History
In 1977 the former Franciscan friary and boarding school from
the 1890s was adapted for academic use, becoming the Franciscan
Library on the Verney Park site. The law library was named by Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, in August 1977 and was originally situated on the Hunter Street site, moving in July 1994 to the Franciscan Building where it is close to the Law School.
Subject coverage
The Franciscan Library covers law and science topics.
Outline of classification scheme
| 004 – 006 Computer science | 346 Family law / tort / land / banking / insurance |
| 150 – 158 Psychology | 347 Civil procedure |
| 340 Law general | 348 – 349 Specific legal jurisdictions |
| 341 International law | 500 – 520 Mathematics and statistics |
| 342 Constitutional and administrative law | 570 – 610 Life sciences |
| 343 Public law | 620 Engineering |
| 344 Social law | 630 Agriculture |
| 345 Criminal law | 660 – 686 Chemical engineering / manufacturing |
Law
The Lower Chapel area contains the collection of statutes, reports and digests as well as foreign, Commonwealth and international law materials. Reference books are shelved in the
corridor. The Denning Law Library should be regarded primarily as reference material, with the law reports, statutes, journals and
other reference material not available for loan because of the
nature of legal literature.
The Upper Chapel area holds the general loan law collection of textbooks, quartos (Qto) and pamphlets (Pam). The short loan books are behind the issue desk. General law journals are in the Periodicals Room, where they are arranged alphabetically. Current parts of journals are displayed on a separate rack beneath the daily newspapers.
Suggested reading for using a law library
Clinch, P. Legal research. Wildy, 2010. 340.07 CLI
Thomas, P & Knowles, J. Effective legal research. 2nd ed., Sweet & Maxwell, 2009. 340.07KNO
Science
The Upper Chapel area holds the general loan science collection of textbooks, quartos (Qto) and pamphlets (Pam). This includes computer science, psychology, mathematics and statistics as well as the life sciences. The short loan books are behind the issue desk. “Com” classified books are also held at the issue desk as containing CDs. Science journals are in the Periodicals Room on the left, where they are arranged in two sections, psychology and computer science/maths and within each alphabetically. Current parts of journals are displayed on a separate rack beneath the daily newspapers.
Photocopy and scanner facilities are available within the library.