Services

THE CIRCULATION DESK is where patrons may borrow materials. Much of Biddle's collection is non-circulating. Materials that do circulate may be borrowed by patrons with a current PENNCard, the official University of Pennsylvania identification for students, faculty, staff, and other members of the Penn community. The loan period is 28 days, with two renewals possible by contacting the Circulation Desk (215-898-7478, law.circ@law.upenn.edu). The mailing address is:

Biddle Law Library
ATTN: Circulation
3460 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3406

Materials such as law reviews, statutes, case reports, multi-volume sets, and loose-leaf services circulate only to faculty, journal and staff offices in the Law School complex.

When a book or journal is not on the shelf, ask the Circulation Desk staff to confirm whether it has been checked out. Materials checked out to an office in the Law School quadrangle can be retrieved by the circulation staff for brief use by another patron. Because circulation records are confidential, the Library cannot reveal the identity of any borrower.

If materials have not been checked out, patrons may fill out a search request form at the Circulation Desk. If materials are not available on campus or at Drexel, Biddle's ILL/Document Delivery Services will contact non-Penn libraries for assistance.

COMPUTERS in Biddle are limited to Penn Law students. Visitors may use the two machines on either side of the Reference Desk to access LOLA and law-related databases.

LawNet is the Law School's computer network. LawNet PCs, providing access to email, LexisNexis, Westlaw and word processing, are located in the Computer Lab on the second floor and on the north side of the fifth floor. Several PCs are available on the west corridors of floors 4 and 5.

A limited number of ethernet adaptors may be checked out at the Circulation Desk. This equipment permits users to plug their laptop computers into LawNet using data jacks that are available throughout the Library.

Printing on LawNet may be routed to networked laser printers located in the Library at a cost of 8 cents/page. Payment is made using a PennCash card or a PennCard.

For assistance with computer hardware or software, contact the Law School Information Technology Services (T-232, 215-898-2679, itshelp@law.upenn.edu).

DOCUMENT DELIVERY/INTERLIBRARY LOAN is available only to Penn Law School faculty, students and staff. Books and articles not available in Biddle, on campus or at Drexel may be obtained through ILL/Document Delivery Services. Law students have borrowing privileges at all Penn libraries as well as at Drexel University Library, located at 33rd and Market Streets. A letter of introduction must be obtained from a Biddle reference librarian prior to borrowing from Drexel.

Biddle is a member of the RLG SHARES program, and participates in OCLC's ILL system. Libraries or for-profit entities needing to obtain materials from Biddle must follow the Library's ILL policies, detailed on the ILL page.

For more information contact Merle J. Slyhoff , Collection Development and Document Delivery Services Librarian (T-212, 215-898-9013, mslyhoff@law.upenn.edu).

THE LIBRARY CATALOG, LOLA, contains records for most titles held by the Library. Some older state and federal government materials are not yet searchable through LOLA but can be identified with the assistance of a reference librarian.

LOLA provides bibliographic, call number and location information for titles in Biddle. It also displays:

• Records for titles on order.
• Latest receipts of journal issues, loose-leaf services releases and supplemented titles.
• Check-out status of circulating titles.

Access to databases, e-journals, and books in electronic formats is available by clicking on the link in the record. Penn Law students, faculty and staff may use these electronic resources from home by entering their login and the middle eight digits of their PennCard ID into the form provided.

LOLA also enables Penn Law students, faculty and staff to renew titles currently charged out and to cancel holds by selecting the “My Account” link located on the LOLA main page. See the LOLA help screen for more information.

All other University of Pennsylvania titles may be found in Franklin, the University's online catalog. Students may also check the Drexel Library catalog. These libraries are searchable through the Other Library Catalogs section of the LOLA main page.

REFERENCE librarians are available at the Reference Desk on the second floor (215-898-7853). When classes are in session (September-April), the Reference Desk is staffed:

The Associate Director for Foreign and International Law, Maria I. Smolka-Day, is available on the fourth floor (T-412, 215-898-7442, msmolka@law.upenn.edu).

Reference librarians give advice on how to conduct legal research. However, they are prevented from interpreting the law because of professional legal ethics and Biddle's reference policy.

Tours of the Library and small group tutorials are available by contacting Ronald E. Day, Head of Reference Services (T-214, 215-898-0639, rday@law.upenn.edu).