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Finding Books Owned by NU Libraries
NUsearch is Northwestern Library’s discovery search tool for finding books, as well as journals, newspapers, and more. NUsearch allows you to search for materials by Keyword, Title, Author, Call Number, and other methods.
Tip: If you can't find the book, try entering just a few words of the title and the author’s name in an advanced search. This will help you find the item even if the citation isn’t exactly correct.
To find a book in the library, see the Get It section of the catalog record to see which NU library owns the book and whether it is available. “Item in place” means that the book is on the shelf and is available. “Currently Unavailable” means that another patron has it checked out.
Books Available at the Law Library
Books and other print materials available at the Law Library are organized by location codes (MON; N,EAA; etc.) and by call number (KZ6385 .C67 2010). When looking for books available at the law library in NUsearch, take note of both the location code and the call number where you can find the book on the shelf.
The majority of books are in the MON collection on the second floor of the library. Books on foreign law will be in the N,-- collection on the third floor. Feel free to ask the circulation desk or reference desk for guidance on where to find books in the law library.
Books in Law Library Closed Stacks
Books at the law library with locations of “Closed Stacks” are in storage at Northwestern Law. You can request these items by logging in with your NetID/password with the green "sign in" button and then clicking on "request item.' Items will be retrieved by library staff twice a day when the library is open. You will receive an email when the item is available for pickup at the circulation desk.
Books Available at Other NU Libraries
For books available at other NU Libraries, such the MAIN Library, sign in with your NetID to request the book.
Select Law Library (or a different library if you prefer to pick up elsewhere) for Pickup Location. You will get an email when it is available for pickup, usually within the next 1-2 business days in the afternoon.
If the book’s status is “Currently Unavailable,” the copy is checked out by another patron. For privacy reasons, we are unable to tell you who has a book checked out. If no copies of the title are available at Northwestern, you will need to place an ILL request to obtain the book from another library (see below).
Older books may be fully scanned, digitized, and available to download in PDF or other formats as exact replicas of the print versions. In general, books published in the United States prior to 1923 are out of copyright and in the public domain and can often be found through one of the below websites or databases.
First search for the title of the book in NUsearch because the catalog will provide links to digitized books available in several databases. Click on the green "Online access" button to access the database where a digitized copy of the book is available.
Some of the databases where the catalog links to for digitized books in the public domain include:
If you cannot find a link to the digitized book through NUsearch, try searching for the book individually in either Google Books or Internet Archive Books, both of which contain millions of digitized books in the public domain.
If the book you are looking for is not available through Northwestern's library system, you can place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request to get the book from another library.
If your NUsearch search does not yield the item you are looking for, you can try to find the item at another library. Using the left-hand menu, select "Other Libraries,"
This search t collection of over 10,000 libraries. When you find the title you want, click on it. From that page, you can create an ILL request, as seen one the right of the screenshot below:
When to Use ILL
Students should use interlibrary loan when they would like to use an item that is not available to them at Northwestern University. The library will attempt to obtain an item from another library. These scenarios include:
You can also place ILL requests by logging into your interlibrary loan account using your NetID and password. In the top menu, there are three forms through which students can place requests—one for books and mutlimedia, one for articles and one for chapters of books. Please only make one request per form (i.e., if you have three books that need to be obtained via ILL, submit three separate forms for each title).
Within the forms, enter as much citation information as possible. Please do not use abbreviations. You can search WorldCat for the correct edition of the book. It is helpful if you include the OCLC number (located in the item record on WorldCat).
Getting Your ILL Request
You will receive an email when your request is available. Articles will usually be delivered electronically as a PDF. Books will be available for pickup at the law circulation desk. Please note that items may take anywhere from two days to two weeks or longer to arrive. The turnaround time depends on how many copies are available among other libraries, how long the lending library takes to process the request, shipping time, etc.
Returning ILL Books
The library that sent the book will determine the date by which it has to be returned. We will automatically request renewals from the library that owns them as due dates approach. If we are unable to obtain a renewal and the lending library requests that a book be returned, you will receive a notice that the book is due and the book must be returned to the circulation desk immediately.
Our failure to send back items that another library has loaned to us may prevent us from borrowing from them again. Loan periods for ILL items may be much shorter than loan periods for books owned by NU Libraries, so please take note of the due date and return them to the circulation desk when you are finished with the materials.