UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SCHOOL OF LAW (LIBRARY)
Welcome to the University of Ghana School of Law (UGSOL) Library. We are the largest and most resourced law library in Ghana. We are key players in the delivery of legal education at the UGSOL. The study of Law is essentially a Library-based subject and students spend a great deal of time in the Law Library. You will find that acquiring an effective working knowledge of the Law Library will help you not only during your period of formal legal education but also in the course of your legal practice.
History
In 1959 the UGSOL (erstwhile Faculty of Law) was established to train legal professionals for Ghana in a two-year Post First Degree Bachelor of Laws (LLB) program before proceeding to the Ghana School of Law, where they are called to the Bar after two more years of training. The Central University Library (Balme Library) housed the Faculty and the Law library collections at the time.
Over time the space allocated for the Faculty at the Balme library could no longer suffice in meeting the needs Faculty and the library. A temporal facility was constructed for the Faculty of Law which also housed a library with over 15000 titles including books and a collection of periodicals for 80 readers.
This collection comprised of books from the Balme library, Ghana School of Law and a donation from the American Society of International Law through the Smithsonian Institute.
Current outlook
The UGSOL library has seen significant changes over the years both in terms of infrastructure and service delivery. In the last quarter of 2011, UGSOL moved to its new and current location. The new Law building is a state of the art facility which houses a modern library. The new library is open, serene and has more sitting capacity.
The library with assistance from the United States Mission through its Democracy and Human Rights Fund has developed an Online Public Access Catalogue. In 2004, through a Carnegie Corporation grant to the University of Ghana for expanding ICT and supporting automation, the library re-catalogued and integrated its collection into the Balme Library database.
The library’s collection currently comprise of over 34,000 volumes of book stock, including current, rare and heritage materials on Ghanaian law, a growing collection of Ghana government publications, law reports, textbooks and important legal journals. The Law library also provides access to electronic information resources on a range of law-related materials and subjects.