Hours
Welcome to the Law Library
The Library of California Western School of Law is located at 290 Cedar St.
Library Purpose & Use
The primary purpose of the California Western School of Law Library is to meet the instructional and research needs of the students and faculty in support of the Law School’s mission to train ethical, competent, and compassionate lawyers who are creative problem solvers committed to the improvement of our legal system and society.
The Library strives to provide an environment suitable for study and learning in support of CWSL’s research and instructional programs.
History and Special Collections
From the school's inception, through its expansion at the site of the former Point Loma Campus of California Western University, to its present period of rapid development, the CWSL Library has grown to include more than 354,000 volumes with approximately 5,800 serial subscriptions. The Library has increased its holdings of microforms (over 167,000 volume equivalents), audio and videotapes, and computer software. The Library also provides a rich variety of online resources available through the Library’s website.
The Library contains all of the essential materials needed for legal research: local and regional reporters and digests, state codes, legal encyclopedias, and extensive collections of law reviews and journals, loose-leaf services, treatises, international, comparative and foreign law titles, and selected non-legal titles. Special collections within the Library are:
- S. Houston Lay International Law Collection
- John R. DeBarr Military Law Collection;
- James E. Leahy Constitutional Law and Civil Rights Collection;
- Chin Kim Comparative Law Collection;
- Professor Barbara Cox and Peg Habetler Sexual Minorities Law Collection;
- Lenore L. Fraga and Paul R. Fraga Jr. Family Business Law Collection;
- Galinson Family Creative Problem Solving Collection and Reading Area
CWSL Library subscription databases include: BloombergLaw, CEB, JStor, LegalTrac, Lexis, and Westlaw. Library resources can be located using our OPAC online library catalog from the library homepage lawlibrary.cwsl.edu. Wireless access is available in the library for all authorized patrons.
Situated in the downtown area, our library is within easy reach of the additional resources of the San Diego Law Library and the San Diego Public Library.