Requirements for Borrowing Library Materials

• All borrowers must have a current, valid Northwestern University Wildcard or valid Northwestern University Law School alumni borrowing card.

Requesting Materials & Book Pickup

Most items located in our library and other Northwestern University libraries including our Oak Grove storage facility can be requested directly from NUsearch. Items will be paged from our collection twice a day. Requests for titles from other Northwestern libraries may be delayed up to a week because of limited intercampus deliveries (currently, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons). Patrons will receive an email indicating when the items are available for pickup.

Self Checkout

Additionally, Northwestern Law faculty, staff, and students who have access to the physical library have the option to check out materials using our self checkout station located in the third floor copy & print room, next to the library's internal elevator.

Loan Periods

• Law students, medical school students, Northwestern undergraduate students and staff may borrow materials for 16 weeks.
• Alumni and authorized guests may borrow books for 28 days.
• Northwestern faculty, ABF faculty, and Northwestern graduate students may charge books out for 1 year.
• Reserve materials may be charged out for 4 hours.
• Reserve study aids may be charged out for 72 hours. This loan period is reduced to 24 hours during reading and exam period. 
• Laptop and phone chargers may be charged for 4 hours. 
• Other equipment available at the circulation desk, such as laptop locks and lamps, may be charged out until the end of the day.

A due date may shortened in the following circumstances: 

• The item is recalled by another user; in this circumstance, you would be notified via email of the new due date and overdue fines of $1 per day will apply if not returned by the new due date.
• Your Wildcard expires during the loan period; in this circumstance, your materials are due on your Wildcard expiration date. 

Renewals

All borrowers have the option to renew non-reserve materials twice online. A book can be renewed a third time by bringing it to the circulation desk. If another borrower has placed a hold on a book it will not be renewed. Overdue fines apply to renewals. Reserve items are not renewable online but can be renewed by bringing them to the circulation desk.

Recalls

An item charged to another patron may be recalled. Patrons receive notices of recalls via e-mail. Recalled items must be returned within 10 days of notice. Patrons will be charged $1.00 per day per recalled item.

Fines & Fees

Northwestern does not charge daily overdue fines for most circulating items. Exceptions include:

• Recalled items and Multimedia Center items accrue a fine of $1 per day.
• Reserve items, including laptop/phone chargers and headphones, will accrue a fine of $1 per hour.
• Study aids will accrue a fine of $5 per day.

Overdue fines will apply at all times, including over holidays, vacations and intersessions. The item will be billed to the user account as a "lost" item on the 30th day it is overdue. The following fees will be charged for each book that is overdue more than 29 days:

• A replacement fee, which is a minimum of $125 per item for most collections

Fines may be paid by cash or check at the circulation desk. The library does not provide change. Fines may also be paid by mail with a check made payable to Northwestern University.