LPAB Student Resources

On this page

   
* Student ID/Library cards

* Borrowing
   - University of Sydney
   - other Australian Universities
   - for Distance students

* Distance students
   - document requests
   - book requests

* Contacts
   - update your Library details
   - give feedback
* Supplementary Materials

* Legal research help
   - classes
   - online guides
   - consultations

* Study group
   - room bookings


* Off-campus access
    to Library resources


Other useful sites

* Law Extension Committee

* Get a Unikey
   - what is my Unikey for?
   - other Unikey services

* Legal Profession Admission Board
   - past exam papers (only available
    from the LPAB website)




Student ID/Library cards

When you enroll with the Law Extension Committee you are entitled to a University of Sydney Library/Student ID card, which gives access to library services, borrowing privileges and also acts as ID for exams.

You should always have your library card with you when using the library, as you will need it to borrow books and use the Library computers. Please note that library cards are non-transferrable. Continuing students should use the Library card from previous sessions.

April 2008: Changes to LPAB Library Card Production

(Amendment to page 37 "Library Cards" in the Winter Session 2008 Course Information Handbook)

LPAB Library Cards will be processed by the University Card Centre. If you have any enquiries relating to Library Card processing, revalidation and lost cards, the Card Centre's contact information is listed below:

Phone: (02) 9351 2423
Fax: (02) 9351 7278
Email: university.cards@usyd.edu.au
Location: Card Services, Level 2, Fisher Library

When does my card expire?

Your card expires at the end of each session and should be automatically revalidated by the Library at the beginning of each session in which you enroll. At the start of a session it is helpful to bring proof of enrolment to the Library.

What if I lose my card?

From June 1, 2008 no cards can be made at the Law Library. To organise a replacement card please contact the University Card Centre (details above).

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Borrowing

University of Sydney Libraries

LPAB student may borrow from any of the University of Sydney Libraries. The Law and Fisher libraries are the most useful for legal studies. See the LPAB card details for more information about your privileges.

Other Australian universities libraries- National Borrowing Scheme

The National Borrowing Scheme allows students of Sydney University to borrow from other University Libraries. See the Library's Borrowing at Another Australian University page for more information.

Distance Students - additional services

Who are distance students?
Distance students are those living in Australia but beyond the following train stations:
  • Lisarow
  • Richmond
  • Faulconbridge
  • Picton
  • Wollongong
What can distance students do?
  • In person: request a two week loan for books from the Law Short Loan collection that are borrowed.
    Requests must be made at the time of borrowing and proof of address may be required.

  • Off campus: request books & documents to be sent to them by post or email.
Book request service

Make a request to the LPAB Country Lending Officer by either:


Books can be sent by post or via Document Exchange.

Article and cases request service

Request copies of journals articles and cases (that are not available online) and have them sent to you by email.
  • Restricted to items required for private study
  • Students must submit a copyright declaration when making requests.
Online Request forms:

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Supplementary Materials

* Administrative Law * Family Law * Local Government and Planning
* Australian Constitutional Law * Insolvency Law * Practice and Procedure
* Contracts * Jurisprudence * Public International Law
* Conveyancing * Legal Institutions * Torts
* Criminal Law

PDF Troubleshooting

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Legal Research Help

Library Tours

Includes a tour of the collections held at the Law Library and an overview of the facilities available.

Hands-on classes

Designed to give:
  • an introduction (or refresher) on searching legal databases and other useful websites
  • lots of hands-on practice and exercises
Finding cases - looks at finding Australian and English cases in full text and finding information about specific cases in a variety of online databases.
Introduction to Legal Research - introduces the basics of legal research, the Law Library web page and Catalogue.

Finding legislation - looks at finding and researching legislation, both in the hard copy format and on-line.

Finding journal articles - looks at searching databases to retrieve journal articles for assignments and study.
Combined legal research classes - this 3 hour class (9.30-12.30 pm or 1-4pm) held on Saturdays is a condensed version of the individual classes to make attendance easier for students who are unable to get to individual sessions. Answers to class exercises
Tell us what you thought of the classes

Legal Research Classes Winter 2008

Location:
Classes:
Held in Computer Training Room, Level 7, Law School, 173-175 Phillip Street, Sydney (entry via Level 8)
Tours: Meet at Library Information Desk, Level 8
**No bookings required for classes or tours.
Monday May 5 Library Tours Starting times: 1pm & 1.30pm
Starting times: 5.30pm
Tuesday May 6 Library Tours Starting times: 1pm & 1.30pm
Starting times: 5.30pm
Thursday May 8 Introduction to Legal Research 6-7pm
Friday May 9 Introduction to Legal Research 12.30-1.30pm
Saturday May 10 Combined class Morning session: 9.30-12.30pm
Repeated in the afternoon: 1-4pm
Monday May 12 Finding Legislation 12.30-1.30pm
Finding Cases 6-7pm
Tuesday May 13 Finding Cases 12.30-1.30pm
Wednesday May 14 Finding Journal articles 12.30-1.30pm
Thursday May 15 Finding Legislation 6-7pm
Saturday May 17 Combined class Morning session: 9.30-12.30pm
Repeated in the afternoon: 1-4pm
Monday May 19 Finding Journal articles 6-7pm
Friday May 30 Combined class
Coinciding with Distance/Country weekend school
12.30-3.30

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Legal Research Online Guides

Legal Research Booklet
Download in PDF: 1Mb
* Updated April 2008
Individual Mini-tutorials
  • Understanding legal citations
  • Finding materials - where to start and how to search
  • 'How-to' guide for most major legal databases and free websites
  • Legal referencing style guide suggestions
  • Information on off-campus access and contacts for more help

Starting Legal Research

Before beginning any legal research, it is important to know what sort of materials you need.

Material type Useful for
Cases Primary source: authoritative record of the law: decisions of the courts
Legislation Primary source: authoritative record of the law: law made by Parliament. Eg. Acts & Regulations
Bills, Second Reading speeches & Hansard Secondary sources. Bills are draft Acts yet to be passed by Parliament. Second Reading speeches and Hansard document the intention of proposed legislation
Books, Reports Secondary sources. Can provide background as well as introductory or comprehensive overviews of an area of the law
Legal dictionaries & Encyclopaedias Secondary sources. Provide legal definitions and an overview of an area of the law
Journal articles, conference papers Secondary sources. Discussion of issues about or background to the law.

Choosing Databases

Once you know what sort of material you need, the suggestions below will help pick the best databases to use for each material type.

Jurisdiction Cases Legislation Bills, Parliamentary Papers etc. Journal articles
Australian - AustLII
- Law Reports A-Z
- Casebase (citator)
- AustLII (All)
- ComLaw (Cth)
- NSW PCO (NSW)
- BillsNet (Cth)
- NSW PCO (NSW)
- LawLex (All)
- AGIS
- Legaltrac
- Casebase
English - Westlaw
- Lexis.com
- Justis

- BaiLII
- UK Statute law database
- UK Parliament
Bills
- Legaltrac
- Westlaw
- Lexis.com

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Finding a book in the Library Catalogue

You have the exact title/author You have some details about the book
  • Choose a Title or Author search and type in the start of the title or author. eg: Twain, m
  • Don't use an article as the first word of your search, e.g. a, an, the.
  • Choose a Keyword search
  • Type a few of the most unique words you know will appear somewhere in the details about the book
Narrow down your search using the Limit/Sort button if you get too many results.

Searching by topic
  1. Brainstorm any words that could be used to describe the topic
  2. Combine the words using Boolean operators such as 'OR' eg. law OR legal

More tips on Boolean operators
Boolean operators allow more powerful searching. For example:

Operator Effect on the search Example Tip
AND narrows Solicitor AND negligence

(both words must be present in each record)
Some database uses "and" as the default if you type in more than one word
OR broadens Company OR corporation

(either word can be present in each record)
Useful for when there are alternative terms
NOT restricts Mercury NOT planet

(the first word must be in the record, but will then discard it if it has the second word)
Useful for ambiguous terms

Other useful search characters

Some databases use other characters for more flexible searching. Always check the Help section of a database to see which ones work in the database you want to use. Eg:

Truncation

Eg. negligen* will find:
negligence, negligent and negligently.
Wildcard

Eg. defen?e will find:
defence or defense.

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Finding a Statute in AustLII

Example
The more details that you have, the easier it will be to find - for example, if you know the title of legislation, the jurisdiction, search using a specific collection/jurisdiction.

To find the Trade Practices Act on AustLII using a specific collection/jurisdiction:

  1. On the left side of the window click on the jurisdiction Commonwealth
  2. Select the appropriate database Commonwealth Consolidated Legislation
  3. Click on alphabetical list if the exact title of the legislation is known. If not, click on name search to search legislation in that collection.

Other free legislation sites accessed via the Free Web Law- legislation

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Finding a case in AustLII

Example
The more details you have of the case ie party names, court or jurisdiction, the easier it will be to find the case. To find the 1996 High Court case Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland via AustLII:
  1. Go into AustLII via the Free Web Law link
  2. On the left side of the window click on the jurisdiction "Commonwealth".
  3. Select the appropriate database "High Court of Australia Decisions 1903-".
  4. Type the most unique part of the party names into the Case name search field, combining them with 'AND' eg. Wik AND Queensland
  5. Click on Search




  6. Choose The Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland & Ors; The Thayorre People v The State of Queensland & Ors [1996] HCA 40 (23 December 1996)

Try also:

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Finding an English case in Westlaw

Example

Find the following English case in Westlaw: Adler v George [1964] 2 QB 7

  1. Open Westlaw from the Law Databases page
  2. Click on Find by Title from the lefthand Shortcuts menu
  3. Under the Global Case Law heading in the main window, enter at least one of the party names eg. Adler George (no need to put 'and' between them)
  4. From the Jurisdiction drop-down menu choose United Kingdom
  5. Click on Go
  6. When the results appear, click on the link to the case citation
  7. The full text will appear

Try also:

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Finding journal articles in AGIS

Example

Finding some articles in AGIS on issues dealing with judicial in NSW

  1. Go to the Law Library Homepage - Legal databases link
  2. Click on Journal Indexes
  3. Select AGIS from the list of periodicals/journal indexes
  4. In the first text entry box: Enter (judic* or judg*) . Choose the any field search type (to perform a key word search).
    • Tip: search options include any field (the key word function), title, author, journal title, cases, jurisdiction and legislation
  5. Connect the search terms with 'AND'
  6. In the second text entry box: enter indep*. Choose the any field
  7. Click on the Search more fields link (to add a search box)
  8. Connect the search terms with 'AND'
  9. In the third text entry box: enter new south wales. Choose the jurisdiction
  10. Click on Search
  • In many cases the article will be available in full text via a pdf file.
  • If not, click on the Check your Library Catalogue link to the right of the article to check if the library has the journal.

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Accessing Library Resources from off-campus

When accessing Library resources off campus, you will be prompted for your Unikey before entering.
For more details see: Off-Campus access information.

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Study Group room bookings

2 rooms for study groups are available in the Law Library.

Conditions:
  • 2 hour limit (with 1 renewal if the room is not in demand)
  • Same day bookings only
  • Distance student can book 1 week in advance (conditions apply)
Call (02) 9351 0216 to book or for more information.

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Contacts

Michelle Harrison
Acting Law Extension Liaison Librarian
  • General enquiries
  • Research consultations
Phone:(02) 9351 0302
Email: m.harrison@library.usyd.edu.au
Grant Wheeler
Circulation Librarian
  • Loans or fines
Phone:(02) 9351 0217
Email: G.Wheeler@library.usyd.edu.au

Update your Library record details

Contact the University Card Centre for changes to Library details except official name changes. For official name changes, please contact the LPAB first before organising your replacement card.

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