About Us

Level 1

• Non-legal materials (AC-JV, L-ZA)--Particularly strong collections in the areas of the social sciences, history, economics, and presidential papers
• Periodicals and periodical indexes--Law reviews, bar journals, and other law-related periodicals (both bound and unbound issues) as well as a number of print periodical indexes
• Government documents--A collection of law-related government documents, including older Congressional hearings
• Microforms--Materials in microformat, including 16 mm and 35 mm microfilm and microfiche

Level 2

• Library entrance and User Services Desk
• Reference materials--A core collection of directories, indexes, legal encyclopedias, and annotated reporters
• American legal treatises and topical reporters (KF)--An extensive collection of treatises, multi-volume works, and topical reporters relating to all aspects of general American law
• Maryland legal materials (KFM)--A comprehensive collection of Maryland legal materials, both primary and secondary
• Reading Room collection--Hornbooks and nutshells (single volume works designed to be used with courses taught in law school), current newspapers, both general and legal, and popular magazines
• Course Reserves collection--Required reading for currently taught courses
• Media collection in the Reading Room--Commercially and in-house produced audio and video materials chosen to support the curriculum of the law school

Level 3

• Federal materials (KF)--Comprehensive collection of primary sources, for statutes, administrative law, and case law, along with finding aids and updating sources
• Regional materials--The seven regional reporters, the four regional digests, and the "mini-regionals" the New York Supplement and the California Reporter
• State materials (KFA-KFW)--All states other than Maryland, including codes for all states, most official state reporters through the mid-1990s, and digests for all states not represented by a current regional digest

Level 4

• International legal materials (JX-JZ, KZ-KZD)--United Nations materials, compilations of treaties, and materials related to the foreign policy of the United States
• Comparative legal materials (K)
• Foreign legal materials (KBB-KEZ, KG-KWX)--Collections of British and Canadian materials to support research appropriate to our common law heritage, collections of French and German legal materials, both primary sources and secondary sources, most in the original language, to support faculty research, and materials relating to the European Community

Authorized building visitors include students, faculty, and staff of University System of Maryland campuses; attorneys; School of Law alumni; guest speakers; clinic clients; admitted and prospective students; and UMMC and VA staff. Students with valid IDs may bring guests into the library.

Members of the public may be permitted access to the law library on a limited basis weekdays from 9:00am to 8:00pm, and can contact us to confirm available resources and services before coming to campus.

The facility provides accommodations for those with disabilities that go beyond what is required by law. Switch plates are operational on the main library entrance door as well as on all restroom doors. All study carrels and tables in the library will accommodate wheelchair users. Students who have questions about library accessibility issues or who have special needs should contact Michele Ondra, Associate Director for Administration and Finance, at mondra@law.umaryland.edu.

Cell phone use is limited to designated cell phone areas in the law library. The designated areas are the Lounges on the 3rd and 4th floors, all Group Study rooms, and the Fayette Street stairwell.

Cell phone users should set phones on an inaudible setting while in the library. If you receive a call, please go to one of the designated areas to use your cell phone.

The Thurgood Marshall Law Library is primarily a research and reference collection of law and law-related materials to be used within the library. Therefore, many categories of legal materials do not circulate, including court reports, statutes, codes and regulations, digests, indexes, encyclopedias, directories, periodical volumes, parts of multi-volume treatises, and looseleaf services. These books must be used in the library and should be reshelved immediately after use to ensure availability to other patrons. Library materials that are available for general circulation, primarily monographic works, circulate via the library’s automated circulation system.

In addition to law library borrowing privileges, law students and faculty are entitled to direct borrowing privileges at 14 Maryland public colleges and universities either by going to the other library or by using the self-service "holds" delivery system available in the Catalog. Books requested via the "holds" system will be delivered to our library. The library also provides an interlibrary loan service for items not found in its collection or in the collections of other University System of Maryland libraries.

How Do I Borrow Materials from the Thurgood Marshall Law Library?

Presentation of a UM identification card is required to charge out library materials from the law library or any of the 16 libraries in the University System of Maryland.  Alumni may not use their alumni borrowing card at any other University System of Maryland library.  Law students have a set semester due date (December, May or August) corresponding to the end of the fall, spring or summer semester.  All other patrons have due dates based on their patron status and a fixed number of days after the date of an item is checked out.  All items are subject to recall by another patron after 14 days.

Please check the Catalog and at the User Services Desk for items that are not on the shelves. Hold requests may be placed on materials out on loan.

The law school faculty has waived the protection that exists under Maryland state law regarding confidentiality of circulation records in cases where another law faculty member has the item. In all other cases, library borrowing records are strictly confidential. If the book needed is currently charged out or cannot be found, please see a librarian at the User Services Desk for assistance in locating or recalling the item.

May I Borrow Materials from Other USM Libraries?

All faculty, students and staff with a currently validated UM  identification card from any of University of Maryland's public four-year colleges and universities can obtain circulating materials from the libraries of those institutions in either of two ways. First, a patron may directly borrow materials at the library itself. Second, a patron may institute a patron-placed hold via the University System of Maryland (USM) online Catalog. A hold results in materials being delivered directly to the patron's home library or to any other USM library the patron chooses. The patron placing a hold on an item will be notified when the item is available. The item will be held at the designated library for a limited time before others may borrow it, or it is returned to the owning library.

With both direct borrowing and patron-placed holds, the borrowing of library materials is a transaction between the individual borrower and the lending library. The borrower must abide by the rules and regulations of the lending institution. Loan periods are set by the lending library and will vary from library to library. Borrowers should verify with the lending library the loan period being offered to them. The fine schedule of the lending institution will apply to any delinquent transactions and fines are payable to the lending institution only.

Direct borrowing rules require that the borrower present to the lending library a validated home institution identification card and any other requested documentation to verify current affiliation with one of the participating institutions. Each lending library reserves the right to deny borrowing privileges to any individual who fails to present sufficient proof of current affiliation with a participating institution. Before visiting, borrowers are strongly advised to call the owning library to check the availability of material as well as the library's lending policy and requirements for proof of current eligibility to borrow.

Individuals visiting any of the USM libraries have the same on-site use of unrestricted library materials as users for whom that is the home institution. Telephone renewals are not accepted at any library for materials borrowed at another library. However, materials may be returned to any cooperating library.

May I Borrow Materials from Libraries Outside the University System of Maryland?

Books and photocopies of journal articles not available within the University System of Maryland (USM) may usually be obtained from another library through interlibrary loan. The library is committed to providing materials as quickly as possible via interlibrary loan, but response time does vary depending upon the supplying library. Loan periods and renewal policies are determined by the lending library and will also vary. It is the responsibility of the user to return all materials by the due date.

Requests may be made at the User Services Desk or online using the Interlibrary Loan Request form.

Library patrons are responsible for fines on borrowed materials. Interlibrary loan is critical for student and faculty research, and the library cannot risk losing borrowing privileges from other libraries because of the failure to return books. Patrons who put the library in the position of delinquent borrower will lose interlibrary loan privileges.

What Does it Mean When I Receive Recall Notice?

Items borrowed by a patron may be recalled after two weeks at the request of any other patron. All materials are subject to recall. Material to be placed on reserve may be recalled at any time.

Failure to respond to a recall notice and return the recalled item may result in suspension of loan privileges and bills for replacement costs and processing. Recalled items accrue fines of $1.50 per item per day overdue.

May I Renew Borrowed Materials?

In general, an item may be renewed as often as the borrower wishes, provided the patron returns the item to the circulation desk or makes other arrangements to renew as instructed by the circulation staff. If another user has requested the item, that request will be honored before the renewal. When you renew books, you are extending the loan period for borrowed books.

What Happens if Borrowed Materials are Overdue or Lost?

The borrower bears sole responsibility for any fines, fees, or charges accrued because of the late return, damage, or loss of TMLL materials charged to the borrower's card. If the borrower has lost the items that are borrowed, the borrower will be charged $95.00 per lost item to cover replacement costs. All loan privileges will be suspended if a substantial number of fines accrue against an individual’s record.

For materials borrowed from other libraries, the fine schedules of the lending institution apply. Fines owed are payable to the lending institution only. Borrowing privileges may be suspended until the account is paid in full and the material is returned or replaced by the borrower. Law students with outstanding fines or overdue books will not be cleared for graduation until their library obligations are met.  Borrowers should not allow others to use their identification cards since they will be solely responsible for any transactions charged to their card.

Computers and computer network facilities are provided to support the education, research and service mission of the campus and its schools.

Visitors may bring a wireless-enabled laptop into the Law Library to access the online catalog and legal databases.  To access the guest wireless, visitors should double click the wireless network icon on the laptop’s system tray (which is usually in the lower or upper right corner, near the clock). A list of wireless networks that are available will be shown. Visitors should select and connect to the "UMB Guest" wireless.  Upon opening a browser, they will be prompted to enter an email address before proceeding.

Work and personal items should not be left unattended at any computer.

Visitor Workstation

The visitor workstation is available exclusively for academic and legal research purposes.

To use the visitor workstation, patrons must show an ID and sign in with their full name, indicating the time. The librarian on duty will be the only one with the password to this computer. After signing in, patrons may use the public computer for 30 minutes when other users are present. When finished, patrons should log out of the computer and return to the circulation desk to sign-out.

Misuse

Misuse of the public computers consists of any violations of the UMB Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy. Violations include, but are not limited to:

• Computing activity that is not in support of the education, research, and service mission of the campus and its schools.
• Securing unauthorized access to or unauthorized use of IT resources, or facilitating such use or access by another person.
• Altering system software or hardware configurations without authorization.
• Computing activity that is illegal.
• Computing activity that is wasteful of IT Resources
• Software theft or piracy, data theft, or any other action that violates the intellectual property rights of others.

Eating and drinking in the library is limited to specific areas to limit public health risks to the Maryland Carey Law community. Eating and drinking in spill-proof containers can be enjoyed in the marked carrels along the wall parallel to Fayette Street on all floors of the library. Feel free to ask staff if you aren’t sure where these designated seats can be found. Please clean any spills or notify staff to avoid attracting pests as well as ensuring other people can continue to enjoy using the library space. We thank you in advance for doing your part to help minimize risk to our community.

Seven group study rooms on the third floor (Rooms 3316, 3320-3325) are available for use and must be reserved. Study rooms are locked and will require students to check-out a key from the User Services Desk on the 2nd floor of the library. To book, choose “Group Study Room” from the Student Resources menu on any library web page.  Reservations for rooms will be taken only up to one week in advance.  A minimum of two names (first and last names) with @umaryland e-mail addresses must be given for each reservation request. Students can make a maximum of one (1) booking per day for up to three (3) hours except for the last reservation of the day at 6:00pm, which will last until the library closes. To ensure continued eligibility to use the study rooms, keys should be returned to the User Services Desk at the end of your reservation. 

The open areas of the library have been designated as quiet zones for studying and research. When you are in these quiet areas, please refrain from cell phone and other conversations.  The library’s student lounges (Rooms 3314 and 4409) and group study rooms (Rooms 3316, 3320-3325) are available if you need to conduct a conversation.  Please let someone know at the User Services Desk if other library users are being disruptive in a quiet area.

To insure maximum availability of library materials, patrons are expected to reshelve all materials they have used. If you do not know where a book belongs on the shelf, please leave it at the User Services Desk.

Smoking is not permitted inside any part of the library or law school, including the courtyard and the roof terrace.

The Special Collections of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library are open to students, faculty and staff of the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI), and to members of the public for in-house use only. Access to the collections is by appointment only, please contact Special Collections at the Library to make an appointment.  Access to certain collections may be restricted based on condition, availability and/or prior donor arrangements. There is no charge to use the collections, however there may be a fee for copying or other services.

Non-compliance with Law Library policies is considered disruptive behavior and will result in the loss of Library privileges. Additional sanctions, such as notification of the dean of the appropriate school may be imposed depending on affiliation of the individual or the nature of the violation.