George Mason Law Library

05/10/2024

Congrats to the Class of 2024! Please stay in touch.

05/10/2024

A reminder: you have until Sunday, May 12, to fill out the survey. Someone needs to win the $100!

Message from the Tortured Librarians Department: Please take the Library & Technology Survey and register to win a $100 Amazon gift card! The link was emailed to you from Scalia Law News on April 12.

Thank yoU students foR yOur Continued Kindness!

05/03/2024

A couple years ago, we asked you to come visit us and not make Pete sad. Unfortunately, the library is sad because today is Pete Vay's last day. We'll miss you!

04/22/2024

Message from the Tortured Librarians Department: Please take the Library & Technology Survey and register to win a $100 Amazon gift card! The link was emailed to you from Scalia Law News on April 12.

Thank yoU students foR yOur Continued Kindness!

04/17/2024

Tomorrow: El Pollo Rico with a side of AI.

04/11/2024

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 7th Annual Mason Megabowl Madness Challenge. We had a record 80 entries.

Congrats to Christine Baltazar on joining an elite list of champions! And thank you to Lexis for once again generously contributing the prizes.

(The Law Library's AI-generated bracket finished 43rd place. Let that be a lesson: don't trust AI!)

04/04/2024

04/03/2024

Heading into the Final Four weekend, here are the Megabowl leaders. Christine Baltazar must be considered the favorite.

None of the 80 brackets correctly picked all Final Four teams, but a special shout out to Nick Schifano for being the only entry to have three of the teams (he missed NC State).

04/01/2024

What's a computer lab?

03/23/2024

Changes atop the Megabowl leaderboard. Ms. Callahan's strategy of picking all the 11 seeds has her in 1st place.

The Law Librarians ChatGPT entry is currently 75th out of 79 entries. This is why you don't rely upon AI for your research!

03/22/2024

Here's what the leaderboard looks like after day 1. CJ Schwartzrock's path to perfection was narrowly missed by going against two Michigan schools, Oakland and Michigan State.

For those few who picked Samford over Kansas, our condolences. You were wronged.

03/21/2024

Don't forget to make your tourney picks! No entry fee.

https://bit.ly/4ckYPV5

Thanks again to Lexis for supporting our contest. Amazon gift certificates will be awarded as follows:

1st place = $50
2nd place = $30
4th place (Megabowl!*) = $20

* See Semi-Pro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9pFmkeCtNA

03/18/2024

The Law Library encourages you to fill out your bracket and enter the 7th Annual Mason Megabowl Madness Challenge! No entry fee!

Thanks to Lexis for contributing prizes. We'll have more details soon.

'7th Annual Mason Megabowl Madness Challenge®' is my 2024 NCAA® Men's Bracket Games Pool on CBS Sports. Join it today!

02/29/2024

You're almost there! Spring break approaches.

By popular demand, the library will remain open next week. As always, you can find our updated hours on the library website.

https://libguides.law.gmu.edu/library-technology-services/library-hours-policy

01/19/2024

Welcome back! Come rain or shine (or even snow), we'll see many of you tonight and tomorrow.

12/14/2023

Congrats on finishing the fall semester! We hope you have a wonderful and restful winter break.

Tomorrow is the library's last day of 2023. We'll return on January 2, 2024. https://libguides.law.gmu.edu/library-technology-services

11/09/2023

Due to a conference, the reference office will be closed on Friday, November 10. If you have any questions, please email them to lawref and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. We apologize for any inconvenience.

"Dad, tell me about the time the library hosted the Virginia Association of Law Libraries conference."

11/09/2023

Please meet our Thursday and Sunday librarian, Bonnie.

"When I introduced myself on this page 5 years ago, I was at level 35 in Pokemon Go and my longest Snapchat streak was 444 days. Now I'm at level 42 (gotta catch 'em all!) and have a 2,077-day Snapchat streak. I also have a 2,125-day Duolingo streak in German. Basically if you turn something into a streak, I will find it impossible to stop.

I have an adorable 4-year-old granddaughter in Las Vegas and an equally adorable 1-month-old grandson in Albany, NY. Because of these cuties and the rest of my geographically dispersed family, I spend a lot of time away from home. I'm writing this from Florida where I'm attending my college homecoming and high-school reunion. Tomorrow will be my 130th day on the road this year.

Fun law school memory: Evidence made absolutely no sense to me until the night before the final, when I had a breakthrough while studying at an IHOP."

(Editor's note: the reference office is now considering whether we should offer IHOP at our next table day.)

11/06/2023

Please meet the newest member of our evening crew, Eve.

We asked Eve to introduce herself and answer some important questions.

"In my day job, I am a reference librarian at the University of South Carolina School of Law. We call it USC. By night, I answer reference questions remotely for GMU. It has been a pleasure meeting my GMU colleagues and several GMU law students so far, and I look forward to meeting many more!"

Q: Best sandwich?
A: Grilled cheese arepa. An arepa is like a cornbread pancake, sliced thinly, and stuffed with a filling of choice. When it's a grilled cheese, it's also put back on the griddle for a few seconds to melt. There has been an arepa explosion where I live in Columbia, SC, with rival food trucks offering Colombian and Venezuelan versions, with all kinds of fusion twists.

Q: Favorite action movie?
A: Tie between Fury Road and Rogue One

Q:Flat or sparkling?
A: My shoes are flat, but not designer flats from any particular region, so they are only sparkling footwear.

Q: You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it?
A; This hypothetical makes me sad, but I guess it would need to be a song that brings a lot of other great songs to mind: "What Are You Listening To?" by Chris Stapleton.

11/02/2023

This semester we've met a lot of Scholarly Writing students--and a handful of you still need to come see us!

Several of you have met with our evening and weekend crew. We should introduce these talented librarians. To begin, Carolyn Dean answered some important questions.

Best sandwich? Anything from Chacarero in Boston

One thing you own that you really should throw out? A cooler from the 1980s

Scariest animal? A pit viper

Have you ever asked someone for their autograph? Brian Floca. On behalf of my son who loves his books.

Favorite action movie? Argo

Favorite smell? Barbecue

You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it? Too hard to choose

Describe the rest of your life in 5 words? Always grateful to be here

10/31/2023

Halloween is a special time in the library. You never know who's going to show up.

10/31/2023

We'll be out in the atrium today at noon promoting our study aids. Lots of free pizza (and silly librarians wearing costumes). Stop by!

10/20/2023

Bob Loblaw has returned to the reference office! We hope you'll drop by and see him.

09/21/2023

On the eve of Research Week in LRWA I, better get to know another reference librarian, John.

Best meal of 2023: Ms. Tootsie’s pork steak at Snow’s BBQ;

Favorite hobby: making homemade ice cream;

Favorite concert memory: seeing Sonny Rollins play with Ornette Coleman;

Little known fact: I own a ’63 Studebaker Avanti.

Any law school memories? I wasn’t fond of Torts, but I fondly recall that nearly every hypo offered by the prof began with, “You’re in a bar with Mike Tyson and you’re blotto."

09/18/2023

We're days from entering LRWA I classrooms and blowing your minds. Meet another member of our team, Rob Willey.

Scariest hike completed: Angels Landing, in Zion National Park.

Rarest bird seen: California Condor.

Most recent pizza making device acquired: Ooni Volt 12

Favorite nearby pizza place: Stellina Pizzeria, Shirlington

Favorite local frozen custard: Kiln & Custard Vienna

09/14/2023

Round 2 of Meet the Librarians. Meet Pete Vay.

• Favorite book for a summer read? Alan Black’s Kick the Balls. This book always makes me laugh, sometimes to the point of crying. It is a lighthearted book about soccer and life. Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch is a close second;

• What is the best part of being a reference librarian? Helping researchers figure out how to approach their research puzzles;

• What is something most people don’t know about you? I’ve lived practically all of my life within 25 miles of campus;

• Best under the radar research tool? Citators. Use them for research & use them for validation; and

• Favorite Jimmy Buffett song? "Growing Older But Not Up"

(Below: Pete at a favorite haunt.)

08/31/2023

It's time for our annual Meet the Librarians series. We're about three weeks away from seeing the 1Ls in LRWA and can't wait to get started!

First up, better know Melanie Knapp.

My daily commute involves? Riding an e-bike from Capitol Hill, DC to school (past the Supreme Court twice a day!)

Secret hobby? Quilting, traditional Americana style

Favorite sweet treat? Chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, dark chocolate

If I could have superpowers? I’d be Aquaman—can breathe underwater and speak multiple languages

Favorite legal research resource? Deskbooks—in the past I used O’Connor’s Texas Rules Civil; Environmental Law Statutory and Case Supplement

08/21/2023

Welcome back! We missed you.

For our returning students, thanks again for your survey comments. We read them and implemented many of your suggestions.

There are more large monitors on library work spaces; better lighting in carrels (with the help of a lumos spell); and early access to West textbooks (visit https://eproducts.westacademic.com/ ).

We also converted room 351 into a lounge. Thanks to Prof. FitzGerald for the art.

As always, let us know what you think.

08/16/2023

Do you crave excitement? Do you want to pocket some ca$h money? Do you pine to hush unruly patrons? The law library circulation desk is hiring student workers! Preference given to work-study eligible students--and if you don't know your eligibility, we can look that up. Apply here:

The GMU Law Library hires both wages and work study eligible students for positions at the circulation desk. The pay is $12 per hour. Applicants will be invited for an interview based on experience and current library needs. Applications are kept for no longer than one semester.