Following are the results of a survey the NCSC Library
conducted through LAW-LIB last week. Our thanks to all those who
participated in the survey, including those who responded from
libraries that are not connected with courts of last resort.
Please contact Erick Low at elow@ncsc.dni.us if you have any
additions or corrections to make to the following information.
Thanks again for your cooperation.
National Center for State Courts Library Memorandum
Date: April 2, 1996
Re: State Law Library and Supreme Court Library Public
Access Policies
The National Center for State Courts Library was asked
to survey public access and circulation policies in state law
libraries and supreme court libraries. The information that
follows pertains only to members of the general public and to
libraries that serve courts of last resort. According to various
library directories, there are four state law libraries or
supreme court libraries that are closed to the public: the
Arizona Supreme Court Library, the California Supreme Court Law
Library, the Delaware State Law Library, and the New York State
Court of Appeals Library. The Social Law Library in Boston,
Massachusetts effectively serves as the library for the Supreme
Judicial Court and is also not open to the general public.
Some state law libraries and supreme court libraries
are open to the public with restrictions. In Virginia, for
example, members of the general public may use the State Law
Library by appointment for reference only. Other libraries that
permit access with restrictions include the Georgia State Law
Library, the Nevada Supreme Court Library, and the Tennessee
State Law Library at Knoxville (one of four state law libraries
in the state).
Finally, some state law libraries and supreme court
libraries are open to the public but restrict circulation or do
not permit borrowing by the public. These libraries include the
Alaska Court Libraries, the Florida Supreme Court Library, the
Hawaii Supreme Court Library, the Supreme Court of Illinois
Library, the Indiana Supreme Court Law Library, the Iowa State
Law Library, the Library of Michigan--Law Library Division, the
Minnesota State Law Library, the Nebraska State Library, the
North Dakota Supreme Court Law Library, the Oklahoma State
Department of Libraries (law department), the Washington State
Law Library, the Wisconsin State Law Library, and the Wyoming
State Law Library. It should be noted, however, that some of
these libraries loan circulating materials to the general public
through interlibrary loan.
Not Open Open with Restrictions Reference Only
Arizona Georgia Alaska
California Nevada Florida
Delaware Tenn.(Knoxville) Hawaii
Massachusetts Virginia Illinois
New York Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Nebraska
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Some librarians responded to our posting on LAW-LIB
concerning public access and loan policies. Their responses are
attached to the end of this memorandum.
State Law Libraries and Supreme Court Libraries
Pubic Access Policies
(Compiled from the Directory of Special Libraries and Information
Centers, 1996; the American Library Directory 1995-96, and the
Law and Legal Information Directory, 8th ed., 1995)
Please note: The following information pertains only to the
general public, not to non-judicial governmental employees or to
members of the bar. The fact that a library is open to the
public does not necessarily mean that it loans materials to the
public. It should also be noted that many state law libraries
and supreme court libraries loan materials to the general public
through interlibrary loan.
Alabama Supreme Court and State Law Library
_ Open to public
Alaska Court Libraries
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Arizona Supreme Court Library
_ NOT open to public
Arkansas Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
California Supreme Court Law Library
_ NOT open to public
Colorado Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
Connecticut Judicial Branch Library
_ Open to public
Delaware State Law Library
_ NOT open to public
Florida Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Georgia State Law Library
_ Open to public with restrictions
Guam Territorial Law Library
_ Open to public
Hawaii Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- circulation limited to persons with
active cases in the Hawaii courts
Idaho State Law Library
_ Open to public
Supreme Court of Illinois Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Indiana Supreme Court Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Iowa State Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Kansas Supreme Court Law Library
_ Open to public
Kentucky State Law Library
_ Open to public
Law Library of Louisiana
_ Open to public
Maine State Law & Legislative Reference Library
_ Open to public
Maryland State Law Library
_ Open to public
Social Law Library (Massachusetts)
_ Open to members and authorized persons, not to the general
public (This library effectively serves as the library for the
Supreme Judicial Court.)
Library of Michigan--Law Library Division
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Minnesota State Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Mississippi State Law Library
_ Open to public
Missouri Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
State Law Library of Montana
_ Open to public
Nebraska State Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Nevada Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public with restrictions
New Hampshire State Law Library
_ Open to public
New Jersey State Library Bureau of Law and Reference
_ Open to public
New Mexico Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
New York State Court of Appeals Library
_ NOT open to public
North Carolina Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
North Dakota Supreme Court Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Supreme Court of Ohio Law Library
_ Open to public
Oklahoma State Department of Libraries
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
Oregon Supreme Court Library
_ Open to public
State Library of Pennsylvania--Law and Government Publications
Division
Rhode Island State Law Library
_ Open to public
Supreme Court of South Carolina Library
_ Open to public
South Dakota Supreme Court Law Library
_ Open to public
Tennessee State Law Library at Knoxville
_ Open to public with restrictions
Tennessee State Law Library at Nashville
_ Open to public
Texas State Law Library
_ Open to public
State of Utah Law Library
_ Open to public
Vermont State Department of Libraries
_ Open to public
Virginia State Law Library
_ Open to public with restrictions
Washington State Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Reference use only -- no circulation
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals State Law Library
_ Open to public
Wisconsin State Law Library
_ Open to public with restrictions on circulation
Wyoming State Law Library
_ Open to public
_ Direct loans limited to Cheyenne residents; other members of
the public served through interlibrary loan
Alaska Court Libraries
Jessica Van Buren
Public Services Librarian
jessvb@muskox.alaska.edu
Alaska Court System Home Page:
http://www.alaska.net/~akctlib/homepage.htm
You requested information regarding access to appellate
court libraries. I can supply the following information for the
Anchorage (main) branch of the Alaska Court Libraries.
a. Physical access to library buildings. The Anchorage Law
Library is located within the state court building, which houses
the district and superior courts, the court of appeals
(criminal), and the supreme court. During normal court business
hours (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.), all users must pass through
security screening in order to enter the building. After those
hours, library patrons may enter the library without first
passing through security. The library is open to the public
seven days a week (Monday --Thursday 8:00 am -- 9:00 p.m.; Friday
8:00 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m.; Saturday 9:00 a.m.-- 5:00 p.m.; Sunday
1:00 p.m. -- 9:00 p.m.). The building has handicap-accessible
doors, but the second floor of the library is not wheelchair
accessible.
b. Physical access to book materials/open or closed stacks.
The majority of our collection is housed in open stacks. We do
have a small collection of materials located in a basement
storage area that requires library staff to retrieve materials on
request. Those materials include superseded CFRs, printed
Congressional Records, pre-national reporters, Alaska supreme
court and court of appeals briefs, and selected archival
materials.
c. Check-out privileges/loan policies. The majority of the
collection does not circulate. Only court staff, bar members,
and bar member designees have circulation privileges. Court
staff may check out anything and may specify their loan period.
Bar members and their designees may check bound law reviews and
second copies of treatises for a one-week period. They may also
check out appellate briefs and first copies of treatises for a
24-hour period. Members of the general public do not have
circulation privileges, nor do we loan our materials on
interlibrary loan to libraries within the city of Anchorage.
d. Access to electronic media. The library provides two
terminals for WESTLAW use for those with WESTLAW accounts.
Library staff perform WESTLAW searches for court staff only. The
library subscribes to several CD-ROM titles, and any library
patron may use them. These titles include West's Alaska CD,
West's 9th circuit decisions (district and appellate), West's
Bankruptcy library, West's Government Contracts library, West's
CFR, West's USCA, West's FRD, Kleinrock's tax CD, Legaltrac and
Alaska Legislative History on CD. The library does not provide
Internet access to any library users.
Hawaii Supreme Court Library
Ann Koto
State Law Librarian
808-539-4965
ask728@hgea.org
The Hawaii Supreme Court Law Library, according to rule 12
of the Rules of the Supreme Court, is a legal reference library
and "shall be available to all who have need of its resources for
legal research and study". The general public has physical
access to the building as well as to all resources in the library
(books, microforms, electronic media). Except for a few titles
(those that develop "legs" too often) in closed stacks, the bulk
of the collection is in open stacks. Check out privileges are
granted to only those individuals who can provide us with
documentation that they have a current, active case filed in the
Hawaii courts.
Supreme Court of Illinois Library
Brenda Larison
Supreme Court Librarian
217-782-2424
217-782-5287 (fax)
blarison@class.org
I can provide the following information regarding access to
the collections of the Supreme Court of Illinois Libraries. The
main library is located in Springfield, and a private branch
library is located in the court building in downtown Chicago.
The following information relates to the library in Springfield
only.
a. The main library is open to the public and accessible to
individuals with disabilities.
b. The library has open stacks.
c. The collection does not circulate by Supreme Court Rule 33,
but public copiers are available.
d. The library has a public access terminal which provides 20+
titles on CD-ROM. The terminal also provides dial-up access to
WESTLAW and LEXIS, the Internet, and a local bibliographic
utility.
Indiana Supreme Court Law Library
Dennis Lager
Director
317-232-2557
317-232-8372 (fax)
This is in response to your request of 29 March 1996
regarding public access to the library. I will address each of
the items you inquired about in the same order as in your
request.
a. Physical access to library buildings. The Indiana Supreme
Court Law Library is housed on the third floor of the Indiana
Statehouse. The Statehouse building is open to the public, as is
the library, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. There
is elevator access to the third floor of the Statehouse.
b. Physical access to book materials/open or closed stacks.
Library materials are stored in open stacks and are accessible to
the public.
c. Check-out privileges/loan policies. The library was
established to support the Supreme Court and the Indiana court of
Appeals. However, as a courtesy, materials are checked out to
all Indiana agency staff members. Materials are also allowed to
circulate to law firms and other libraries in Indianapolis and
the surrounding area. Loans to law firms are generally for
overnight use only. Public copiers are available and copies of
materials can be made at a cost of fifteen cents per page.
d. Access to electronic media. Access is offered to the public
to a limited number of CD-ROM products which are available on a
pc located in the library reading room. Access is free and
patrons are allowed to download information from the CDs or to
print from them on a printer also located in the reading room.
Maine State Law & Legislative Reference Library
Lynn Randall
State Law Librarian
207-287-1600
207-287-6467 (fax)
lynnr@ursus1.ursus.maine.edu
This is in response to your request for information relating
to public access to appellate court libraries:
a. There is an accessible route to the Library. However, there
is still more to be done in terms of signage and in terms of the
marble door sills, which are too high. The Library is located in
the Maine State House.
b. Our stacks are open. Aisles are of an acceptable width,
except where stairs or major structural supports interfere.
There is no elevator to the Library mezzanine level; however,
staff are always available to assist users with disabilities by
retrieving needed materials.
c. Loan policies for public users and members of the legal
community. A very high proportion of the material in our
collection does circulate: reporters, treatises, periodicals,
USCS, CFR, Maine Revised Statutes. Materials may be borrowed in
person for one week, or materials may be loaned through the mail
to any Maine resident for a period of three weeks.
d. The following electronic media are available: online public
access catalog, union CD-ROM catalog, various CD-ROM resources,
including Index to Legal Periodicals, U.S. Code, Shepard's
citations (selected), various federal government CD-ROMS, various
Matthew Bender treatises on CD-ROM, and Maine statutes and bill
information online. We don't have a public Internet station
right now, but library staff do have access to Internet to use in
responding to reference questions. We also have a ready
reference policy for use of WESTLAW for responding to requests
from the general public.
Library of Michigan--Law Library Division
Nancy Whitmer
Reference Librarian
Library of Michigan
517-373-0630
517-373-3915 (fax)
nwhitmer@libofmich.lib.mi.us
We are a state law library which is part of the state
library (the Library of Michigan). We are under the legislature.
a. We are open to everyone Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00.
b. Much of our collection is in open stacks. This includes
most of our American primary law, periodicals and current
treatises. Superseded treatises, some older American primary law
and also foreign law are in closed stacks. We retrieve materials
from closed stacks for everyone upon request.
c. We circulate materials to state government employees on
state business and to current members of the Michigan bar. We
circulate most monographs, one-volume treatises and duplicate
copies of some sets of primary law (i.e., reporters, statutory
codes). We do not circulate periodicals, multi-volume treatises,
looseleaf services or single copies of primary law. We do not
loan books via ILL.
d. LEXIS and WESTLAW are reserved for state government
research. We perform searches for the legislature at no charge.
We perform searches for other state government offices for a fee.
We have access to the legislature's online Michigan statutes and
bill-tracking databases, on which we perform searches for
everyone at no charge. Our patrons do not perform the searches.
Our CD-ROM titles are available to everyone at no charge at two
workstations. They include LegalTrac, Wilsondisc:ILP, West's
Michigan Reporter and Shepard's Citations-Michigan, as well as a
few GPO titles (U.S. Code, FAR, Privacy Act Issuances). GPO
Access is available to all at a public workstation. At this
time, no other Internet resources are available for the public to
search, although the reference staff uses Internet resources
regularly when helping the public. We also have an online
catalog.
(Information received from Washington and Wyoming will be posted
separately due to lack of memory.)
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