Judicial Services Report 2016, 225th Anniversary Edition

The Lancaster County Law Library was founded in 1867 by the Lancaster Bar Associa- tion to provide a collection of materials needed by attorneys for legal research. Today the library is no longer part of the Bar Association, but its primary purpose remains the same. The Law Library is also open to the public and is used quite regularly by members of the general public. The library will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2017! In 1867, the library had about 2,200 volumes in its collection. Presently, the library has about 27,000 volumes in its collection, which represents about 3,500 titles. Several of the books that were part of the original collection are still part of the library. The collec- tion consists mainly of what is referred to as primary source material--the actual text of various state and federal statutes, cases, and regulations. The library also has various sec- ondary sources, or books that explain the law, including legal textbooks and treatises,

Director Eleanor Gerlott

law reviews, and other periodicals and legal reference books. Materials in the Law Library deal solely with American law, and most are technical in nature since they are geared to the professional. Since 1980, the library has maintained a special file of all of the opinions from the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.

Much of the material in the Law Library is still in print format. However, the library does provide free access to Westlaw and Lexis, which are computer-assisted legal research services. About 10 years ago, it actually became more cost-effective for the library to offer free access to Westlaw and Lexis than to continue to buy some of the books in print. The library has converted most of its file of Lancaster County opinions to an electronic format, and this database can be searched from the patron-access PC in the Law Library. The library now also has an online catalog (Library World), which can be accessed from the patron-access PC or the library’s website. The staff of the library consists of one full-time, professional Librarian and one part-time Library Assistant. They provide reference assistance to library patrons by suggesting sources to consult and interpreting legal cites and abbreviations. However, they do not do legal research for people, and they do not give legal advice. The staff responds to in-person ref- erence requests, as well as those received via phone or e-mail. Circulation figures have decreased gradually in the last several years, partially because of the increased use of online services by attorneys in their offices. However, the legal community continues to rely on the library to provide access to secondary sources and other materials that they can’t access in their offices, and these types of publications circulate fre- quently. Library users now also have the capability to e-mail the results of their online searches to themselves, and this is a great new service. Although the nature of legal research has changed greatly in the last 150 years, the Law Library is still proudly supporting the legal research needs of the Bench, the Bar, and the public in Lancaster County.