Other Library Catalogs
Updated April 20, 2009
Library catalogs provide information about the books, documents, videos, and journals that a library owns. They often link to online resources, as well.
Sometimes you use a catalog to find a source you already know – you just want to find out whether this library owns it, where it is located, and if it is already checked out.
At other times, you use a catalog to find books and other materials on a topic you are researching – you want to find out what is available, in this library or in other libraries.
Catalogs for UW Libraries
The Gallagher Law Library catalog only includes material in the Law Library. All of the material held by other libraries on campus (and at the University of Washington campuses in Bothell and Tacoma) appear in the UW Libraries catalog.
One catalog that includes material from the Gallagher Law Library and the UW Libraries, as well as more than thirty other college and university libraries in Washington and Oregon, is Summit.
Combined Catalogs
Combined catalogs, like Summit and ShareLaw, permit faculty, students, and staff of the participating institutions to directly request and borrow books from any other participating library. For instance, a UW School of Law student who is looking for a book that is not owned by the Gallagher Law Library could search Summit and place a request for the book that is owned by the University of Oregon Law Library. The requested book is delivered to the Gallagher Law Library, or another UW library of your choice.
The Summit and ShareLaw catalogs may be searched by anyone with Internet access, but the direct borrowing function is restricted to faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students at participating institutions. Attorneys, members of the public, and other borrowers not affiliated with the University of Washington School of Law who have registered with the Gallagher Law Library are not eligible to request material via Summit or ShareLaw.
OCLC WorldCat is another combined catalog with records from more than ten thousand libraries worldwide. A free web version with limited search options is also available. Wayfinder is a new catalog that contains information on the collections of over 250 Washington public, academic, government, law, medical, corporate, special, and tribal libraries. Unlike Summit and ShareLaw, users cannot directly request items they find on OCLC WorldCat or in Wayfinder. Instead, a user would need to place an interlibrary loan request with his or her "home" library.
- UW School of Law faculty, students, and staff may place interlibrary loan requests through the Gallagher Law Library.
- Other members of the University of Washington community may request items through the UW Libraries interlibrary loan service.
- Users not associated or affiliated with the University of Washington should pursue interlibrary loan options with their "home" libraries, for instance, the library at their law firm, business, or school, or their public library.
Other Local Library Catalogs
Most other publicly accessible libraries make their catalogs freely available on the Internet, including:
- King County Law Library
- King County Library System
- Seattle Public Library
- Washington State Law Library
- Washington State Library
- Library of Congress
See our page on Law Libraries in Washington State and the U.S. for additional sources, including websites with links to academic, public, and other libraries and library catalogs around the country and around the world.