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The Law Library wants our alumni to know that you are always welcome to use the Law Library.

The Collection

The Thurgood Marshall Law Library is primarily a research and reference collection of law and law-related materials to be used within the library. Therefore, many categories of legal materials do not circulate, including court reports, statutes, codes and regulations, digests, indexes, encyclopedias, directories, periodical volumes, parts of multi-volume treatises, and looseleaf services. These books must be used in the library and should be reshelved immediately after use to ensure availability to other patrons. Library materials that are available for general circulation, primarily monographic works, circulate via the library’s automated circulation system. You may search for law books and articles using the Library’s Catalog. If you are in the library, please feel free to browse the list of databases.  Although the full academic subscriptions to LexisNexis and to Westlaw are restricted to current students and faculty, a more limited version of Westlaw is available to on-site library visitors.  The majority of content is available for downloading and emailing, including cases, statutes and most Maryland analytical materials. However, there is a limit of 20 document email or downloads per user session, and a maximum limit of 250 documents per day from our library. A notification will appear when you have reached the limit.

Alumni Borrowing

The Thurgood Marshall Law Library’s Alumni Borrowing service allows alumni of the School of Law to sign up for borrowing privileges at the law library.

An Alumni borrowing card entitles local alumni to borrow circulating materials from the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. Alumni may not use the borrowing card at any other University System of Maryland library. The card is valid for two years from the date of issuance and is renewable.

Alumni borrowers may charge out up to five items at a time. The borrowing period for materials is 28 days with a maximum of two renewals. The user is subject to all holds, recalls and fines. Overdue fines are $.25 per day, and overdue recall fines are $1.50 per day, both to a maximum of $15.00. The lost book fine is the replacement cost of the book plus a $10.00 processing fee. All fines must be settled prior to charging additional material. Fine notices will be sent via U.S. Mail to the work address listed above. Alumni must inform the library of any change of address, phone or email within 14 days. Failure to comply with library practices and policies will result in termination of borrowing privileges.

Applicants may apply in person Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm or may mail in the application form with a photocopy of a valid driver's license. Verification from the Alumni Office of your status as a graduate of the School of Law is required before a borrowing card will be issued. Upon verification of your status, the library will issue a barcode affixed to the Special Borrower Card and mail it to the applicant. All applications will be processed within five business days.

An alumni borrower must present both a valid picture ID and their alumni borrowing card before each transaction with the library. The borrowing card is non-transferable and may not be used by other individuals.

Printing, Copying and Scanning

All library computers print to the GoPrint Pay-Per-Print system.  Printing costs $0.06 per side for the default duplex printing, $0.10 per page for single-sided black and white copies, and $.50 per page for color copies using the library’s dedicated color printer. There is also a book scanner and a photocopier located in the Imaging Room on level 2 of the library. Photocopies cost $.12 per page. Alumni may purchase a OneCard for one dollar from the UMB One Machine located in the Imaging Room for printing and photocopying purchases.

Please check our Library Hours page for building hours and our access policy to plan your visit, and see our Services for Alumni page for updates to this information.