Now you know the main teams, what sort of queries might you get in the Law Library, and who helps with these queries?

Queries that are most appropriately responded to by Customer Services include: 

• Library opening hours
• Book loans and returns
• Reservations (including recalled books)
• Library charges
• Arranging loans from other libraries (Inter Library Loans) 
• Smartcards and Library Access

Queries that are most appropriately responded to by Liaison and Academic Skills include:

• Requests for new books, journals, databases and resources
• Referencing support for OSCOLA (more information below) 
• Support in locating authoritative legal resources, such as effectively using specialist databases such as Westlaw UK and Lexis+
• Changes to the Law Library service model in the 25/26 academic year
• Requests for help with academic skills development, including essay writing, preparing for exams, and time management
• Reading Lists for teaching

In all of these circumstances, the most effective method is to create a Library Help ticket. The teams at the Library will therefore further triage the query so that is responded to by the appropriate team. 

Often the answer to CS queries will be answered in one of our searchable Library FAQs

How to submit a Library Help ticket

If you cannot answer the question asked, you can help the customer submit their query to our Library Help team, who will then answer them via email. 

Via the Library Help homepage you will see the ways in which the customer can contact Library Help with their query - email, via a form, or via Live Chat. 

If applicable, the customer could complete the "Submit a Question" form with you and this will be transferred immediately into the ticket queue to be answered by staff. 

Referencing queries  

Students in the Law Library may ask for your help with OSCOLA referencing. As you well know as Law students, OSCOLA is a tricky referencing system, and can be interpreted differently by different people! 

As individual confidence levels with understanding OSCOLA will vary, the best course of action is to create a ticket in Library Help in order to refer the enquirer to get help from a Liaison Librarian. Reassure the enquirer that the team will come back to them with support when they can.  

If the enquiry is urgent (such as just before an impending deadline), you can also remind students that the OSCOLA guides exist, which are linked on the Academic Skills Kit – How to Reference webpage. The OSCOLA guides are the sole authority on the referencing style and should be referred to when answering any OSCOLA referencing query.  

Contact your CS Hub coordinator, who will escalate the issue to Estates or Library Attendants.

You can call the hub coordinator on 0191 2086688 or Via Teams chat  Law Library & CS Hub contact | Group Chat | Microsoft Teams

First Aid

If anyone in the Law Library is in need of first aid, you will find a list of nearest available first alders for the Law Library (due to proximity, most are colleagues within the Law School rather than the PRL).  Please call for a first aider on this list to attend the incident.

As soon as this is arranged, contact the CS Coordinator on the hub via Teams Chat Law Library & CS Hub contact | Group Chat | Microsoft Teams or phone x86622 to let them know there is a current first aid incident occurring and that a colleague from the Law School is attending. 

What to do if a student is in distress

Students should be directed to the student wellbeing page for mental health, wellbeing and disability support. If someone is at immediate risk, call 999, followed by security on 0191 208 6817. If a student asks you for wellbeing support, please take their name and student number and pass details of the incident to the hub coordinator

You should refer queries to the Law School when they relate to non-Library topics, including:

• Courses, such as module choices and enrolment 
• Assessment, such as exam timetables and deadlines 
• Personal Extenuating Circumstances (PEC) 
• Canvas, such as submitting essays 
• Administrative processes, such as required changes to student personal details or records
• Wellbeing support, including concerns for students (see above for process)
• Academic work, including questions about course content
• Careers and employability support
• University life and extracurricular activities, such as societies and volunteering
• The Law School building more generally, such as where to find staff offices or health & safety concerns for non-Library spaces

In many of the above circumstances, you may know the answer and find it more time and energy to redirect the enquirer - but remember, if it is a non-Library topic, then it is better placed with the appropriate team in the Law School to answer. There may be additional factors that you do not know about. 

The easiest way to contact the School Office is via email at newcastle.law-school@newcastle.ac.uk. You should encourage the enquirer to contact them directly. This inbox is monitored during working hours (Monday - Friday 09:00-17:00).

Enquirers can also attend the Reception desk (on the right as you enter the Law School) during the Law School opening hours (Monday - Friday 09:00-16:00, closed 12:30-1:30 for lunches).