Something for Everyone @ the Law Library
By Jean Holcomb
National Library week April 11-16, 2005 marks the fifth year of the Campaign for America’s Libraries, a multi-year public education campaign sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries like ours across the county. More than 20,000 libraries in all 50 states will be hosting special activities during this week to focus attention of the programs and services they offer. Our library too will hold events to focus on the “Something for Everyone @ Your Library” theme for the week’s events.
In addition to hosting special events, Nation Library weeks provides an opportunity to reflect on the role a public law library plays in its community.
Who Uses the Law Library? In an average year over 100,000 individuals visit the two King County Law Library locations. Over 25,000 books are borrowed from the Library’s collection. In addition to attorneys and citizens, large parts of the County Law Library’s patron base are government accounts such as the prosecutors, judges and court employees, defender organizations, and county employees. Our Law Library provides the resources to support the County’s ability to offer law library service to the jail population.
Our reference statistics track service interactions on a daily basis. Other than telephone questions and basic directional questions, more County Law Library staff time is spent assisting members of the public with their research than with service to any other group of patrons. Over 70% of the questions answered in the Kent Law Library come from members of the general public while that figure in Seattle is 54%.
What Information Do Law Library Users Hope to Find? Because the Library’s resources cover legal topics from adoption to zoning--a visit to the Law Library serves as a starting point for anyone with a law related question. Users hope to find answers to questions about a wide range of family law topics including dissolution, child custody, child support, parenting plans, domestic violence, protection orders, and adoption. Many are looking for specific court forms to help this respond to litigation that’s already underway or to initiate an action before courts at all levels from municipal court to federal court.
Employment law questions such as issues about workmen’s compensation, unemployment benefits, wrongful termination or discrimination bring people to the library. Landlords and tenants turn to the law library for help. Individuals with traffic infractions come to determine their rights and responsibilities. Family members of individuals charged with crimes want to know about sentencing guidelines and strategies for defending against criminal charges. Members of the legal profession including judges, prosecutors and private attorneys use the Library in the course of their daily activities to prepare rulings, file charges, or advise clients.
How Do We Help? The Library’s trained staff assists users in identifying resources that help answer their questions. The Library provides materials in a variety of formats including books, periodicals, online subscriptions to legal databases, and Internet resources. Our www.kcll.org web site provides research guides, email and chat reference service, and the library’s catalog. We offer computer terminals for users to search the web, to research using online subscriptions, to create documents and court forms, and to attend training sessions taught by Library staff.
During National Library week, we invite everyone to visit the Seattle or Kent Law Library location, or to stop by the Library’s web site to see what’s new and to join in a celebration of the contributions made by public law libraries like ours and their staff and governing boards.
Internet Class Topic: The Seattle Law Library Internet lunch-break class for web users will be held on the third Thursday of the month on the sixth floor of the County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue. The April 21 training will cover information about a new, easy way to automatically receive news from the Internet using RSS--Really Simple Syndication. RSS is an XML based format for reading news using your Internet Brower.
The May 19 class will feature a discussion about computer assisted legal research sources for attorneys to use including free web sites, and inexpensive legal databases.
For information about the training and to register, contact Rita Kaiser at (206) 296-0940. For information about additional training opportunities, view the monthly training calendar on the library’s web page at www.kcll.org.
Gifts: Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe
Recent Acquisitions, King County Law Library: Civil Procedure: Washington Appellate Practice Desk-book; Contracts: The Construction Contracts Book: How to Find Common Ground in Negotiating Design and Construction Contract Clauses; Uniform Commercial Code in a Nutshell; Intellectual Property: Protecting Corporate IP Assets: Enforcing Restrictive Covenants in the Employment Context; Labor Law: Understanding Developments in Whistleblower Law 2 Years After Sarbanes-Oxley; The Practitioner’s Guide to Defense of EPL Claims; Covenants Not to Compete: A State-by-State Survey; Practice of Law: Legal Interviewing and Counseling in a Nutshell; The Legal Assistant’s Practical Guide to Professional Responsibility; Securities: Understanding the Securities Products of Insurance Companies, 2005.
Jean Holcomb is the King County Law Librarian. She welcomes your comments. Call her at (206) 296-0940,
or email her at jean.holcomb@metrokc. gov.
