FACULTY SERVICES

Books in Our Collection are listed in the law library catalog. 

Faculty should request delivery of books in our collection by completing our Law Library Book Concierge form.

Please contact Mary Jo Heacock or a liaison librarian to recommend or request new book titles, subscriptions or other resources for possible acquisition by the Law Library.

Villanova University Falvey Library (Main Campus Library)

Law faculty have full borrowing privileges at the university’s Falvey Library.

Book borrowing at Falvey may be done in person using Falvey's Pickup & Go service. Faculty can also set up a proxy so their liaison or RA can borrow for them. Contact your liaison for more information.
 

Inter-Library Loan

Materials not available at Villanova can be obtained from another library. Please use the Interlibrary Loan Form to make a request or contact your liaison.  

Faculty Scholarly Publication Decisions

There are a number of sources that faculty find useful in making decisions about where to submit and publish their scholarship. These sources include:

• Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews and Journals (submission preferences/requirements by 205 journals) by Rostron & Levit
• Journal Rankings (by various factors) from Washington & Lee
• Ranking Law Reviews by Author Prominence (2007) by Jarvis & Coleman
• Annotated List of Law Reviews from WashLaw
• List of Academic Law Journals and Law Reviews from FindLaw
• Scholastica - contact the Associate Dean for Faculty Research & Development for access.

Faculty Working Papers and Publications

Most law faculty post drafts of their papers and links to their publications on SSRN (Social Science Research Network) and SelectedWorks.

• Create or access your SelectedWorks account.
• Create or log into your SSRN account.

The liaisons assist faculty in creating and updating their SelectedWorks and SSRN sites. Please contact your liaison for further information.

The Law Library also maintains a repository of Faculty Scholarship and assists with updating publications in the faculty's Activity Insight account. Published something recently? Please send it to Michael Pratt for inclusion in the repository and Activity Insight.

Librarians are available for research and consultation Monday–Friday during the school year and summer. Contact your faculty liaison or reference@law.villanova.edu to set up an appointment.

A library orientation is offered to all new faculty and staff. To schedule an orientation, please contact John Cannan.

New faculty will automatically receive account access information for Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw via email. Staff who would like accounts for these services should contact reference@law.villanova.edu

Library RA Pool

The library has a pool of RAs to assist faculty with short-term research projects, usually requiring less than 8-10 hours. For these projects, the RA reports directly to the professor and may consult with a professional librarian. To inquire about the availability of a library RA, please contact John Cannan.

Faculty RA Orientation and Training

Faculty are encouraged to inform John Cannan when a new RA is hired. We provide new RAs with information on library services and review the work habits of a successful RA. A group RA orientation is held at the beginning of the summer and individual sessions are provided in the fall and spring semesters. The orientation includes materials in these readings:

• Mark E. Wojcik, Should You Be a Faculty Research Assistant? Student Lawyer, Vol. 36, No. 1, p. 35, September 2007
• Notes to a Research Assistant

Law faculty have access to a number of databases through individual accounts or links on our law databases. In addition, we have access to all the databases provided through the Villanova University Falvey Library.

Liaison librarians can recommend databases that may be useful for a particular research project AND offer individual training on particular databases.

The Villanova Law Library scanning service is available to Villanova Law faculty and staff. Scanned items are delivered electronically in PDF format within two business days of the request.  Please contact Mary Jo Heacock with your request.  The following limitations apply:

Copyright: 

• 1 article per issue
• 1 chapter per book or 10% of a publication -whichever has fewer pages

Articles are provided for academic purposes, including private study or research. Permission of the copyright owner may be required for other uses. It is the requestor's responsibility to comply with all applicable copyright laws.

Other:

The Villanova Law Library is unable to provide archival-quality scans.

The Villanova Law Library reserves the right to decline to scan an item from our collection that is fragile or brittle.

To request photocopies or printouts of statutes, cases, articles or other materials available in the Law Library or the University’s Falvey Library, contact your liaison. Note that for large requests, the liaison will assist administrative support staff in locating the materials and will review options for self-printing or use of the Copy and Distribution Center. Large requests typically take a few days to complete.

Teaching Materials Guide

We've compiled a guide on Teaching Materials: Required Text, Assignments, Affordable Options and more! Our guide offers ideas, information and links to more information on affordable materials to consider using in your courses.

Textbook Exam Copies

Please see our Textbook and Law School Publisher Information for Faculty guide for our current list of account reps by publisher.

Course Packets

We can assist in seeking permission for copyrighted materials. See the Villanova University copyright policy. Contact Amy Spare for assistance and more information.

Course Reserves

Books in our collection may be placed on Reserve for short-term check-out, in-library use only. Please let your liaison know your reserve requests for the upcoming semester and confirm the availability of any Reserve titles currently mentioned in your syllabus.

Past Exams

Faculty may make old exams available electronically to current Villanova Law students. Contact Richard Wack to add an exam to the exam database. 

Many courses have paper requirements or drafting exercises. Librarians are available to guest lecture to introduce students to class subject-specific resources. Topics we have presented on include:

• administrative law
• bioethics
• business ethics
• fact investigations
• family law
• immigration law
• insurance law
• intellectual property
• international arbitration
• international law
• medical malpractice
• statutes and legislative history
• tax law

Law librarians can create web research guides or handouts that recommend and describe resources related to class assignments. For example, the Advanced Insurance Law class guide. Liaisons can provide further information.

For assistance obtaining permission to use print or electronic materials in course packets or on Blackboard, contact reference@law.villanova.edu. Resources that may be helpful in doing a ‘fair use” analysis include:

• VU Copyright Policy
• Fair Use Checklist from University of Georgia
• Fair Use Checklist from Columbia University Libraries

The Law Library has access to recorded streams of Pennsylvania Court oral arguments through the Pennsylvania Cable Network. Many oral argument proceedings from the PA Commonwealth, Superior and Supreme Courts are available for viewing a few days after they occur. Using this resource, faculty can expose their students to actual appellate proceedings as a part of class or organize a group viewing of a specific argument during a lunch break. If you are interested in exploring how we can set up a stream viewing for you, please contact your library liaison.