CONTACT INFORMATION

The Patron Services Department of The Fred Parks Law Library is here to serve you. Our staff is available to assist you with locating items, borrowing materials, and providing a variety of other services. Contact the Computer Help Desk for queries regarding our computer lab or Internet access. For in-depth legal research assistance, contact a law librarian at the Reference Desk.

Patron Services Department
The Fred Parks Law Library
South Texas College of Law
1303 San Jacinto Street
Houston, Texas 77002-7000

LIBRARY HOURS

The following are normal hours of operation. The library extends hours during final exams and immediately preceeding the Texas Bar Examination. Check the library's newsletter, Footnotes, for calendar updates. Click here to visit the online version of Footnotes and the current calendar:
http://www.stcl.edu/library/footnotesfoyer.html

REFERENCE DESK HOURS

The following are normal hours of operation for the Reference Services Desk. Reference Services hours may vary during holidays, final exams, and the interim between semesters. Check the library's newsletter, Footnotes, for calendar updates.

CIRCULATION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

South Texas faculty and currently enrolled students may borrow selected materials, using a valid student/faculty identification card. Patrons may place holds on popular material and will be notified when the items are available. Borrowed items may be renewed in-person or by telephone if no other patron has requested them.

Although no overdue fines are charged, patrons with overdue items are not permitted to borrow additional items from the library until overdue items are returned. A hold will be placed on the records of patrons who fail to return materials after written notice. Patrons who lose materials will be charged the cost of an item plus a $25 processing fee.

Library materials should be returned during regular business hours. The library does not supply an after-hours drop box.

RESERVE

The Patron Services Desk maintains a protected collection of popular items on reserve. Reserve items include high-demand materials and items placed on reserve by law faculty for student consultation.

Reserve items may be used in the library and can be borrowed using any photo identification card, including a driver’s license. If the patron is not a student or faculty member at South Texas College of Law, the identification card is held at the Patron Services Desk until reserve materials are returned.

Selected materials may leave the library overnight, for use by South Texas faculty or currently enrolled students, but only if borrowed within 4 hours of the library closing. Overnight loans are due within the first hour on the next day that the library opens.

INTERLIBRARY LOAN

Materials which are unavailable in The Fred Parks Law Library may be borrowed from other libraries for short loan periods by South Texas faculty and currently enrolled students. Interlibrary loan request forms are available at the Reference Desk. Interlibrary loans are provided usually without charge, although sometimes participating libraries charge for photocopied materials or fax transmissions. Consult a law librarian for more information.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS & ARCHIVES

The Special Collections Department houses valuable, rare, and significant monographs, a small number of manuscript collections, as well as the archives of The South Texas College of Law. Make an appointment to visit by contacting Mark W. Lambert, Special Collections & Government Documents Librarian, at 713.646.1720.

COMPUTER HELP DESK

Staff at the Computer Help Desk located in Room #3011 of the law school’s third-floor computer lab are available to troubleshoot problems with Internet access, software, and printing. Contact the Computer Help Desk at 713.646.2985. Contact Susan Spillman, Computer Instructional Services Librarian, with questions regarding student passwords in Rm. #3013 or at 713.646.1718. For public patrons, temporary guest passwords are available at the Patron Services Desk, the Reference Desk, or at the Computer Help Desk.

PHOTOCOPIERS

Photocopiers are provided in the Document Centers on floors 1-5. The machines will accept coins or copy cards. Copies cost ten cents per impression. Copy cards may be purchased from vend-a-card machines, which are located near the third-floor computer lab and in the library’s second-floor copy room. Copy cards cost $1.00. The vend-a-card machines accept both old and new bills. Additional value may be added to the copy card by reinserting the card into the vend-a-card machine and using a $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, or $20.00 bill. Please note: the library does not accept checks, make change, or provide cash refunds. A change machine is located in the law school’s student lounge, next to the food vending machines.

FAXES

The Fred Parks Law Library provides a fax for patron use in the second floor Document Center. Sending a local fax is free, but a long-distance fax must be charged to a calling card. The patron fax does not receive incoming faxes.

STUDENT LOCKERS

For the short-term convenience of library patrons, lockers are located on floors 2-5 near the Document Centers. Place a quarter in the slot of the locker and the key will be released. When you return the key to the locker, the quarter will be returned to you. Items may not be stored in lockers overnight. Abandoned items will be released to security.

LOCKING CARRELS

Several study carrels that contain a locking cabinet are available. These cabinets may be assigned to students who are working on articles for publication in a scholarly journal, or who are involved in substantive supervised research for a faculty member. Students should submit a "Student Locking Carrel Request Form" to the Associate Director of the Law Library. Initial assignments will be for a period of one semester. All library materials in the carrel must be checked out.

STUDY ROOMS

A variety of spaces may be reserved by currently enrolled South Texas students and alumni/ae studying for the State Bar examination. Room capacity varies from 2-8 persons. Reservations may be made up to a week in advance, for a maximum of 6 hours each week. Reservations will be cancelled if rooms are not claimed within 15 minutes of scheduled start time. Rooms not in use are available for walk-in patrons. Contact the Patron Services Desk at 713.646.1711 for reservations.

QUIET STUDY AND LIBRARY COURTESY

Several areas of the library are reserved specifically for quiet study. Cell phones, beepers, and conversations are forbidden on the library's first floor, which houses microforms, government documents, and historical materials. Exceptions to first floor silence are made for class tours and for reference assistance.

The second floor of the library is home to the Patron Services Desk, the Reference Desk, a bar of quick access computers, and the two main library entrances. As a result, staff cannot guarantee a tranquil study environment on this floor, but the area provides an excellent venue for study groups and conferencing with library staff.

The third, fourth, and fifth floors of the library do not have strict library policies like the first floor, but these areas generally are much quieter and offer individual study rooms, semi-private wooden carrels, and soft seating areas. As a courtesy to other patrons, cell phone usage and extended conversations should be confined on these floors to individual study rooms or to the public stairwells.

FOOD, DRINK, AND TOBACCO POLICY

Food and tobacco products are prohibited in the library at all times. Non-alcoholic beverages are permitted in the library, but only in specially provided, spillproof mugs or in approved substitutes. (See list.) Students and visitors needing a mug may obtain one at the Patron Services Desk.

Acceptable Containers:
• Library-supplied mug.
• Travel mugs with tight-fitting lids.
• Sports bottles.
• Bottles with pull-up drinking spouts.
• Water/soda bottles with screw-on tops

Unacceptable Containers:
• Disposable fast food drink containers
• Disposable coffee cups
• Soda cans
• Mugs or glasses without lids

LIBRARY ACCESS POLICY

The primary function of The Fred Parks Law Library is to support the instructional and research activities of the South Texas College of Law (STCL) academic community. As a member of the local legal community, we also try to support the legal research needs of our alumni, the practicing bar, and other patrons in need of legal information. We hope you find our resources helpful in your legal research.

The Fred Parks Law Library is open to anyone needing access to legal information, including the legal community and the general public, during the following hours:

All non - STCL patrons must sign in at the security desk and show photo identification. After 6:00 p.m. each day and until the library closes, only STCL patrons and members of the legal community are admitted. This includes the following:

• All STCL faculty, students, staff, alumni, and their guests
• Students and faculty from other law schools with proper student or faculty ID
• Students and faculty from other institutions of higher learning with proper student or faculty ID***
• Members of the bar with a bar card and photo ID

All non - STCL patrons are required to sign in and show photo ID regardless of what time they arrive. No one will be asked to leave the library if they are here before 6:00 p.m. unless there is a problem; however, only those listed above will be admitted after 6:00 p.m. As a private institution, admittance to the law library for non - STCL patrons is a courtesy that may be withdrawn or restricted at any time as dictated by the needs or concerns of the College.

***Paralegal students are not included in this definition and may utilize the library only during the hours designated for the general public. During those hours, paralegal students may use the library individually, but not in study groups or as a class.

COMPUTER USAGE POLICY

Library computers located in the third floor computer lab are available to the patrons listed below with a temporary password. Printing is available for $.10 per page. Patrons listed below may obtain a temporary password from the Patron Services Desk or from the Computer Help Desk (Room #3011) by presenting a photo ID and by signing the guest computer account agreement:

• All STCL alumni
• Students and faculty from other law schools with proper student or faculty ID
• Students and faculty from other institutions of higher learning with proper student or faculty ID***
• Members of the bar with a bar card and a photo ID

STCL students may obtain temporary passwords but strongly are encouraged to activate their STCL computer accounts and to use their personal passwords.

*** Paralegal students are not included in this definition.

CONFIDENTIALITY

In keeping with good library practice and Texas Attorney General Open Records Decision No. 100, the library does not reveal the names of patrons who have utilized reference services or who have borrowed materials. The library must comply, however, with the U.S.A Patriot Act regarding library records and will do so if compelled by federal agents.