Welcome back to UW Law! I did an informal poll, and the Law Library staff thinks that early September is our favorite time of year. It is so great to see old friends and colleagues, and to meet the incoming class of 1Ls, LLMs, and transfer students. Each summer (our collective second favorite time of year), we take time to ensure that our spaces, services, and resources are ready to support your study. To that end, here is a story of our summer - prepping, planning, scheming to make the Law Library your partner during Law School. 

  1. We lovingly updated and reviewed our online presence. Our website and our Digital Repository, which the Law Library oversees, are looking better than ever and easier to navigate. You can now find our Study Room Reservation systems, Research Guides, and all of our Faculty's scholarship (and all our law reviews) too! Check it out and get in touch. 

  2. We continued to stay abreast of GenAI developments. The fast-moving tech landscape means law librarians, who are at the center of the push to smartly adopt and question the tools, must always be learning! We're excited to share what we have learned, ranging from ethics to prompt engineering to agent training. Check out the classes that law librarians teach each fall and spring to learn more about how you can efficiently integrate GenAI into your legal career. 

  3. We planned out all of our outreach and instructional sessions! Each semester, we come down to the atrium and showcase one of the library's resources that we feel is not getting the love it deserves. We also determined which librarians will be joining each of the LAAW classes as an embedded librarian. Every 1L will have a librarian that they can reach out to about legal research anytime! Also, watch for out annual Library Town Hall in October where we'll go over Library policies, plans, and FAQs...and give out pizza!

  4. We carefully grew our Law Library's collection! The beating heart of the Law Library remains our amazing collection, both the physical materials and the online resources. The Law Library maintains subscriptions to all the fundamental online databases, such as Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law, but we also find the best books being written by leading experts on a variety of hot button legal topics. You can find the newest books on our New Book Shelf, thoughtfully located near the Reference and Circulation Desks.

  5. We did a comprehensive review of our library space! That means we reviewed all the study rooms, all the technology, all the comfy chairs so that you can study at the pace and in the place that works best for you. We are always open to suggestions, and you can contact us with suggestions (about spaces, books, or whatever) via our online suggestions form or the physical suggestions box in the Copy Center on the 5th floor.  

We did so much more, but let's keep it to a reasonable five item list. The bottom line is that we are ready for the school year and look forward to seeing you throughout the semester and beyond! 

Please reach out with any questions, no matter what they may be! Happy Researching! 

Submitted by Turner,Kristopher on September 2, 2026

This article appears in the categories: Law Library

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