Faculty Services and Support

Whether you are a full-time faculty member, visiting professor, or faculty assistant, the HLS library can provide personalized assistance through our library liaison program.  Liaisons are ready and willing to meet with faculty and their support staff members to gather information about current research projects, explore ways in which we can help you in classroom instruction, set up current awareness alerts in your areas of interest, and determine other opportunities for library assistance.

The liaison program is made up of research librarians and other library staff who can provide a single point of contact for faculty members working with the library.  Of course any library staff member is happy to assist at any time, but in many cases liaisons can provide subject-matter expertise or particular research support skills for individual faculty needs.  

To find your current liaison contact the librarians at research@law.harvard.edu

*STAFF ACCESS* Liaisons can find their assignments here

https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/x/6IF4B

This guide contains information about the following library services:

FRIDA - frida@law.harvard.edu

Reference Desk - research@law.harvard.edu

RA for Hire Program - hpierce@law.harvard.edu

Empirical Research Services - aavedian@law.harvard.edu

Scholarly Publishing Support - jucasey@law.harvard.edu

Course Reserves - apierce@law.harvard.edu

Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Solutions - ask@edtech.libanswers.com

Historical & Special Collections - specialc@law.harvard.edu

Art Loan Program - lschoenf@law.harvard.edu

FRIDA is the primary service for faculty members to obtain delivery of known documents, from the Law Library or other sources.

Hours

• Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Closed during all Law School holidays.
• FRIDA will receive requests sent on weekends or holidays on the next business day.

Submitting Requests

Harvard Law School Faculty members may request office delivery of books and copies by employing any of the following methods:

• Using our FRIDA request form
• E-mailing a request to frida@law.harvard.edu
• Sending a written request to FRIDA, Langdell 262
• Calling the FRIDA office (617) 496-2147

Format of Requests

Please include the following information in your request:

• Your name
• When you need the requested item. Items are processed on a first come, first served basis so if you need the materials very quickly please indicate “rush” and specify the time constraints of the request.
• Any special instructions, e.g. two pages per copy, this edition only, etc.

For article requests:

• If a Westlaw, LexisNexis or other text format is acceptable
• If you would prefer us to send you the bound volume or send the request to the Copy Center
• If you do not want to receive the item electronically

Turnaround Time

We make every effort to provide material within the turnaround times listed below.​

• Both standard and rush turnaround times may be delayed during busy times of year, especially at the beginning of each semester.
• Delivery may be delayed if the item is charged out or not available on the shelf.
• FRIDA staff will contact you if the item needs to be recalled from another patron or acquired through interlibrary loan.

Rush Requests

• Rush requests submitted before 3 pm should be filled by the end of the day
• Rush requests submitted after 3 pm should be filled by the end of the next business day
• Rush requests for articles will be filled in whatever format we can provide most quickly
• We make every effort to prioritize rush requests based on patron deadlines. When we have more than one request with the same deadline, we will process requests on a first come, first served basis.

Office Delivery

FRIDA staff members deliver books, photocopies and routed material twice a day, Monday-Friday, to faculty offices on the Law School campus. Please leave items to be returned in Library Return bins located in most office suites. To change your delivery address or if you have questions related to office deliveries, please contact the FRIDA office at 617-496-2147.

Visit the FRIDA website for additional information.

Many library liaisons also staff the Reference Desk on the library's 4th floor.  If you are ever in need of immediate assistance and cannot reach your liaison, feel free to contact the Reference Desk for assistance.  We are available in person, by phone, email, text and chat!

The Library has several research assistants who are available to assist faculty members with short-term research projects. The Coordinator who administers this program is available to help define the faculty research project, to supervise the research process, and to monitor the research result. The research assistant bills his or her time at the regular faculty research assistant rate to the account of the faculty member receiving the service. Other services available to faculty through the Library’s Research Assistants Program include assistance with the research assistant hiring process and training of faculty supervised research assistants.

In addition, the Library offers research instruction and training for faculty research assistants. Specialized instruction saves research assistants time and ensures that faculty members receive the results of thorough bibliographic research.

To take advantage of these services or to find out more information, please contact George Taoultsides, Manager of Faculty Research Services and Support.

The Library provides reserves support for all HLS courses.

Placing Items on Course Reserves

To access Reserve Readings for a course using Canvas, use the Reserves List link in the left navigation. To manage the reserve readings for the course, use the Manage Reserves List link to the top right, which will open the Reserves List tool in a new tab. For technical assistance using the Library Reserve Reading List Tool, please contact the Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Group.

Placing Non-Standard Items on Course Reserves

Some items, particularly items not cataloged in HOLLIS such as photocopies, sample exams, etc., cannot be put on reserve using the Library Reserve Reading List Tool. For such non-standard items, please use this form. Please contact Ashley Pierce, 617-495-4565, if you are uncertain whether the items in question can be placed on reserve or have questions about using the form. 

You can also visit the library website for more details.

The TLC group supports faculty and teaching staff at HLS through consultations, trainings, and tutorials. TLC staff are happy to help you learn a new technology, brainstorm about what tools would augment your teaching, research best practices and emerging technologies, troubleshoot issues, and solve problems. Check out their case study consultation service, as well as their academic technology trainings and tutorials. Contact Lisa Brem lbrem@law.harvard.edu to learn more about TLC services.

Canvas

Canvas is a learning management system (LMS); every current JD course at HLS has a website in the Canvas system. What makes Canvas a learning management system and not just a collection of websites is its focus on teaching and learning tools and its interface with our student information system (SIS).  The SIS feeds course and enrollment data into Canvas throughout the day, so if you are a student, faculty member or course support staff, you should see the correct list of courses in your dashboard and the updated list of enrollees listed in the course’s “People” tab.

To access your Canvas dashboard, go to canvas.harvard.edu – you will need to enter your Harvard Key and password. If you have trouble with your Harvard Key, contact Harvard IT.

If you are able to log in, but don’t see all your current and past courses, you should contact the HLS Registrar’s office (if the course in question is from another Harvard school, you should contact the Registrar at that school) to determine if you have been properly enrolled.

If you need help working with Canvas or want a Canvas tutorial, see the Canvas Help for Faculty and Staff or the Canvas Help for Students pages or contact TLC between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:30 pm. You can also search for answers to your questions 24/7 in our online Knowledge Base.

iClickers

The use of clickers, handheld remotes that transmit student responses to professors’ questions onto a projected screen, make a difference in the teaching and learning experience on several levels. While there are other smartphone/internet based options for audience feedback and polling, clickers are a terrific option in settings where laptops and other devices are not allowed or would be a distraction.

Clickers can be used in more settings than just the classroom; students can use them for course-related meetings or events for example, and HLS  Programs and Clinics can use them for student orientations or other events. Clickers can be used to add a component of audience feedback to any course-related event at HLS.

Clicker use has many benefits including helping students express themselves in a less intimidating, less public way that is still productive for learning. In addition, clickers are particularly useful for on-the-spot assessment of student understanding of key concepts.

Submit a clickers request or Ask a question about clickers

Confluence Wiki

Harvard Wikis are available to all Harvard faculty, students, and staff to support teaching, learning, and research needs. A wiki can include text and multimedia files, comments, macros, and links to other wiki space pages as well as to external web sites. All of this content can be created–and edited–collaboratively.

Getting Started with Confluence Wikis

H2O

Mac Lab

For students and faculty projects, the MacLab has four Mac desktop machines and a printer.  The Macs are loaded with Adobe Creative Suite and FinalCut Pro. The MacLab is located next to the Reference Desk on the fourth floor of the library. To reserve the MacLab for an academic project, please use this form.

Qualtrics

All Harvard faculty, staff and students now have access to a very user-friendly survey tool that allows for a wide variety of question types for research, teaching, and learning.

Qualtrics, introduced to campus by our own HLS faculty, is used for peer evaluation of class teamwork in the Problem-Solving Workshop. At the end of the term students are asked to rate their own performance on the team as well as that of their peers. Activate your account and create a survey at surveytools.harvard.edu.

Case Studies

To successfully bring experiential learning to the classroom, the first challenge is to develop case studies that fit your course, fulfill the specific learning objectives for the class sessions, and effectively engage students in class discussions. Our Case Studies staff provides end-to-end support for your case-related needs, including:

• Identifing materials in our catalog suited for a course (find a case study now)
• Searching the Harvard Business School portal for educators and provide review copies to faculty interested in using HBS case studies in their classroom
• Brainstorming and plan new materials and topics
• Training and advising new case writers and research assistants
• Obtaining permissions from case study subjects, student authors, and other sources
• Editing and formating materials for website publication

Contact Lisa Brem for more information about any of these services: lbrem@law.harvard.edu.

With nearly three thousand linear feet of manuscripts, over three hundred thousand rare books, and more than seventy thousand visual images—photographs, prints, paintings, and objects—Historical & Special Collections (HSC) houses one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of research materials for the study of legal history.

Its chief mission is to acquire, catalog, preserve, and make available to researchers materials that document the history of the law in general and of Anglo-American law in particular.  HSC staff can help you and your students work with rare books, manuscripts, faculty papers and visual materials.  

Please use the  Special Collections and Archives Class Request Tool to arrange a class visit. Individual reading room appointments can be schedule via this online request form. Contact specialc@law.harvard.edu with any further questions.

The Harvard Law School Library has developed a program for visiting faculty to borrow items from the collection to hang in their Law School offices. Below is an overview of the three options available.

Framed Reproductions

The Library has a limited number of framed prints available, the majority of which feature reproductions from the collection. There is no fee for this option and no loan agreement is required. Faculty members will be asked to provide basic information such as office location, duration of visit, and faculty assistant contact information. Requests for assistance with hanging reproductions should be directed to Harvard Law School Facilities.

Legal Portrait Collection

A small selection of artwork from the Library’s Legal Portrait Collection that is not on view in the Library or on the Law School’s campus is also available for loan. The subjects of these painted portraits include British and American legal figures, as well as Harvard alumni and faculty. These items are generally in storage due to condition and quality. Faculty must sign a loan agreement and pay all moving and installation fees; the average installation cost is $450.

Create Your Own Reproduction

Historical & Special Collections has a growing collection of digitized materials. Examples include: several thousand portrait images of lawyers, jurists, political figures, and legal thinkers dating from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century; photographs documenting the history of the school; rare books and early bound manuscripts; and crime broadsides. Requests for reproductions can be submitted to Harvard Library Imaging Services by creating an account in Aeon. Requests for assistance hanging reproductions should be directed to Harvard Law School Facilities. Faculty are responsible for all fees.

Use the following resources to help identify images from the collection:

Hollis: Harvard Library Catalog (NOTE: make sure to limit by format)

VIA: Harvard’s Online Catalog of Visual Images

Harvard Law School Library Digital Collections & Exhibitions

Questions regarding any of these options can be directed to:

Lesley Schoenfeld, Public Services & Visual Collections Coordinator, lschoenf@law.harvard.edu, 617.495.4689                        

Each year, the Library adds to its collections student papers submitted in fulfillment of the Written Work Requirement designated by faculty as honors papers. Faculty members may send honors papers to Library Acquisitions, Langdell 152, for addition to the Library collection. Title pages of all honors papers should clearly identify the author and title of the work, the course or degree for which it was written, and the date the paper received honors or the degree was received. Each paper should be accompanied by a copyright permission form signed by the student author.

In addition, the Library sponsors the HLS Student Papers repository created as part of the Law School’s open access initiative. For information on the deposit of student papers, please contact June Casey, Librarian for Open Access Initiatives and Scholarly Communication, 617-495-4492.

Visit this guide for more information about student papers held by the HLS Library.

Library liaisons can help to set up different types of alerts for faculty and support staff including those for new acquisitions for the library, journal and other scholarly publishing, news and current events, and updates to case law and legislation.

For more detailed information visit our Current Awareness Guide

Some journal websites provide their own services for content alert

SSRN

The library subscribes to its email alert services in several subject areas or "networks," including law, management, accounting, economics, politics and more.    You must register and be affiliated with Harvard's account to receive these services.

Register for an SSRN account (upper left of screen).  Once you log in, click on subscriptions on left-hand side to affiliate yourself with Harvard. (See below.)

You can also sign up RSS feeds of particular authors from their author pages.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg allows you see set up search alerts from its databases, including BNA newsletters and its dockets. 

Lexis

You can set up any search to be run on Lexis and have results delivered to you - news, case law, legal scholarship, or legislation. Additionally, with Shepard's Alert, changes to Shepard's reports for your authority can be sent to you automatically.  See instructions for setting up alerts on Lexis Advance.

Westlaw

You can set up any search to be run on Westlaw and have the delivered to you - news, case law, legal scholarship, or legislation. With KeyCite Alert, you can be informed when new materials are added to the KeyCite report for the authority you are citating.  Westlaw offers documentation about its alerting services.