Wisconsin State Law Library

The David T. Prosser Jr. Library, located in downtown Madison, is open to the public on Thursday, January 31.

The Milwaukee and Dane County Law Libraries, along with the courthouses, will be closed on Thursday, January 31 due to inclement weather. They will reopen on Friday, February 1. Contact the Wisconsin State Law Library at 608-267-9696 for help while they are closed.

Watch this post for updates and any further weather-related announcements this week. The Wisconsin Court System website lists statewide and county court closures: https://www.wicourts.gov/


The Milwaukee and Dane County Law Libraries, along with the courthouses, were also closed on Monday, January 28th due to weather. All three libraries were closed on Wednesday, January 30.

Updated 1/30, 6:45 pm

The State Law Library, and Milwaukee and Dane County Law Libraries will be closed on Monday, January 21st for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

To send a question to the Wisconsin State Law Library while we are closed, you may call us at 608-267-9696 or Ask a Librarian online.

We will respond to questions and requests on Tuesday, January 22nd.

The Department of Administration's Document Sales recently posted purchasing information for the new 2017-2018 Wisconsin Statutes. The prices are:

The January issue of WSLL @ Your Service is now online. Your comments are welcome! Please direct them to the editor, Carol Hassler.

In this issue: 

Bloomberg Law Now Available in the Library

Bloomberg Law incorporates Bloomberg's news, company, and financial data with legal research and business intelligence tools aimed at legal professionals. Next time you are in the library, check out Bloomberg Law! Read more

Where to Find Will Forms

We are frequently asked for information about wills. In addition to the statutory wills,  a number of sources in the library offer sample will forms and guidance to drafting wills. Read more

New Books

Our featured new titles this month are Legal Upheaval: a Guide to Creativity, Collaboration, and Innovation in Law and Water Rights and Environmental Regulation: a Lawyers Guide. Don't forget to check out this month's complete new book list. Read more

Tech Tip

Using your phone's camera to snap a photo of a paper document is quick and easy. However, if you need a good quality copy, want to email the image, or mark it up, turn to specialized scanning apps. Read more

Sign Up for After Hours Access

Would you like the convenience of using the State Law Library later in the evening or on weekends? You can by becoming an After Hours subscriber. Read more

Library News

Library closures, our open house recap, and 2019 CLE classes. Read more

January Snapshot

Julie Tessmer, Heidi Yelk, and Kari Zelinka attended the first annual Beacon & Eggs breakfast to benefit The Beacon. Read more

Recently we added Reading the law: the interpretation of legal texts, by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner, to our collection. This book includes a list of recommended modern dictionaries. Using this book as a reference, we've updated our collection and created a display in our library which showcases these dictionaries. Stop by our David T. Prosser Jr. Library location, or ask a librarian for help using one of these sources.


Law Dictionaries

2009: Black's law dictionary (9th edition)
2011: Merriam-Webster's dictionary of law (2nd edition)
2011: Garner's dictionary of legal usage (3rd edition)

English Language Dictionaries (most recent editions)

The Oxford English dictionary (online edition)
American heritage dictionary of the English language
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary
The new Oxford American dictionary
The new shorter Oxford English dictionary
Webster's new world college dictionary
The Cambridge guide to English usage
Garner's modern American usage