Legal Information Center
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Reference
Reference Services Policy
The Reference Desk, located on the first floor of the Legal Information Center, is staffed by a team of professional librarians and reference assistants. Our job is to help you use the Legal Information Center. We are available many, but not all, hours the Legal Information Center is open. Our phone number is 352.273.0700.
How can we help you?
- We can tell you where things are in the Legal Information Center.
- We can show you how to use library databases such as the library catalog and periodical indexes.
- We can help you figure out legal citations.
- We can show you how to use sources in the Legal Information Center.
- We can suggest sources for you to use.
- We can refer you to other libraries or institutions when our library does not have what you need.
Telephone Reference
We provide several services by phone. We can search our catalog to see whether the Legal Information Center has particular books or journals you want. We can locate phone numbers, addresses, and other directory information for bar associations, federal and state government agencies, courts, publishers, and other law-related organizations. We can take your order for photocopies of specific legal documents for delivery through the Legal Information Center's Interlibrary Loan service (see Photocopy/Fax Service, below.)
What we will do for you
over the phone is limited by our policy on legal research
and legal advice and by staff availability. For many
research projects, you will need to come in to the
Legal Information Center and conduct your own research.
For ethical and practical reasons:
- We cannot do legal research for you.
- We cannot interpret the law for you or give you legal advice.
- We cannot read statutes, cases, court rules, or definitions over the phone.
- If the library owns something, we can tell you whether it is checked out, but we do not have the staff to go to the shelf to confirm that it is available.
- We are not able to return long distance telephone calls.
Our Policy on Legal Research and Legal Advice
While we can help you use the Legal Information Center, we cannot do legal research for you. If you need to find out what the law is, we encourage you to come into the Legal Information Center and look it up. When you come in, we will show you where the sets are and how to use the indexes, but you are responsible for your own research. If you find a law or case that is not clear to you, we will not interpret it for you; instead we will suggest law dictionaries or other sources that might help you interpret it. Why do we have this policy? There are several good reasons.
- Advising people what the law is and how it applies to their situation may be practicing law--it is what lawyers do. We are librarians; our job is to help people use the library, not to research and interpret the law for them.
- Legal research can often be complicated, even for a simple question. For example, you might ask, "What is the statute of limitations for a car accident in State X?" Depending on the state, it might make a difference whether the accident resulted in an injury or a fatality. It might also make a difference if the person who wants to sue was a minor at the time of the accident or was unable to start a lawsuit right away.
- And there might be other factors to consider. It makes sense for you to do your own research and see what factors might apply to your situation. You can then choose which cross-references to follow. Doing legal research for all callers would soon overwhelm our staff. It is fair to everyone to say: "Please come into the Legal Information Center; when you come in, we will help you find and use the sources you need to do your own research."
If you need someone who will research and interpret the law for you, you should consider talking to an attorney. We have a list of free and low-cost legal services and referral services.
For similar reasons, it is our policy not to read legal materials over the telephone. If you cannot come to the Legal Information Center, you might want to use our fee-based Interlibrary Loan Service, see Photocopy/Fax Service below.
Learning How to Do Legal Research
Legal research is a complex skill. Law students, lawyers, librarians, and paralegals work hard to develop expertise. If you are just starting out, it might all seem very confusing. Please ask for assistance at the Reference Desk or consult one of the paper or online legal research guides prepared by the reference librarians. If you want to learn more about legal research, we can suggest materials that explain various tools and how to use them. If you have access to the Internet, you might want to start with the American Association of Law Libraries' How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers.
E-mail your question to the Reference Staff
Photocopy/Fax Service
Photocopying and/or faxing of materials from the Legal Information Center collection is a service available to members of the Florida Bar. Due to time and staffing limitations, the service is restricted to members outside the greater Gainesville area. The service fee is $3.00 plus $.15 per page ( not to exceed 120 pages) for photocopying. Normal processing time is two days. Fax requests are limited to a ten (10) page maximum and have a flat fee of $10.00. Phone 352.273.0700 to request this service.
Where possible we will try to refer requests to free services on the Internet.
Interlibrary Loan (I.L.L.) of materials in the Legal Information Center collection is available to anyone, provided the material is not restricted to in-house use only. Contact your local library for assistance in initiating the I.L.L. request. You may contact the Legal Information Center reference staff, or Photocopy Service staff, for assistance with assuring the specificity of what is needed.
I.L.L. may be requested via your library for either a photocopy request or for the borrowing of materials from the circulating collection.
Guide to the Collection
Locate titles, computer labs, and services using our Guide to the Collection.