New Library Director Follows Trail West - Wagons Ho!
By Marcus Hochstetler
“Go West young man, and grow with the country.” ~ Horace Greeley
Leaving the hot summers and cold winters of the Midwest for Seattle was not a hard sell for me personally. However, convincing the family to strap up the wagons and head west with four kids and two cats seemed more daunting at first blush.
While not following the path of Lewis and Clark directly, their general direction became the goal of our journey. The cross-country adventure felt, at times, a little more like National Lampoon’s vacation with the requisite stalled vehicle and kids sharing the 48-hour flu by the side of the road. In the end, we arrived safe and sound in the Puget Sound.
By way of history, I have experienced the frenetic pace of the law firm setting in Philadelphia and the slower pace of a smaller county law library in Youngs-town, Ohio. A commonality existed in these two settings, which was the need for access to accurate, timely and reliable legal information.
Access to legal materials by the general public and the legal community are essential to the fundamental success of our justice system. The advent of the Internet has produced the instant need for verifying the quality of good web sites. Whether information is utilized for a well-researched brief or filling out a straightforward legal form, the knowledge and skill to procure it is a valuable asset. These are the assets present with the professional staff at the King County Law Library and with whom I am very pleased to join in furthering our services to the many and varied patrons who cross our doorway every day.
Internet class topic: The Seattle Law Library Internet lunch-break class for web users held at noon on the third Thursday of the month on the 6th floor of the County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, will feature tips for effective use of Westlaw on October 20. The November class will cover tips and tricks for productive Lexis searching. For information about the lunch-break classes and to reserve a space in the class, call 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: The library appreciates gifts to the collection from Nathaniel B. Green, Jr.
Recent Acquisitions, King County Law Library: Banking Law: The Cost of Credit: Regulation, Preemption, and Industry Abuses; Consumer Banking and Payments Law; Credit Discrimi-nation. Bankruptcy: Bankruptcy and Related Law in a Nutshell. Civil Procedure: Trial and Clinical Skills in a Nutshell. Constitutional Law: The Lobbying Manual. Contracts: Pay-ments Law in a Nutshell. Corpor-ations: Sailing in Dangerous Waters: A Director’s Guide to Data Governance; The M&A Process: A Practical Guide for the Business Lawyer. Domestic Rela-tions: The Complete Guide to Divorce Practice: Forms and Procedures for the Lawyer. Labor Law: ERISA Survey of Federal Circuits. Practice of Law: Flying Solo: A Survival Guide for the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer; The Lawyer’s Guide to Creating Per-suasive Compu-ter Presenta-tions; How to Capture and Keep Clients: Market-ing Strategies for Lawyers; The Lawyer’s Guide to Creating a Business Plan: A Step-by-Step Software Package [CD-ROM]. Public Land Law: Wetlands Law and Policy: Under-
standing Section 404. Real Property: Real Property in a Nutshell. Securities: U.S. Regulation of Hedge Funds. Social Legislation: Medicare and Medicaid Claims and Procedures. Tax Law: Structuring and Drafting Partnership Agreements: Including LLC Agreements; RIA’s Complete Analysis of the Tax Provisions of the Energy and Transportation Acts of 2005; Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005: Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient; Transportation Equity Act of 2005: Law, Explanation and Analysis. Torts: Products Liability in a Nutshell. n
Marcus Hochstetler is the King County Law Librarian. Please direct comments or questions to him at 206-296-0940 or marcus.hochstetler@metrokc.gov.
