Rubin and Rubin (2021) claim “the term special library can be applied to independent library departments within universities” (p. 199). This includes law libraries, so this is the type I decided to use for my special library visit. George Mason Law Library is located in Arlington, Virginia, and, although only students or alumni are allowed to enter this place, the librarian behind the desk allowed me to tour the building. Before I drove out to visit, I perused the web site, https://www.law.gmu.edu/library/, and discovered a plethora of information. The home page had numerous headings, which included free legal research sites; a place to find books, articles, and databases; and library service and collection. You could also reserve a study room or find popular databases.

When I arrived at the library, I had to park one street over and cross a busy intersection to get to the entrance; the only parking available was street parking, which you usually need to pay for. As I climbed up the large flight of stairs, I noticed I was the only person visiting the building. I walked through the glass double doors and noticed a desk with a sign presenting a QR code for a COVID health screening. Just beyond that were tables and chairs for people to socialize at. There was a huge statue featuring the law school’s namesake, Antonin Scalia, standing in front of the next set of doors to the library.

Once I was inside the library, I noticed the circulation desk was to my left where Taylor, the aforementioned librarian, was working. Behind her were rows of books that needed to be shelved. She told me I could look around all four floors of the building; however, the elevator was broken, so I would have to utilize the stairs. When I walked past the circulation desk, I saw the reference area which had several long tables and chairs. On the other side of this area was the office for the reference librarian, but the room was closed, and a sign on the door posted the librarian’s hours as 9am-5pm.

I walked back to the center of the room so I could climb the winding staircase. When I reached the second floor, I immediately noticed the sign stating the room was named the Maureen McCarthy Scalia Reading Room. The middle of this area had many tables, each with accompanying outlets and chairs. There were study rooms forming a half-circle around the room, and on the side were individual cubicles for independent studying and approximately eight rows of shelves that housed individual state code books. However, the most interesting thing on this floor was the glass display case up against the far wall. The top two shelves had bobbleheads of famous Supreme Court judges such as Sandra Day O’Connor, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Thomas. The lower three shelves displayed literature written by faculty members. As I walked to the stairwell leading to the upper floors, I saw two offices: one for the Associate Director of Development and one for the Assistant Dean of Development and Alumni Relations.

When I arrived on the third floor, I could see this was where the majority of the library’s collection was held. I had to walk through a tiny hallway with a computer lab, copier, and shelf for patrons to return books to, but then I saw that the upcoming room was lined with individual cubicles. In the center of the room were tables with four chairs that were surrounded by a large number of shelves, with some of them being compression stacks. To my right were books that covered sociology, finance and banking, state and local taxes, federal courts, economics, and military science. To my left, the collection housed books containing information on health law, international trade, patents, U.S. legal history, conflict of laws, mergers and acquisitions, business organizations, and copyright. The shelves had books from the bottom to nearly the top shelf: if I were a patron with a wheelchair, I don’t think I would be able to reach all the books.

I left the stacks and walked up the stairwell to the fourth and top floor. When I entered this floor, I had to walk down a small hallway that passed several storage rooms. There then were the individual cubicles on my left while there were tables with four chairs each on my right. The right wall had five study rooms with conference tables that utilized six chairs each. The center of the room had around twelve shelves: The ones on the right contained discontinued periodicals while the left shelves displayed American Lawyer Reports. There was one standalone desk among the stacks that held a variety of dictionaries. The left side of the room housed the microfiche area, with metal card catalogs holding thousands of microfiche slides.  I found this fascinating since it has been nearly 25 years since I had last seen a microfiche system being utilized. A variety of subjects could be found here: records and briefs of U.S. court appeals, records and briefs of U.S. Supreme Court cases, state superseded codes, Virginia reports, and periodicals.

As I walked down the stairs to say my thanks to the librarian behind the circulation desk, I noticed how peaceful the library felt. Since it is George Mason’s spring break, there aren’t groups of students researching and studying at these desks, but it doesn’t take much imagination to visual how busy this place could get. When I made it to the circulation desk, I had to wait for the librarian to give a student one of the study rooms on the fourth floor. I then thanked the staff member for allowing me to tour the building, and she expressed how pleased she was to assist anyone pursuing a MLIS degree. Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the George Mason Law Library because of its serene yet studious environment that made me excited to study law despite my studies being directed elsewhere.

References

Rubin, R. E. and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.