The Julien and Virginia Cornell Library at VLGS

Second floor looking down shot of the library lobby.

The Julien and Virginia Cornell Library at Vermont Law and Graduate School is a rich resource center for students and faculty. Overlooking the White River, the 35,000-square-foot library houses our collections and provides a variety of study spaces across four floors, including a highly specialized environmental law collection and the Environmental Reading Room. We are also fortunate to have a group of knowledgeable, service-oriented, and friendly staff at the Cornell Library.

VLGS librarians play a vital role in students’ academic development by teaching Introduction to Legal Research to first-year students. Those wishing to further enhance their research skills can enroll in specialized Advanced Legal Research courses. Additionally, librarians serve as faculty liaisons, conducting research sessions in classrooms and offering assistance with library services.

“…the Julien and Virginia Cornell Library at the Vermont Law and Graduate School is known for its ‘highly specialized environmental law collection and the Environmental Reading Room.’ Law library collections like these, no different than the collections of Yale and Harvard, are treasures of the legal academy that should be maintained not only to meet the immediate needs of patrons at those institutions but also to safeguard access to legal knowledge and make the creation of new legal knowledge possible for succeeding generations.”

-Nick Mignanelli, “Whither the Monograph?: Changes to the ABA Standards on Library and Information Resources and Their Unintended Consequences for Legal Scholarship,” 2 Northwestern Law Journal des Refusés 

The library’s collection is searchable via JULIEN​, the online library catalog. Students, faculty, and staff have access to the following:

  • More than 300,000 titles in the collection including 242,000 e-books
  • Lexis+ and Westlaw 
  • More than 70 specialized research databases such as HeinOnline, Greenwire, ChinaLawInfo & JSTOR

In addition to traditional library services such as reference help and interlibrary loan, the library also provides a range of amenities to support student’s academic success:

  • One-on-one research consultations
  • Group study rooms for collaborative learning
  • Stand-up desks
  • Happy lights
  • Final exam support including candy bowls, puzzles, and more
  • More than 70 specialized research databases such as HeinOnline, Greenwire, ChinaLawInfo & JSTOR

The library is a congressionally-designated depository for U.S. Government documents. Public access to the government documents collection, including the FDLP Basic Collection, is guaranteed by federal law (Title 44 of the United States Code).

Library Resources

Hours
Cornell Library – Access with ID card24 Hours
Information Desk8:00am – 8:00pm
Reference & Research Help8:30am – 4:00pm
Community Legal Information Center8:30am – 4:00pm
CLIC Coordinator Office Hours10:30am – 4:00pm

Contact The Library

Library Information Desk

[email protected]
(802) 831-1441

Research Questions (VLGS Students and Faculty)

[email protected]

Community Legal Information Center (Members of the Public and Alumni)

[email protected]
(802) 831-1313

Library Staff

Pamela Cartier

CLIC Coordinator
(802) 831-1440
[email protected]

Lisa Donadio

ILS Administrator
(802) 831-1442
[email protected]

Melissa Kalinen

Access Services and Interlibrary Loan Specialist
(802) 831-1403
[email protected]

Rhonda Murphy

Access Services and Acquisition Supervisor (802) 831-1414
[email protected]

Sarah Scully

Electronic Resources and Technology Librarian
(802) 831-1445
[email protected]

Jennifer Sekula

Instructional Law Librarian and Asst. Professor of Law
(802) 831-1446
[email protected]

Stefanie Skogen

Reference and Academic Outreach Librarian
(802) 831-1443
[email protected]

Mary Snook

Evening Access Services Assistant
(802) 831-1463
[email protected]

Beth Sullivan

Serials and Access Services Supervisor
(802) 831-1439
[email protected]

Jane Woldow

Library Director and Professor of Law
(802) 831-1449
[email protected]