When searching for a material, you should ALWAYS look in our library catalog first. Here, you can also see if any of our partner libraries in the consortium have the material available. 

To find the material in our catalog (our material and material from area academic libraries—including AU main library):

When searching for materials you should always use the Law Library Catalog.

You can directly request the book through the law library catalog to be sent here to Pence Law Library. Once you request the book through our catalog, our library staff will put the book on the hold shelf for you to pick up. 

Law Library Catalog

Searching for physical books in LEAGLE is very similar to searching for anything else.  At the "home" page, you can choose to search only within the Library Catalog, which limits the search to items the Pence Law Library physically has in its library.

In the example, I searched "Torts Prosser" with the scope as "Books" and "American University Washington College of Law Library."

Law Library Catalog + Articles Search

You can also focus more broadly by using the "Law Library Catalog + Articles" search.

In the following, "Torts Prosser" is searched with the broadest possible scope. To narrow the results to physical books, click on "Resource Type" (marked with a blue box) and select "Books."

Course Reserves

LEAGLE offers the ability to search by Course Reserves. If you are in a hurry and don't know the name of your book for your class, LEAGLE can make it that much easier for you!

In the following, "Torts" is selected. There are various tools to narrow by Course Instructor, Course Name, and even by Course Code. 

Articles

Searching for articles in LEAGLE is similar to any other search.  At the "home" page, you can choose to search only within Articles, which limits the search to articles that the Pence Law Library has through online access.

Typically, you will still receive results for books available online through the catalog under these search conditions. To limit your results to strictly articles, you can use the resource type filter on the right of the search page to show only items classified as articles.

Once you have found the LEAGLE record for the article, you can click into it to see how Pence Law Library has access to it. Under the "View Online" section, you can click one of the links to be redirected to the article. You may also click "Read Article" for the top link to the article. You need to be either signed into the LEAGLE catalog or on campus to access many of the databases that host articles.

Once you have selected one of the "View Online" databases, it will redirect you to the article within that database. Each database has its own interface, but most of them let you read the article online or download a pdf.

Keep in mind that you can also search by the journal title if an article is from a journal that the Pence Law Library has access to via LEAGLE. Some articles will not appear in the catalog under their title, but are accessible through the journal. You can access online journals by signing into the catalog and clicking on the links that appear in under the "View Online" tab on a journal's record.

It is best to have a full citation before conducting a search for an article. The most straightforward ways to search for an article in LEAGLE are with the article title or author. If you search by journal, you will also need the volume, issue, and year to find the exact article you are looking for.

Use the LEAGLE Catalog to borrow items available from libraries in the area from the WRLC Library Consortium. WCL Faculty and Students can also use this feature to request books and materials from the American University Library. Materials can be requested online and will be available for pickup at the Pence Law Library Circulation Desk. 

Visit the library website at library.wcl.american.edu 

Use the Search Bar on the home page or Click Search Tools and then click the LEAGLE Search link box.

Type your search terms in the search bar and select AU, WCL, and Consortium (WRLC) as the search profile.

Select the item you are interested in from the list of results to view the item record.

Sign in to your account to view the request options in the How to get it section.

If you would like a loan of the physical item, select the Quickly request from main campus or local libraries option and a request will be sent to Washington Research Library Consortium members that own the item. If you had searched the AU Bender Library catalog and found that the item you need is available there, the request will be sent to AU Bender Library. 

If the Quickly request from main campus or local libraries option does not appear on the item record, use the Email the interlibrary loan department option to submit your loan request.

If you would like to request a digital copy of a portion of the item (chapter, article, page range, etc.) click the Email the interlibrary loan department option. This will open an email to the ILL department in your default email client.

Please complete the email by filling in as much information as you are able: page numbers, edition, etc. You can also add any comments to the email.

Once your request has been submitted, please note that depending on the item requests may take a while to process. Continue to look for an email notifying you that the item is available.   

Copy requests should not take more than a few days, but, depending on the availability and location of items requested for physical loan, your wait time maybe a week or more. Consortium Loan Service requests made of area institutions tend to be quicker.

Even if Pence Law Library does not have access to article through LEAGLE, the library on main campus may have it. This is especially the case if you are searching for something not directly related to law.

The Main Campus Library's catalog functions almost identically to Pence Law Library's LEAGLE. As a WCL student, you do not need to sign into the main campus catalog to access their resources. When clicking a link to an article or journal while you are off-campus, you may have to sign into American University's proxy with your myAU credentials.