For today I visited something that I never really thought of before taking this class. I think I knew Law Libraries existed because my parents have had to advocate for the their business in the past. But because I was not directly involved with the processes my parents needed for their business, I never thought more about it.
I spoke with Mrs. Donna Barnes of the Law Library who graduated USF in 1982 with specialization in Special Libraries. She had experience in medical libraries at USF. Then she was offered job and has been working at the Law Library for 30 yrs. She worked in libraries as clerical typist prior to the degree and liked the library setting. The one major change she pointed out over thirty years in the field as a law librarian is that a lot more is available online and not published anymore, ex. attorney general opinions.
The Mission of "the James J. Lunsford Hillsborough County Law Library provides legal research materials for use by the public, attorneys, judges, and students. Research materials include Florida and Federal Statutes, corporate and medical law, family law, bankruptcy, and other legal matters. Books do not circulate, but copy machines are available to library patrons. The librarians on staff are not attorneys and cannot answer legal questions, but can direct visitors to appropriate books and resources."
The law library not part of public libraries system of Hillsborough county but is a separate department and the funding comes from fees collected from criminal court system's filings and traffic case filings of the state court system. The existence of this library is by State mandate under article 5, however, in these uncertain times there is concern for the future under this current state leadership.
The public is the most common patron, specifically those who can’t afford lawyers. Lawyers and attorneys used to be more prevalent but most law offices now have subscriptions to the main databases of Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis in their offices as research tools.
As far as acquisitions, the legal database publishers are Thompson-West (Westlaw) and Lexis/Nexis, and books in hard copy are ordered from online and directly from publishers. The need of materials is determined by the types of questions asked by patrons (log of patron inquiries by type of question). There is not much preservation of documents occurring, few are being scanned at the law library. Generally, though, it does try to keep items that are no longer being printed.
Some of the most common requests are mostly for case law and documents. The Westlaw database is one of the most accessed through the computer, more people use the books (Florida legal encyclopedias and practice books). A lot of requests are on information for foreclosures, probates, and traffic ticket defense, as well as land-lord/tenant and family law such as divorce and custody.
One of the challenging components of this job is that the reference desk must deal with people who come in frustrated because they are told one thing in court and they are agitated because they have been bounced around the system. Mrs. Barnes tries to deal with agitated patrons by making it a calming situation. Legal system is already upsetting and frustrating. She tries to empathize and make it a pleasant atmosphere.
What type of instructional work do you do here? There are no instructional classes offered at the Law Library due to time constraints.
Mrs. Barnes said the most satisfying thing about her work is knowing that she is helping those doing their own research and have access to the courts. Without the service they would fall by wayside because many cannot afford to have legal representation.
Some markers of most of your patrons are that they have changed demographic over the years as now there are less legal professionals more layman. (Law firms have their own libraries that may include Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis.) Most patrons have some computer literacy and can use the Westlaw database fairly effectively and with some proficiency. The reference desk staff make some suggestions to narrow searches, might suggest general search help, and natural search language. There is only one computer terminal for Westlaw because of licensing. There is a second computer for document preparation and the library is a wireless hotspot.
The reference desk gets mostly ready reference, research and directional: where and how to find certain information because the library uses its OWN FORM OF CATALOGING THAT ONLY CAN BE ACCESSED FROM BEHIND THE REFERENCE DESK. The cataloging is mostly by items in the indices of the reference sources and are cataloged by the staff according to what each document contains. The reference staff will conduct a Westlaw search which are available at a cost ($8 per query)and can be delivered via email or fax, only the librarian can do this otherwise the patron can only print, and the staff also can send specific cases for $2. Lawyers and patrons need to develop queries though. The reference staff do not have the capacity to train the public because of time constraints. Thompson-West does come in and do occasionally and do trainings on demand.
What is the number and type of public service staff? There are 4 full time public service staff, and one part-time (works for Everlove and Associates- works Wednesday evening). Mrs. Barnes is the only ALA certified position. The director has an administrative role, and two other staff are responsible for the reference desk updating of books and night desk. For the convenience of working patrons and those with concerns over parking, the Law Library is open until eight most of the week.
This is a reference only library; patrons must come in and cannot check out materials. There is a low level of public access electronic resources because the resources available are Westlaw database. Vendors are selected because they offer bigger discounts on books by the vendor's bid. There are also access to government sponsored websites for legal info, but limited because of copyright so most reference are print resources. Printing is charged at 20 cents/page. There is no social media presence. Only informal communication between legal libraries- not much consortium except when collection is lacking or missing something do the local libraries.
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