How do I find a book in the law library?

If you want to see what books are available in the library, you can search the library's catalog online (NUsearch). NUsearch is the library's discovery search tool for the vast collection of our books, journals, journal and newspaper articles, videos, sound recordings, digital images and more.

When looking at a record in NUSearch, the item record provides 2 relevant pieces of information - 1) the Location Code and 2) the Call Number.

The Location Code is a 3 or 4 letter abbreviation that tells you in what section of library your item can be found. For example, MON (Rubloff 2nd floor) is the Monograph collection on the 2nd floor and PER (Rubloff 2nd floor) is the Periodicals collection. When you go to that Location, each bookshelf has a sign on the end telling you what Call Numbers can be found on that shelf. If you have questions about where a Location or Call Number is located, stop by the library circulation desk.

library record with location code and call number

Many of our resources are available online. The catalog record will give you a link to online editions.

If the book is not available in the law library but present at other Northwestern libraries, you can request for it to be sent to the law library. You will need to sign in, then select "Law Library" on the dropdown menu.

screenshot of requesting a book through the card catalog



Updated: Jul 11, 2025

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