The Bulletin - George Washington University Law School

Facilities and ServicesThe Jacob Burns Law LibraryThe Jacob Burns Law Library serves the students and faculty of the Law Schoolby offering a wealth of legal and law-related information in a variety of formats. A collectionstrong in historical material has been integrated with automated resources to meetthe needs of researchers in many specialized areas. The Library itself, housed on six levels,offers a wide range of study areas, including several large, comfortable readingrooms, and a number of small conference rooms and study cubicles.A staff of 40 librarians and support staff, a number of whom are trained in both lawand information science, is the key to using the collection of more than 600,000 volumesand volume equivalents. The Library’s sophisticated online catalog, JACOB, canbe used both to locate materials within the facility and to access the online catalogs ofneighboring institutions, including the Library of Congress. Emerging technology hasbeen fully utilized by providing access to many web-based services. All of these electronicresources can be used from a variety of stations throughout the library. Two computerlabs can be used for word processing, access to LEXIS and WESTLAW, and e-mail. Additionalterminals dedicated to the use of e-mail are available, as well as a wireless networkfor linking notebook computers to the GW network.The collection itself, while broad-based, focuses on Anglo-American resources and isparticularly strong in the areas of environmental law, intellectual property, governmentprocurement and federal practice, tax law, and labor law. A large international and comparativelaw collection focuses on the areas of human rights, law of the sea, commercialtransactions, intellectual property, and environmental law.The Library attempts to collect materials in a variety of related areas such as history,economics, and political science for individuals conducting interdisciplinary research. Inaddition, the excellent collections of the University’s two other libraries, the GelmanLibrary and the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, are both within a few blocks of theLaw School.Professional Development and Career Strategy OfficeThe Professional Development and Career Strategy Office provides a full range of servicesto support the career decision-making process. Students, graduates, and prospectiveemployers are served through a variety of programs, including systems of job-vacancyadvertising; newsletters of current career information; interviewing programs; individualand group counseling on resume preparation, interviewing skills development, and jobsearchstrategy; a career resource library; forums and panel presentations covering legaland alternative career topics and employment options; and an alumni network.Continuing Legal EducationMembers of the Bar who wish to keep abreast of current developments in the law mayregister for any of the courses in the Law School on a noncredit basis as Continuing LegalEducation students. Specific courses are also open to nonlawyers whose special qualificationsjustify their registration. Such students do not take examinations in courses andno grades are recorded for their work.A simplified admission and registration procedure is used and must be completed on64