Help Searching JACOB

JACOB is the Law Library's catalog, which includes books and journals. Search JACOB to find books and journals -- not articles -- in the collection of the Jacob Burns Law Library.

JACOB+ includes the GW Law Library's catalog as well as other materials and selected articles to which the Library has access. Please note that JACOB+ does not include all content from every database to which the Library subscribes, nor does it include articles that law students have access through GW's Gelman or Himmelfarb libraries. We recommend that you also search directly in the relevant research databases (for example, HeinOnline, Bloomberg Law, Lexis, Westlaw) and consult our research guides.

Review our Tips for Searching to efficiently locate materials, including how to use the "Advanced Search" feature.

If you cannot find what you're looking for in JACOB, you may borrow items from the WRLC (Washington Research Library Consortium), place an Interlibrary Loan request, or suggest a purchase for the Law Library.

And be sure to Ask Us or visit us at the reference desk. We're here to help you succeed!

The Law Library places course books for law school classes on reserve. 

From the drop-down box next to the search box on the Law Library's website, select "Course Reserves."

You can search by your GW Law professor's last name, the course name, or the course number to locate items for the class that they have placed on reserve at the Circulation/Reserve Desk in the Library.

WorldCat Discovery is the best database to search for items that must be obtained through the Library's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) system. Items are searched in thousands of libraries worldwide. When the item is located, click on "request from interlibrary loan" and the ILL request will auto-populate with the item information.

The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a consortium of local libraries that includes the law and medical libraries at each institution. Find items in the collections of those libraries using a keyword, title, author, call number and/or subject search.

The Consortium Loan Service (CLS) is a way to borrow print books that are available through the WRLC.  From the drop-down box next to the search box on the Law Library's website, select "WRLC" and type your book title in the search box. 

Click on a title in the results list.  Under the "How to Get It" section, click on "CLS Request" and complete the request form. In the request form, the pickup location should be for the "George Washington University Jacob Burns Law Library."

Your JACOB Account (sometimes referred to as your Library Account) allows you to manage items borrowed from the Library as well as favorite items and save searches you have conducted in the catalog. You do not need to log into this account in order to access electronic content linked in catalog records.