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Faculty Services: Resources

Resources

The library catalog can be accessed here. 

  • It searches print & electronic resources (except Lexis) held by the Law Library & UI Library
  • It can be filtered by a variety of criteria, including location & resource type
  • Contact Anna Blaine (208-885-2161) in Moscow or Sam Williams (208-364-4554) in Boise for assistance in using the catalog or to receive a tutorial
  • To access resources not listed in the catalog, see Resource Sharing
  • To recommend a title for Law Library purchase, see Suggest a Title

 

Stacy Etheredge, Law Library Director

The Law Library's Course Reserves & Law Exam Archive provide students with access to print & digital textbooks, study aids, & exam archives.

  • E-Reserves: Allows users to locate course materials by course or instructor name
    • Faculty may request class recordings, old course exams, etc. be placed on e-reserve (or removed) by emailing Evan Lantzy. Copyright restrictions apply and student permission is required to post completed exams. The Student Permission form is linked to below.
  • To place a physical item on reserve*:

*Barring special circumstances, this is unnecessary for your course's required text; we automatically place those on reserve by policy.

 

 

    -Evan Lantzy, Circulation Supervisor  

 

The Law Library offers access to a variety of electronic databases & resources.

Westlaw & Lexis are accessed via individual accounts that students and faculty create on their own. You can learn more about these resources through the tab "Westlaw/Lexis" above and/or reaching out to Sam Williams (208-364-4554). 

More specialized research may require researchers to use a wide variety of databases that are also available through the Law Library and the University of Idaho. If you know what resource you are looking for, you might find it yourself on either of these lists:

  • The Law Library's A-Z Databases (for resources skewing closer to the law)
  • The University of Idaho Library's  A-Z Databases (for multi/interdisciplinary resources, such as JSTOR, science & medical databases, other comprehensive scholarly databases, & a variety of newspapers.)
  • Using the library catalog to search for the source title (e.g., American Indian Law Review) or database by name.

In the event that you know what you are looking for but not where to find it or how to access a paywalled source, you can either reach out to a librarian or search for the material in the library catalog. For example, databases like HeinOnline often have greater access to legal scholarship in less widely circulated journals than Westlaw or Lexis do. Professor David Pimentel's "Forfeiture Policy in the United States: Is There Hope for Reform?" can be found in Criminology & Public Policy, which is not available in Westlaw or Lexis. However, if you look up the journal title in the catalog, you will find that the school does have access to the article through other databases.

Once you have found a catalog entry, simply click on the resource that you would like to use to access the article. Often, this process should self-complete, especially if the user is on-campus. However, users may need to authenticate in order to access the material by entering their University of Idaho credentials. This can include confirming your relationship with the University of Idaho by entering your email address, password, and sometimes confirming your identity through Duo.

Each database can have its own wrinkles. Many have unique licensing requirements that individual users will need to sign off on in order to use the materials. Some news sources, like the Wall Street Journal, are available through other library databases like Proquest. Others, such as The New York Times, are available for free, but require additional steps to create an account with free access (you can find an explanation of that process here). If you need help with a particular database or resource, please do not hesitate to reach out to Anna Blaine in Moscow (208-885-2161) or Sam Williams in Boise (208-364-4554) with questions.

Finally, what if the library simply does not have what you are looking for? Request it from another library! Many materials can be accessed through Summit or Interlibrary Loan (ILL). You can learn about these Resource Sharing services here. 

Sam Williams, Reference and Instruction Librarian

 All faculty can create Westlaw & Lexis accounts. Contact Sam Williams (208-364-4554) for authorization codes. 

  • Technical questions are best addressed to the vendors' support personnel:
    • Westaw: 1-800-486-4876
    • Lexis: 1-800-455-3947
  • For assistance conducting research on these platforms, see Research Support

Sam Williams, Reference & Instruction Librarian