Legal Information Center
About the Library
Message from the Director
Good research makes for
good lawyering.
–Morris Cohen, Legal Research in
a Nutshell (1996)
Historically, the law library has been the "laboratory of the law school." Viewing it as a physical space, the library’s housing of the primary sources that are the law itself, the secondary sources that place that law in context and the search tools that allow one to find the law have justified that preeminence. Since the literature of the law is uniquely indexed and updated, training in use of legal materials has formed an integral part of the library’s mission.
No area of the law school has been more impacted by technology than the library: No longer viewed as only a physical place, the modern law library is a portal to information in all formats and disciplines increasingly delivered to the researcher’s personal database. Recognizing this change, the University of Florida law center was one of the first to rename its library the Legal Information Center (LIC) as a recognition that it includes library, computer support and media services. In 2003 web design and maintenance were added on the computer support/media services side and the resulting department denominated educational technology services.
The LIC has undergone an exciting major change: It has been renamed the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center in honor of the former governor and senator and housed in a completely renovated facility that is the largest in the southeast. Two years of construction is completed; the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center joins a technologically state-of-the-art classroom expansion that came on line in fall 2004.
The renovated facility includes 13 student study rooms, a lactation/meditation room, lounge seating, open reserve area and commodious carrels. Wi-Fi is available throughout the college campus. Tax LLM students have access to a study and lounge suite for graduate students.
All of us look forward to working with you in our new facility.
Very truly yours,
Kathleen Price
Associate Dean for Library and Technology and Clarence
J. TeSelle Professor of Law