Vol. 36, Number 12—December 2004

Law Libraries Mix Online with Hard Copy to Ease Access, Cut Costs

At the heart of much of the federal Judiciary's work is legal research—the hunt for precedent, consensus, legislative intent, and other decision-making factors. Federal court librarians can ease that often-daunting task amid today's technology explosion.

"The law library of today is an appropriately balanced combination of research and reference materials in print and online formats," said Seventh Circuit Librarian Gretchen Van Dam. "That means the law librarian of today is an expert at determining when print works best for the researcher and when online access is the superior method."

Third Circuit Librarian Susan English agrees, adding: "Ease of access is the key factor in today's busy work environment, whether the researcher is a librarian, law clerk or judge."

"The challenge for today's librarians is to provide the right mix of online and hard copy resources and to hone our researchers' skills by offering appropriate and timely training," English said.

A bigger challenge: budgetary belt tightening despite increased costs for research tools, both paper and electronic.

"Lawbook costs rise from 6 to 10 percent a year, and online contract costs increase as well," said Leslie Campbell, law library program administrator with the Administrative Office. The Judiciary spends over $30 million a year for lawbooks, and about $11 million a year for online resources.

"We'll always be paying for top-notch legal research," Campbell said, but added that decentralized spending authority, cancellations, and substantial vendor discounts have helped battle inflationary costs.

The federal Judiciary is served by 13 circuit libraries, one for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and one each for the 12 regional appellate courts. Each has a network of branch or satellite libraries. About 250 people work in the Judiciary's library system nationwide, serving all judges, law clerks, staff attorneys, judicial assistants and other staff in all courts—appellate, district, and bankruptcy.

Judge Royal Furgeson of the Western District of Texas said budgetary realities make federal court libraries more crucial than ever before.

"In these days of austerity, our law librarians are reducing the cost of our library system while raising the level of our research materials," he said. "Our librarians are also wonderful research aides, with information at their fingertips not otherwise accessible to us as judicial officers. Their help can make a truly good opinion exceptional."

Libraries offer a wide variety of time-saving and cost-saving services for Judiciary researchers. "Without a doubt, today's library looks and works very differently from the one we knew years ago. But it is no less relevant to what we do," said Judge Julio Fuentes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who chairs his circuit's library committee.

He added: "Importantly, libraries preserve many of the relevant collections that many individual chambers have been asked to eliminate in an effort to reduce operating expenses."

Each circuit library has created and maintains its own "virtual law library," as does the AO, whose online library serves as a starting point for researchers seeking reliable online resources, or a gateway to respective circuit law library web pages.

Circuit librarians report to their respective chief judge or circuit judicial council. The Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM) has budgetary oversight.

"Our committee has taken a close look at lawbook spending and has reduced its budget for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, as well as the funding request for FY 2006," said Judge John W. Lungstrum, CACM's chair. "Our main concern has been the increasing costs and duplication of lawbooks Judiciary-wide during this budget crisis."

Lungstrum credited those cuts and other efforts by circuit librarians for achieving substantial savings in the law books program. "For example, many circuits have adopted collection development policies that limit individual collections, while ensuring that libraries continue to hold needed resources for shared use," he said.

"Because there is no reason to believe that the budget climate will improve significantly in the foreseeable future, CACM and the entire Third Branch must continue to strive to obtain maximum efficiency in the area of spending. We cannot afford to expend our limited resources on any items that are not necessary to our important mission," Lungstrum said.

The Lawbooks and Libraries Study Final Report, approved by the Judicial Conference in September 2001, noted that the growth of lawbook spending had been reduced substantially by improved management. The report also noted that further opportunities for improving cost-effectiveness existed.

Substantial savings have been achieved in the lawbooks programs since, resulting in a 1.7 decline in overall lawbook expenditures from FY 1999 to FY 2003 despite inflationary increases. Those savings, in large part, are due to circuit librarians who managed collections and sought voluntary cancellations from chambers, and to significant discounts negotiated with several major lawbook vendors by Ellen Strbak, Lawbooks Program Administrator at the AO.

Last May, the Eighth Circuit Library held a day-long conference entitled "The Library of 2010."

Stakeholder participants included 22 judges, court unit heads, law clerks and other court staff, as well as representatives of the AO and U.S. Attorney's Office. Long-term goals emerged, as well as a series of already-implemented activities to support those goals.

"Many additional implementation activities are in the planning stages," reported Eighth Circuit Librarian Ann Fessenden, "including an improved web site and development of guides on frequently used topics."

Like the Eighth Circuit, each library program is working with stakeholders to meet the Judiciary's research needs. Regardless of technology advances, the mission remains constant: provide the highest level of research and reference services, and the best, most cost-effective resources.