Summer Research Assistants

Welcome to all summer research assistants from the staff of the Harvard Law School Library.  We are here to help you and the faculty that you work with.  The information in this guide has been gathered for you by the library's reference staff.  Please feel free to contact us or come visit the Langdell 4th floor reference desk for further assistance. 

Most of the HLS faculty have a reference librarian liaison assigned to them.  The faculty liaison can help you with personalized training and can serve as a useful contact for other information.  If you have a question and you do not know who to ask or if you would like to know the name of the librarian assigned to your faculty member, check here .

If you are interested in attending a research training class, please forward your contact information to the email address listed above.

For access to LexisNexis or Westlaw, contact Laura Morrison at lmorrison@law.harvard.edu or 617-495-3829 . For more information about these services, see LexisNexis at HLS and Westlaw and HLS

Register online  with your HLSL email address for access to BloombergLaw

For summer access to other e-resources, please contact access@law.harvard.edu.

How to Check Out Items In Your Faculty Member's Name

The Harvard College Libraries and the Law School Library grant borrowing privileges to research assistants working for faculty members by way of a borrowing proxy card.  To obtain this card, you must do the following:

• complete the application (be sure to get it signed by your faculty member)
• complete the HCL Patron Agreement
• bring the forms and $5 to the Library Privileges Office, Widener Library, Room 130, Monday–Friday, 9 am–4:45 pm

That's it!

Library carrels are currently available for summer research assistants. If you would like to reserve a carrel, please review the carrel information page and fill out the Application form. 

Assignment Procedures and Requirements for Carrel Shelves:

• Carrel shelves may be reserved by research assistants using a large amount of Law Library materials which makes it unreasonable to bring the books elsewhere.
• Applications require a signature from your faculty member.
• Patrons assigned a carrel shelf are reserving only the upper shelf space of the assigned carrel. The other areas around the carrel are not reserved space. Carrel seating is not reserved. Seating is available for any library patron.
• Please take the time to read the Carrel Shelf Policies and Procedures before signing your name at the bottom of the application.
• Please contact Access Privileges staff if you have any questions about carrel assignments, at access@law.harvard.edu, or by phone at (617) 496-5510.

Printing and photocopying may be done at any of the multi-function Ricoh printers in the library. You will need a PaperCut account.

Summer RA library printing accounts are usually set up through the faculty's assistant.

The Library has several standalone do-it-yourself scanning stations on the fourth floor of the Library. Three are located near the 4th floor Langdell Reference Desk in Rooms 408 and 409. 

There is also a scanner on the second floor of the library in the Microfilm room.

Scanning is absolutely free!

Scan & Deliver is a free, electronic document delivery service that enables Harvard students, faculty, staff, summer school students, and special borrowers with access to Harvard University Library’s electronic resources to request and obtain via the Internet portions of books or journal articles from the library collections.

Requests are placed through the HOLLIS/HOLLIS Classic record and patrons receive a PDF of the material by email in 1-4 business days.   

Use the LibX browser toolbar add-on to quickly search the HOLLIS Catalog from within your browser. LibX allows you to select text on a web page and right-click for a menu of search options.  Instructions on installing Libx.

Consider using a research management tool like RefWorks, EndNote or Zotero to organize your research results and generate bibliographies.

  Ask Us! Submit a question or search our knowledge base.

Chat with us! Chat  with a librarian.

Email: research@law.harvard.edu

 Contact Historical & Special Collections at specialc@law.harvard.edu

 Meet with Us  Schedule an online consult with a Librarian

Hours  Library Hours

Classes View Training Calendar or Request an Insta-Class

 Text Ask a Librarian, 617-702-2728