Guide to the Bora Laskin Law Library

Location

78 Queen's Park,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 2C5

To reach the library by TTC, take the subway to the Museum Station and walk south on the west side of Queen's Park.

The Library is wheelchair accessible. The elevator across from the Circulation Desk is available for access to the classroom wing on the lower level. Any Library staff member will be happy to provide assistance.

Hours

Reference service is available Monday - Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Librarians are otherwise available by appointment or by e-mail.

The Library is closed on all statutory holidays and Family Day. Hours may vary during examination periods and over the December break. For an up-to-date listing of library hours please call (416) 978-0944 or go to " Library Hours at a Glance " for all U of T libraries including the Bora Laskin Law Library.

Staff Directory

For information about location of the library, access to the collection and hours of operation call General Enquiries. For renewals, information about overdue books, fines, lost books etc. call the Circulation Desk. To ask for assistance with locating legal material or information, call the Reference Desk between 10:00-4:00 Monday to Friday.

Using the Library

Access to the print collection of the Bora Laskin Law Library is freely available. Due to licensing restrictions, access to certain electronic resources is limited to members of the Faculty of Law or the University of Toronto community only.

The Library's collection, which numbers over 253,000 volumes, supports the curriculum and research interests of the Faculty. It includes primary legal materials from the major common law countries such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom as well as from other selected jurisdictions. The Library subscribes to over 700 scholarly legal periodicals from around the world and collects legal and law-related texts and treatises, loose-leaf publications and microform sets.

Volume counts are but one measure of a library's strength. Of increasing importance are electronic sources that reside on site or at remote locations. The Library subscribes to the leading law CD-ROMs and to on-line systems such as Quicklaw, Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw Canada. These offer students and faculty an increasingly rich array of information in full text as does the Internet. The net effect of all of these electronic?based resources is to extend the Library's resources far beyond its own walls. The Library's web site (http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca ) introduces its collections and services and acts as a jumping?off point for finding legal information on the Web.

Close at hand are the rich resources of the University of Toronto Library System. Its collections constitute the largest research facility in Canada, with over 14 million volumes in the combined collections of the John P. Robarts Library for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Gerstein Science Information Centre, and over thirty other college, faculty, and departmental libraries. Many of these specialized collections are relevant for legal research, particularly the libraries of the Centre of Criminology, the Centre for Industrial Relations, and the Rotman Centre for Management.

Finding Library Resources

All of the library's holdings are listed in UTCat , the on-line catalogue for the entire University of Toronto library system. On-line resources including UTCat, databases, CD-ROMs, the Web and e-mail are available from PCs located in public areas on all three floors of the Library.

The Law Library provides a searchable database of the law journals in its collection. This database also includes links to law journals that are available electronically via QuickLaw, Westlaw Canada, Lexis and the University Electronic Journals collection.

Library Resources on the Internet

The Law Library's web site is a great starting point for finding legal resources on the Internet. It includes extensive legal research guides, sections on services for students, faculty and other groups and a unique resource, the Women's Human Rights Resources site. The Library also hosts a password-protected Intranet for the Faculty of Law called e-legal. E-legal includes past exams, reserve readings and shortcuts to frequently used legal resources.

The Bora Laskin Law Library is primarily a reference and research library. The reading areas are for serious study only so all conversation should be kept to an absolute minimum. It is also important that primary legal materials always be available for study and research. For this reason, reports, statutes, and journals do not circulate and Library policy requires that they must be re-shelved promptly after use. As well, books must not be stockpiled in carrels or on tables. Each morning, the Library will be cleared and all materials will be reshelved.

Do not leave personal belongings unattended in the Library. Thefts do occur so we advise keeping purses, wallets, and other valuables with you at all times. The Library has a magnetic security system to prevent book theft. Books not desensitized at the Circulation Desk will trigger an alarm and the exit gate will lock. To avoid embarrassment, please be sure that all materials are properly signed out. Should the alarm be activated accidentally, we ask your cooperation in returning to the Desk. Bags and briefcases will be searched if the alarm is triggered.

Library Code of Conduct

The primary purpose of the Bora Laskin Law Library is to support the teaching, learning, and research needs of students and professors in the Faculty of Law. As a campus library, it is also open to all members of the University of Toronto community, including U of T alumni. The Library offers selected fee-based services to members of the bar and bench, many of whom are alumni of the school. Members of the public may also access the Library and use resources within the Library In order to create an atmosphere conducive to serious work, all users of the Library must comply with the following rules of conduct. These rules are aimed at ensuring that users of the Library show consideration for each other and for the physical facilities.

1) Conversation and noise must be kept to an absolute minimum. Groups may not hold discussions in the Library.
At the Circulation Desk, U of T law students may reserve a room for the purpose of discussion or group study.
Other users must take conversations outside the Library.

2) Laptop use is restricted to the main and top floors. The first floor/basement is a laptop free zone

3) Eating, drinking and smoking are not permitted within the lLibrary. Bottled water is permitted, as are drinks in spill-proof containers

4) Users must show respect for library property including furniture, equipment and books.

5) Because facilities are limited, the computer laboratory is reserved for the use of U of T law students only. Rules specifically relating to the lab are posted within the room.

6) Patrons of the Library must leave promptly at closing time, when the fire alarm sounds and during emergencies when requested to vacate by staff.

Please report serious and persistent abuses of this code to the Circulation Desk attendant. Persons violating the rules may be asked to leave the Library's premises. Further action can be taken by submitting a formal, written complaint (signed and dated) to the Chief Law Librarian.

Prepared by Ann Rae, Former Chief Law Librarian, Bora Laskin Law Library. Designed, updated and maintained by Susan Barker, Electronic Information Coordinator.

Comments and Suggestions

All contents copyright Bora Laskin Law Library.