verified the book is not available on-campus, and that you need to submit a request to the Law Library's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service to try and borrow it from another library. Information on submitting Law Library ILL requests is available here. Note: all ILL requests must be submitted to the Law Library's ILL Service. Do not submit ILL requests to the University Libraries' ILL Service. Links to get items via ILL that you see in the Libraries Search Catalog are only for the University Libraries' ILL Service.
Use the Libraries Search Advance Search template to locate journal articles by the article’s title. Set the Field to "Title" and enter the article title. This search allows you to retrieve full-text articles from a wide variety of multidisciplinary databases such as HeinOnline, JSTOR, PAIS Index, Medline, and many more, accessible to U of M students. If you locate your article in one of these databases, check to see if it is available as a PDF file. Your journal editors may prefer/require that you provide a facsimile copy of articles (image/PDF or photocopy).
Use the Advance Search template (in Catalog Only mode) to determine if the journal that your article is published in, is held at a library on-campus. If so, check the holdings information in the catalog record to confirm the volume you need is available. If so, you can either go to the library and copy the article or place a Get It Request to have the volume that contains your article delivered to the Law Library for you.
How to find newspaper & magazine articles
Finding articles using News Sources Search
News Sources Search allows you to search for articles in newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, and newswire feeds across a variety of library databases. You can search article titles containing keywords or phrases (enclosed in "quotation marks") by entering them in the search bar. You may search for articles in English or other languages. Note: most of the content is from 1995 to present. Contact a Reference librarian if you're searching for earlier content. The University Libraries has a short video tutorial on how to use News Sources Search.
Consult the Univesity Libraries' News Sources guide.
The guide contains links to the major news databases available to U of M students. Scroll down the guide to find links to major newspapers and magazines. The navigation menu in the top left corner of the guide has links to additional more specific new sources such as Historical News, Minnesota News, and World News.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
The ProQuest Historical Newspapers database is particularly notable for its coverage of major U.S. newspapers and the availability of digital facsimile copies of newspapers (especially helpful for journal source find purposes). Some of the major newspapers included in this database are: Chicago Tribune; Los Angeles Times; Minneapolis Tribune; Star Tribune; New York Times; Wall Street Journal; Washington Post.
TIP: It is difficult to track down an exact copy of newspaper articles that have appeared in non-major newspapers in recent years. This is because libraries today purchase electronic archives and many no longer collect back runs of newpapers on microform. These archives often do not provide imaged versions of articles. Most law review authors cite to newspaper articles they have found on Westlaw, Lexis, or the internet. If they cite to a hard-to-find newspaper, or to wire services like Reuters or Associated Press, you can sometimes use newspaper databases to find a nearly-identical story in one of the major newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times). If your editor won’t accept Westlaw, Lexis, or web versions of newspaper stories, ask if you can try finding a story in one of the major papers.
How to find codified statutes
Generally, current federal statutes must be photocopied from the official U.S. Code. The current edition is available on Reserve at the Circulation Desk (call no. KF62). Earlier editions are available in Section 1B of the first floor stacks. The current permanent edition of the U.S. Code is also available in PDF format on the GovInfo website. Earlier editions are available on GovInfo back to 1994.
The HeinOnline U.S. Code Collection includes complete coverage of the U.S. Code dating back to inception in 1925-1926. Documents are available in PDF image format. It also includes a comprehensive collection of early federal statute compilations published prior to the U.S. Code.
Current state statutes must be photocopied from the first-floor state statutes collection on the low shelves (Law Library PRIMARY). Older state statutes are on the third floor; ask a reference librarian for help. HeinOnline's State Statutes: An Historical Archive is an online source for PDF copies of certain older state statutes/codes.
TIP: Official state codes are very difficult to find. It might be necessary to cite to an annotated version.
How to find public laws
PDF Sources
Hardcopy
A complete set of U.S. Statutes at Large is at the entrance to the first floor of the Law Library (KF50 .U6); at the same call number in the stacks on the first floor there is a set that ends in 1997. Note: the set on the 1st floor cannot be checked out to your journal's library account but the set on the 2nd floor can be checked out.
Federal Legislative History Documents
Sources for Documents in PDF
TIP: ProQuest Congressional also indexes many documents that are not available online in full-text and provides information such as document numbers that can be helpful in retrieving them from the library’s microform and print collections.
Microfiche & Print Collections
In addition to online databases, many Congressional documents such as bills (through 2001), committee reports, hearings, prints and more are available on microfiche in the Law Library and the Government Publications Library in Wilson Library. Use ProQuest Congressional and/or MNCAT Discovery to locate document numbers and call numbers.
Congressional Record
See the Congressional Record section of our Federal Legislative History Research guide to locate the Congressional Record and it's predecessor publications (Annals of Congress, Register of Debates and Congressional Globe) in print and online.
Minnesota Legislative History
To find Minnesota legislative history materials, consult this guide:
How to find the Federal Register (FR)
Online PDF Sources
Hardcopy Sources
Recent copies of the Federal Register (about the last six months) are available on the first floor on the low shelves, Law Library Primary KF70.A2. These cannot be checked out to your journal's library account and must be photocopied. Hardcopy of the Federal Register from 1936-October 1981 are available in US Documents GS4.107: on the second floor.
How to find the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
Online PDF Sources
Hardcopy
The most current edition of the CFR is located in Law Library Primary KF 70 .A3. These paperback volumes cannot be checked out, so you’ll need to photocopy them. Older paper versions of the CFR are located on the second floor in two different areas (depending on the date you need): GS4.108:35 (1949-1984) and AE2.106/3:35 (1985- ). govinfo also has images of the CFR from 1997 to date.
How to find cases
Online PDF Sources
Hardcopy Sources
The Library has older collections of duplicate case reporters, that you can check out to your journal's library account. However, the Library no longer buys duplicate sets, so for recent cases, you may need to photocopy the reporter sets on the second floor. For a guide that shows the location of reporter sets, see our, Location Guide to Frequently Requested Materials.
TIP: When you select the PDF format option on Westlaw, you may get a warning saying that you will "incur additional charges." This warning does not apply to law school users.
Court Documents (dockets, briefs, oral argument transcripts, etc.)
Consult our guide, Case Records & Briefs Research Guide.
How to find treaties
How to find international trade law documents
How to find other documents and resolve bad cites