Legal periodicals contain articles about law and law-related subjects and normally fall into one of the following categories: Law school reviews; specialized and scholarly journals; bar association journals; commercial journals in specialized fields; or, legal newspapers. Periodicals are particularly useful since they provide researchers with continuing and often up-to-date coverage of legal topics. Articles in periodicals are generally accessed through indexes. This research guide will provide you with information about how to locate articles, how to find the related journal issues in the library's collection, and what to do if the library does not have a periodical that you need.

LEGAL PERIODICAL INDEXES IN PRINT FORMAT

Periodical indexes provide subject, author, and other types of access to journal articles and assist researchers in finding articles of interest and citations to their sources. The Law Library has available the following major legal indexes in print format. Unless otherwise specified, they are kept at the
Index table on the 4^th floor:

CURRENT LAW INDEX. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl K33 .C87

INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl K33 .I52

INDEX TO FOREIGN LEGAL PERIODICALS. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl K33 .F67

INDEX TO PERIODICAL ARTICLES RELATED TO LAW. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl K33 .P47

CURRENT INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl K33 .C8

INDEX TO U.S. GOVERNMENT PERIODICALS (1970-1987) Location: Main Floor, U.S. Doc. Index Z1223 .Z9 I5 1970

INDEX TO LAW SCHOOL ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS by Mary D. Burchill and Pamela M. Tull. Provides access to substantive articles published in law school alumni publications. Location: Law Indx 4^th Fl KF261 .B87

ANNUALS AND SURVEYS APPEARING IN LEGAL PERIODICALS: An annotated listing compiled by Catherine L. Kerr. Location: Main Floor, Law Ref. KF8 .D45

Note that many of these indexes abbreviate the periodical title in the citation. Consult the list of abbreviations normally found at the front of the index to determine the complete, correct title. To find an article in the library you will need the complete title of the periodical, volume number, page(s) of the article, author, and the title of the article.

ELECTRONIC LEGAL PERIODICAL INDEXES

The library subscribes to the Index to Legal Periodicals and Books in cd-rom format. It is available through the law school's local area network as well as through Lexis (ILP file in LAWREV or LEXREF libraries) or Westlaw (ILP database).

The Current Index to Legal Periodicals is accessible via the Law School Library's web page <washburnlaw.edu/lawlib>. Click on Electronic Resources. Click on Current Index to Legal Periodicals.

LEXIS AND WESTLAW

The indexes listed above are supplemented by two computer services, LEXIS and WESTLAW. While both services emphasize traditional primary legal materials, (e.g., cases, statutes), they also contain the full text of articles from legal periodicals. The advantage of these computer services is that the entire text may be searched for any word that appears in an article.

LEXIS contains the full-text of over 400 law journals (beginning 1982). They are contained in files in the LAWREV library. Consult the most recent Lexis/Nexis Directory of Online Services for an alphabetical title listing.

WESTLAW coverage of legal periodicals was initially selective, containing articles from the 1980s which its editors felt were of special interest. Since 1994 WESTLAW contains the complete text of about 600 periodicals in its TP-ALL and JLR databases. Consult the most recent Westlaw Database Directory for an alphabetical title listing.

LEGAL PERIODICALS ON THE INTERNET

WashLaw Web maintains an alphabetical list of links to home pages of law journals with an Internet presence. The amount of information varies from journal to journal. Some have full text. Others have contents pages. Still others may only contain information about manuscript submission or subscription. A few law journals are available only in electronic format on the Internet.

Legal Journals on the Web <www.usc.edu/dept/law-lib/legal/journals.htm l>, maintained at the University of Southern California Law Library, is also an excellent site for obtaining information about law journals on the Web.

DETERMINING WHETHER THE LAW LIBRARY OWNS A PERIODICAL

The Law Library acquires the law reviews published by all American Bar Association accredited law schools, most state bar journals, selected subject and interdisciplinary periodicals, and a few general magazines for leisure reading.

The ATLAS (Associated Topeka Libraries Automated System) online catalog contains the holdings information for periodical subscriptions of the Washburn Law Library and six other professional or academic libraries in Topeka. The PERIODICAL TITLE search is an effective way to determine the Library's exact holdings, formats, and the locations of a title. The following is a sample entry:

This entry indicates that the library has the Harvard Law Review beginning with volume 1, issue 1, in both hardcopy and microfiche formats.

LOCATION OF LEGAL PERIODICALS IN THE LIBRARY

When first received, virtually all legal periodicals are in an unbound, paperback form. These unbound issues are shelved behind the Circulation Desk on the Main Floor. If a recent issue is not on reserve, check ATLAS or contact the Technical Services Department on the Top Floor (ext.1628) to determine whether it has been received. Unbound issues may be checked out to use for 2 hours in the library.

Once all unbound issues for a volume are received, the issues are removed from Reserve and shipped to a bindery. At the bindery, a hard, buckram cover is placed on the issues. It normally takes one month for a volume to return from the bindery once it has been shipped. Items currently at the bindery are identified on the check-in record in the online catalog.

Bound volumes of all legal periodicals are shelved on the Top Floor. A call number has been assigned to each title to assist with retrieving and shelving volumes (see the Harvard Law Review example above). As you use the periodical collection, you will also notice that periodicals are arranged alphabetically by their most recent title. Bound volumes may be checked out to use outside the library for a 2-week period.

The library's microfiche and microfilm periodical holdings are located in the Microforms Room on the 2nd floor. Titles are arranged by format (microfiche or microfilm), and then by title within format. Paper copies may be made from the microforms using the reader/printer for 10 cents each print.

WHAT TO DO IF THE LIBRARY DOES NOT HAVE A PERIODICAL YOU NEED

If a periodical title or article is not available in the Law Library, arrangement can usually be made to obtain a photocopy or to borrow it from another library on a short-term loan. To arrange one of these interlibrary loans, contact Nancy Gray or Vicky Doze at the Circulation Desk. Please note that interlibrary loans may take 2-3 weeks or more to fill, depending on the location of the library from which the item is borrowed.

The Law Library uses several finding aids to locate periodical holdings of other libraries. The Mid-America Law School Library Consortium's Union List of Legal Periodicals has been prepared by seventeen law libraries in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota. It is accessible from the online catalog <lib.wuacc.edu>. Click on Book/Article Databases. Click on First Search Select. Click on Union Lists. Click on Advanced Search. Select Title (exact phrase) from pull-down menu by Index Browse button. Enter title of journal in box under (word, phrase). On next line, enter "gr:maul" in box under (word, phrase). Click on Start Search button. Click on underscored title by library of interest to obtain detailed holdings information.

The Topeka Union List of Serials in printed format includes holdings for the following local libraries in addition to the School of Law Library: Washburn University Mabee Library, Kansas Supreme Court Law Library, State Library of Kansas, Menninger Foundation Professional Library, Stormont-Vail Health Sciences Library, and Veterans Administration Medical Library.

The Kansas List of Serials contains holdings information for thousands of periodicals at Kansas Libraries (excluding K State and K.U.). It is accessible on the web from the online catalog. Click on Book/Article Databases. Click on Kansas Library Catalog. Click on Select Another Database.

Click on Kansas Serials Cat. Click on Apply button. Select "Title" from pull-down menu near Search box. Enter title of periodical in "For:" box. Click on Start Search button.

OTHER PERIODICAL INDEX AND ABSTRACTING SERVICES AND FINDING AIDS

Over fifty indexing and abstracting services are accessible via ATLAS, the online library catalog. Click on the Books / Articles Databases link to access a variety of services and descriptions.

Check at the Reference Desk if you wish to use Library Technology Alliance's Periodicals.net. It is a directory of over 97,000 titles published in over 200 countries and is the Internet version of Books and Periodicals Online. It includes which databases index a journal, the dates of coverage, and whether the articles are in fulltext, abstracted or indexed. It also has URL addresses, span online, update frequency, and lag online.

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory is available through Westlaw (ULRICHS database).