The IU Law School has one of the best libraries of any law school in the country, according to the October 2004 ranking by National Jurist magazine.
The magazine, targeted to law students, ranked 183 law libraries. The criteria used to determine the rankings included number of volumes, ratio of library seating to student enrollment, number of titles, number of serial subscriptions, ratio of professional librarians to student enrollment and the number of hours per week that the library is open.
IU tied with Iowa for first place, followed by Yale, Michigan and Northwestern.
The full list is on available at www.nationaljurist.com
Excerpt from the National Jurist article:
"The Indiana University School of Law Library claims not only a large collection of title, but is also one of only 11 law school libraries that serve as depositories for the paper records and briefs of the U.S. Supreme Court. But IU-Bloomington Law Library Director Colleen Pauwels says that today, titles alone--whether hard copy or online--are not enough to make a library great.
" 'A library really is what you provide for your students," she said. "Nowadays having resources alone is not enough. Your users must be able to use them, they must be accessible in really useful ways and you must have a really dedicated library staff who really understands how important it is to make the library a successful place for study and research.'
"Pauwels says she believes she has one of the best groups of librarians and assistants in the nation, a group she says is dedicated to providing training and education to help students and faculty find what they need."
IU Law Library Associate Director and SLIS Lecturer Linda Fariss commented, "One of the most gratifying aspects of my career has been helping to train a new generation of law librarians. The combination of a highly rank law library and library school on the same campus has attracted an outstanding group of students interested in law librarianship. It is a tremendous feeling to attend a national conference on law librarianship and see the number of excellent law librarians who have graduated from Indiana University."
Posted November 15, 2004