Adjunct Faculty Services Guide

Instruction

1L Legal Research
- Law Library faculty members teach the legal research portion of Legal Argument and Factual Persuasion.
- Lectures include case law, statutes, secondary sources, legal research planning, administrative law, and legislative history.
Strategic Legal Research
- Upper-level three-credit course taught by the Law Librarians.
- The processes and techniques of research are explored from historic, conceptual, and practical perspectives.
- Includes international and foreign research, legislative history, practice resources, and administrative law.
Guest Lectures
- Law Library faculty members are available to offer guest lectures on a variety of topics.
- Courses in which Law Librarians have given presentations include Introduction to United States Law, Legislation, Legal Analysis and Factual Persuasion, International Law, Comparative Law, and European Union Law Seminar. Law librarians have also offered lectures on topic selection, The Bluebook, and researching international law to the Law School’s moot court teams and law reviews.
- Law Librarians have offered presentations at programs offered by the Career Services Office and at continuing legal education seminars.

Upon request, Law Librarians can create a customized research guide for your course.
- Created by a legal information expert in collaboration with you.
- Assists your students in maximizing the learning potential offered by your course.
- Can be modified at any time to adapt to the changing needs of your course and students.

Customized Informal Liaison Program
- Adjunct law faculty who need research assistance with projects are welcome to contact any of the Law Librarians.
- If a Law Librarian does not feel qualified in a particular area of law, they may refer the adjunct law faculty member to a Librarian who is familiar with that area.

Each of the Librarians of the H. Laddie Montague, Jr., Law Library has a unique legal background. While you should feel free to speak with any of the Librarians about your issue, you may be referred to another Librarian who may have more expertise in your particular field.

Textbooks
- The library does not purchase textbooks to place on reserve.
- If a faculty member owns a copy of a textbook and wishes to have it placed on reserve, the library will do so.
- Note that for larger classes, a single copy may not be enough for every student to complete all of the required readings.
E-Reserves
- If there is a concern that students might not have the textbooks in time to prepare for class at the beginning of the semester, send the library (DickinsonLawLib@psu.edu) a scan of the readings, with complete citation information, and it will be placed on e-Reserve.
- As an alternative, you may upload scanned files to your course Canvas page.
- Please note that there are certain copyright restrictions on reserve material.
Notice to Students
- Typically, students are notified in early summer that textbooks are required for their courses and will be available for purchase at that time.
- Textbooks may be available to rent for the semester at a reduced price.