The Society’s Library supports lawyers by providing basic services and timely access to current Canadian legal information.
Library Supports for Lawyers
The Society’s Library supports all members – with a focus on practising lawyers and articled clerks – with the following:
- Identifying relevant materials to help answer an information need;
- Troubleshooting difficulties with online information sources;
- Determining if material in the Halifax Barristers’ Library is available for loan;
- Borrowing circulating materials;
- Accessing materials from another library through interlibrary loan;
- Carrying out a legislative history; and
- Obtaining a copy of a case, statute or article not directly available to the lawyer.
We do not perform in-depth research for lawyers. Contact us for a current list of researchers who provide legal research services.
Library Resources
These online resources licensed for lawyer use are available on the library user computers at the Barristers’ Library in Halifax, and the Simon J. Khattar Memorial Barristers’ Library in Sydney:
- Seven divisions of O’Brien’s Online (forms and precedents)
- LawSource, FamilySource, CriminalSource and Estates&TrustsSource in WestlawNext Canada
- HeinOnline (U.S. and Canadian journals, U.S. primary law and case law links)
We provide access to current, practical Canadian legal resources to meet the basic needs of practising lawyers in Nova Scotia and the information needs of Society staff.
The Society is pleased to provide desktop access to the Irwin Law eBook Collection and Edmond With the the Law eBook Collection, offering full-text Canadian legal commentary for members.
Find the Lawyers’ Reading Room on the navigation bar in the members area of the Society’s website. Access is restricted to members of the Nova Scotia Bar, and NSBS staff.
NSBS Library & Information Services
The Law Courts, seventh floor
1815 Upper Water Street
Halifax, NS B3J 1S7
T: 902 425 2665
Toll-free: 1 866 219 1202
F: 902 422 1697
nsbslib@nsbs.org
The Society’s Library in Halifax is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and staffed from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday to Friday.
Accessing the Library
To gain access to the library outside of staff hours or on the weekend, enter the Law Courts on the main floor (second floor). The reserve collection is not accessible outside of staff hours.
- Lawyers & Articled Clerks: please show your member card to the commissionaire at the reception desk and sign the logbook.
- If you are a law student working at a firm in Nova Scotia for the summer and need to use the library after hours, please have your employer contact L&IS to outline the duration and your name will be added to the after-hours access list.
Lawyers' Reading Room
Find the Lawyers’ Reading Room on the navigation bar in the members area of the Society’s website. Access is restricted to members of the Nova Scotia Bar, and NSBS staff.
Learn More Lawyers' Reading Room
Legislation
Nova Scotia’s Office of the Legislative Counsel provides bills, statutes and proclamations from the 1998-1999 session to date, as well as Statutes at Large, 1758 to 1835. The most current Table of Public Statutes and Index to Local and Private Acts are also provided.
Learn More Legislation
