The Pence Law Library is open to the AUWCL community 24/7 by card swipe.

The law library has reopened to the public as of November 1. Public patrons may visit the law library Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. Members of the public may obtain research assistance by emailing reference@wcl.american.edu.

Circulation Desk Hours:

• Click here to view the weekly schedule

Research & Reference Desk Hours (virtual):

• Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

• Tuesday: 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. 

• Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

• Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Sunday: 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Requests received outside those hours will be answered the next business day.

You may also schedule a research consultation outside those hours by emailing reference@wcl.american.edu.

Noon Zoom Room: Monday through Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., the reference librarians have drop in Zoom hours available at https://auwcl.zoom.us/j/8710409308.

Contact the reference librarians by phone (202-274-4352), email, or chat.

Food and drink are again permitted in the library, but please act responsibly when consuming food and drink in the library. Please dispose of your trash and be courteous to your fellow students. 

The library has all 1L casebooks and many upper level casebooks and texts on closed reserve. Students should ask for them at the circulation desk and may check them out for 3 hours at a time. The library does not have electronic versions of casebooks available. The library will only copy/scan casebook and textbook readings on faculty request, not for individual students.

Wolters Kluwer, now called Aspen Learning, provides a Connected E-book code for most of their casebooks when students buy them new.  Students can also purchase Connected E-books for 40% off the cost of the print at https://www.casebookconnect.com/connectedeBooks.

West Academic offers immediate 14-day digital access to select casebooks on purchase and a 15% discount to our students with the code WAAMERICANU. 

Most, if not all, casebooks are also available for rent and as used copies. 

The Wolters Kluwer Online Study Aids Library is now called the Aspen Learning Library. To access titles such as Examples and Explanations, Glannon Guides, or the Emanuel Crunch Time or Law Outlines series, use this link: Aspen Learning Library.

Access to the nytimes.com institutional subscription has changed. If you are already a subscriber, you should have received an email from the New York Times with instructions on how to sign up with the new service.  Be sure to follow the directions in the email to retain access to the New York Times; it will not happen automatically.  If you have not subscribed to the New York Times through the library in the past, beginning January 10 follow the directions posted here for the New York Times Educational Access Subscription.

Reserve group study rooms (on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the library and in the Commons) here.

In the fall, reference librarians held research workshops focused on the Legal Rhetoric open memo assignment. The handout and a recording of one of the workshops are below.

During the first week of February, reference librarians are holding mandatory research workshops focused on the Legal Rhetoric appellate problem:

One of the Zoom sessions will be recorded and posted on this page. 

The workshop handout is below. 

On October 24, the library held a research workshop for LLM students working on their final memo for the LLM Legal Research and Writing course. The recording and handout are below.