Faculty & Staff

Victoria

Szymczak

Director of the Law Library
Associate Professor of Law
Coordinator of Legal Research

Degrees

BA, State University of New York College at Buffalo
JD, Duke University School of Law
LLM, Duke University School of Law
MLIS, Pratt Institute

Biography

Victoria J. Szymczak is the Law Library Director and an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hawai‘i, William S. Richardson School of Law.  Prior to joining the University of Hawai‘i law faculty, she was the Law Library Director and an Assistant Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School in New York.  Professor Szymczak received her J.D. and LL.M. in Comparative and International Law from Duke University School of Law, and her M.S.L.I.S. from Pratt Institute. 

At Richardson, she is responsible for managing library services and coordinating legal research programming.  Professor Szymczak teaches first year legal research, international and foreign law research, and space law.  In 2021, she co-authored Hawaii Legal Research, the first book about conducting legal research in Hawaii. This was followed in 2022 with the companion Teachers’ Manual to Hawaii Legal Research. Additional scholarly interested include the legal systems of the Pacific Islands which resulted in her award winning monograph:  Charting the Legal Systems of the Western Pacific Islands: A Legal Research Guide.  She is currently working on a review of U.S. territorial legal systems, collection bias in academic libraries, and an analysis on status issues for law librarians.

Professor Szymczak is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and its Western Pacific chapter (WestPac), the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL), the Chinese and American Forum on Legal Information and Law Libraries (CAFLL), and the Society of American Law Library Directors (SALLD).

Publications

  • Hawaii Legal Research (2021) (Co-author with Cory Lenz & Roberta Woods).
  • Hawaii Legal Research: Teacher’s Manual (2021) (Co-author with Cory Lenz & Roberta Woods).
  • Book Review: Research Handbook on Law and Courts, 48 International Journal of Legal Information 90 (2020).
  • A Day in the Life of My Law Library, Circa 2018, 111 Law Libr. J. 71 (2019). (Co-author) HeinOnline
  • Scott Frey , Carol Bannen , Sharon Bradley , Cynthia Brown , Allison C. Reeve , Brown Kincaid C. , Michelle Cosby , Della H. Darby , James E. Duggan , Sarah Gotschall , Dwight King , Margot McLaren , Anna Russell , Merle J. Slyhoff , Victoria Szymczak , Karen Westwood, Ronald E. Wheeler & Mary Whisner, A Day in My Law Library Life, Circa 2018, 111 Law Libr. J. 71 (2019). HeinOnline
  • Book Review:  The Federal Judiciary: Strengths and Weaknesses, 110 Law Library Journal 158 (2018). HeinOnline
  • Charting the Legal Systems of the Western Pacific Islands: A Legal Research Guide, Volume 70 of Legal Research Guides, Hein (2017).   
  • Introduction to DRM, Contracts and Collection Development Plans, in Rights Management: A Librarian’s Guide, Catherine A. Leeman & Carla P. Wale eds., (Book Chapter) (2016).
  • Library Director as Union Negotiator:  Case Study 1, in Academic Library Director Perspectives, Michelle Wu ed., (Book Chapter) (2015).
  • Book Review, Copyright for Academic Librarians and Professionals, 107 Law Library Journal 136 (2015). HeinOnline
  • Perspectives on Teaching Foreign and International Legal Research, Jean Davis, ed., 19 Legal Reference Services Quaterly 55 (2001). HeinOnline | ScholarSpace
  • Book Review, International Litigation: A Guide to Jurisdiction, Practice and Strategy, 27 International Journal of Legal Information 134 (Spring 1999). HeinOnline
  • Jean Davis & Victoria Szymczak, Selected Insolvency and Bankruptcy Resources, 23 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 181 (1997). HeinOnline | ScholarSpace
  • Jean Davis, Victoria Szymczak & Brett Magun, Bibliography of Selected Juvenile Justice Resources, 5 J.L. & Pol’y 385 1996-1997 HeinOnline | ScholarSpace

Related News

UH Law Library Adjusts for COVID-19

portrait photo

Contact

Phone: (808) 956-5580
Fax: (808) 956-4615

vjs777@hawaii.edu

Office

Files

Classes

Course #Class TitleSemesterYear
501
Spring2024
536O
Spring2022
536O
Spring2014
536O
Spring2013
536
Spring2019
536
Spring2020
501
Spring2022
501
Spring2023
501
Spring2022
501
Spring2021