Reference Services:

Members of the Public

How We Can Help You:
The Law Library's collections, with the exception of certain licensed electronic resources, are available to all members of the public. Basic reference services are available to all members of the public as well. These services include assistance in selecting print or electronic resources, and instruction in the use of those resources. Some examples of how we can help you include the following:

  • Recommending a source for beginning your research on Illinois divorce law
  • Helping you to find a particular book in the library (by title or author)
  • Helping you to use the library's online catalog
  • Suggesting alternative sources for your research
  • Showing you how to use types of sources in the library, including legal encyclopedias, looseleaf treatises, print digests, and online sources such as Findlaw.

While you are welcome to contact us via telephone, we are unable to provide instruction or training on sources over the phone, and we will not perform any research for you.

We encourage anyone seeking reference assistance to visit the library in person during our reference hours, so that we can assist you with the use of our print and electronic resources in the library. If you wish to call to confirm reference hours or to confirm that we have certain materials in our collection, please contact us at 244-0614.

What We Can Not Do:
While we can help you locate and use resources in the library, we can not, and will not give legal advice or opinions about your research conclusions or findings. We also can not and will not do your research for you.

Some examples of how we can NOT help you include, but are not limited to the following:

  • We will not help you make your arguments in a pending or potential case, nor will we review your legal documents.
  • We will not look up the statute of limitations on a particular activity.
  • We will not explain the meaning of a particular legal term or concept, though we will recommend legal dictionaries and other sources to help you understand terms and concepts.
  • We will not read definitions or sections from legal materials over the phone.
  • We will not create lists of sources, organizations, attorneys, or other material for you.
  • We will not look up a case or statute on a particular activity or legal issue, but will instead refer you to print and electronic sources as available, and will instruct you in their use.

We do have a variety of Illinois-specific resources that will be of interest to the patron seeking to represent themselves in a legal matter. These include:

  • The Illinois Compiled Statutes;
  • Illinois Jurisprudence (a legal encyclopedia);
  • The Illinois Continuing Education guides (nicknamed the "IICLEs").

Electronic Resources:
While the reference staff will refer patrons to electronic resources when appropriate, note that some electronic resources are limited by subscription license to members of the UIUC community. These include the full law school versions of LexisNexis and Westlaw, which are individually-licensed to members of the College of Law community.

Email:
Please note that we do not provide email reference services to members of the public.