Skip to Main Content
GW Law Library
Research Guides

Services @ the Jacob Burns Law Library

Come to the Law Library

We welcome GW Law alumni to use the law library.  Present  your GWorld alumni card or a GW Law alumni card upon entering the library.  If you don't have a card, you'll be asked to make a brief stop at the reference desk.  Prior to visiting the library, we encourage alumni to browse JACOB, our catalog, to locate legal materials relevant to their research.

GW Law alumni may obtain a law alumni card from the GW Law Development & Alumni Relations Office, Burns 203, 202.994.6117, or from the reference desk on the first floor of the law library.

For a GWorld alumni card, please visit the GWorld Card Office in the University Student Center; click here for more information.

Reference Services

Reference services are available by email, chat, and text.  Librarians may be available by appointment through Google Meet or Zoom.

  • Email: ask@law.gwu.libanswers.com
  • Chat
  • Text:  202-999-3685

Research Database Access for GW Law Alumni

GW Law Alumni cannot use the Burns Library's proxy server for off-campus access, but there are other options:

  • Through the GW Law Web Portal, alumni can access HeinOnline's Law Journal Library, which has searchable, full-text PDFs of law reviews and journals, some of them going back to the 1880's.  To access Burns Library resources on the GW Law Alumni Portal, click here.
    • Click the Login button under HeinOnline and use your Law School email (xx@law.gwu.edu) and associated password to authenticate
  • As graduates of The George Washington University, GW Law alumni also have access to the Gelman Library and off-campus access to several additional research databases.  For more information, click here. 
  • While inside the Burns Law Library, GW Law School alumni can use the library's subscribed, IP-authenticated databases, as well as our Westlaw public patron terminals.  For information about Burns Law Library access for GW Law Alumni, please check our Public Services guide here.

Burns Dispatch

Burns Dispatch is our not-for-profit, fee based service for reproduction or circulation of items in our collection.  Use Burns Dispatch to request items from the law library. 

In the D.C. Metro area or across country--we send books by UPS or we email photocopies as PDF attachments.  Copyright restrictions apply to requests for reproduction.

Email or send your request by fax to: