About the Library

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Updated: 03/12/08

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  Welcome
  Vision & Mission Statements
  Library Membership
  Library Governance and the Board of Trustees
  Funding
  The Law Library Justice Foundation
  Disclaimer

Welcome

The San Diego County Public Law Library welcomes you to its website. The Public Law Library has been serving the legal information needs of San Diego County citizens since 1891. The Library has over a third of a million volumes housed at four locations for your convenience. These web pages allow the Library to enhance access to legal information beyond the traditional collection of print materials, microforms, and CD-ROMs. The website provides legal information materials specific to San Diego County and many research guides and materials created by its reference staff. The website also links to selected websites that provide a broad spectrum of legal materials generally. (We see no purpose in reinventing the wheel at public expense.)

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Vision & Mission Statements

Vision

The San Diego County Public Law Library uses its staff, its collections, and the other tools and programs it develops to promote relevant, pertinent and timely legal information to the residents of San Diego County in order to provide them with access to justice.

Mission

• Focus on meeting the needs of the library’s users.
  
  
• Create a county-wide community resource that promotes interaction and collaboration in the dissemination of legal information.
  
  
• Maintain a practical, timely and relevant collection and electronic access to legal materials that will meet the needs of the library's users.
  
  
• Make legal information available to users in the most appropriate and relevant format possible.
  
  
• Provide professional library staff that demonstrates excellent communication skills and uses technology to improve workflow and enhance the flow of legal information.
  
  
• Develop facilities and spaces within the law libraries that enable study and collaboration.

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Library Membership

The San Diego County Public Law Library is a public institution which is open to the general public. Book and materials loan privileges, however, are reserved for library members. Library membership is available to San Diego County residents and all California attorneys. An annual membership fee, as well as a refundable security deposit, is assessed.

The library offers several membership categories to accommodate various needs. The two most common membership categories are attorney and non-attorney accounts. Their fees are as follows:

Attorney accounts: $45.00 yearly membership + $50.00 deposit.  New attorneys (those who have been members of the State Bar for less than one year) pay a discounted rate of $10 for their first year of membership, in addition to the $50 deposit.

Non-attorney accounts: $10.00 yearly membership + $50.00 deposit

All accounts must be kept open for at least three months. After that time, a patron may request to close their account and have their deposit refunded. Deposits are generally returned within six to eight weeks. For more information about Library Membership, see our borrower rules, which can be viewed online using Acrobat^® Reader^® software.

For further information on all membership categories, including firm, government, or organization accounts, please call Access Services at (619) 531-3900.

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 Library Governance and the Board of Trustees

The San Diego County Public Law Library is a state local public agency, organized under California Business and Professions Code sections 6300, et seq., and funded primarily from a portion of civil court filing fees. These funds are deposited with the San Diego County Treasurer in a "Law Library Trust Fund." The Board of Trustees has the exclusive power of expenditure of money in that fund and other funds belonging to the Public Law Library. Thus, the Board of Trustees is an administering board, rather than an advisory board. The County of San Diego is required to provide housing, maintenance, and utilities for the Public Law Library. In all other regards, the Board of Trustees has the administrative control of the activities of the Public Law Library. The San Diego County Public Law Library Board of Trustees has passed a mission statement. In accordance with California Business and Professions Code § 6301.1 (passed in 1996), the Board is composed of four judges elected from the Superior Court and three attorneys appointed by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Board members serve without compensation. Monthly Board meetings are usually held from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. the fourth Wednesday of the month, normally at the Board Room of the Main Law Library, 1105 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101. They are open to the public. Agendas and notices are posted at the Main Library.

The chief executive officer reporting to the Board of Trustees is the Director of Libraries, Robert Riger, who also serves as a non-voting secretary to the Board. Mr. Riger prepares the agendas for the Board’s meetings. Board members do put items on the agenda, but most items come from the Director of Libraries and his staff or in response to inquiry from Board members.

The Law Library Board of Trustees controls a budget of some $2.7 million plus, for which well over half is spent on personnel and over one quarter is spent on book materials, most of which is in serials subscriptions. Until recently, budget discussions, personnel policies, and library policies with regard to services to patrons constituted most of the Library Board's agenda. For the last few years, the Law Library's Board has dealt with several issues affecting the long-range prospects for the Law Library. Attempts to increase funding sources have been made, some successful, some not. The short-term and long-term affects of advancing technologies have created several issues for the Board. The Board is also grappling with serving the Library's changing clientele, as more and more citizens handle their own lawsuits and come to the Law Library for aid. The Board also works with the County government with regard to the Library’s building needs.

Members of the Board of Trustees for 2008
K. Martin White, Esq., (President), Attorney, Carlsbad
The Honorable Julia Kelety (Vice-President - President Elect), Judge, San Diego Superior Court
The Honorable Robert F. O'Neill, (Treasurer & Assistant Secretary), Judge, San Diego Superior Court
Jeffrey D. Cawdrey, Esq., Attorney, San Diego
The Honorable David M. Gill, Judge, San Diego Superior Court
The Honorable Gerald Jessop, Judge, San Diego Famiy Court

Robert Riger, Director of Libraries & Secretary to the Board

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Funding

Civil Filing Fees

The San Diego County Public Law Library is a special district government that is funded almost solely by a portion of the filing fees from the civil court. Unfortunately, the Library has seen its annual budget slowly consumed by inflation and loss of filing fees due to fee waivers from the court.  Since 1992, the Library's income has remained flat while the consumer price index has risen 22% and cost of law books has risen 60% and continues to rise.

The Library’s supporters urge the community to write to local representatives in order to let them know the importance of the Law Library and its services. A complete listing of representatives, along with their addresses, can be obtained by calling the Reference Desk at (619) 685-6552 or by logging onto www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html.

The County Law Library is open to the public in all four of its locations, and a library card is not required for entrance. Many library users use the books at the library without checking them out. In particular, litigants doing their own legal work (in propria persona, or "pro per") may use self-help books in the library without a library card. In fact, book circulation is very low, at about .06 books per visitor, when compared to that at general public libraries, commonly at between 2 to 5 books per visitor. Most books checked out of the libraries are made by attorneys doing in-depth research for difficult cases or cases in an area of law new to their practice.

Nevertheless, in order to obtain more revenues in succeeding years, the Board of Trustees requested that the County Board of Supervisors approve a borrower fee, as allowed under California and Professions Code section 6360, which it did on August 15, 1995. Attorneys and other businessmen pay $45 per card holder per year. Private individuals doing their own legal work pay $10 per year. Library staff refer to this fee as a membership fee (as is done at most other libraries with similar fees) and use the list of borrowers for the Library newsletter and other publicity organs.

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The Law Library Justice Foundation

The Law Library Justice Foundation is a charitable trust affiliated with the San Diego County Public Law Library. The general purpose of the Foundation is to aid in the maintenance of the Law Library and to seek improvements in the administration of justice, particularly in San Diego County. The Foundation is recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization established for scientific and educational purposes by the IRS. Support the Law Library by making a tax deductible donation online. Information about the funds is listed under List of Funds.

Disclaimer

The San Diego County Public Law Library website is purely a public resource of general information which is not intended to be used as a source of legal advice. Neither the transmission of this information nor any email from the Library or its employees constitute the creation of an attorney-client relationship. While the San Diego County Public Law Library strives to make the information contained in this website current and complete, this information is not provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship, should not be relied upon, and is not a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state. The San Diego County Public Law Library and its employees are ethically forbidden from creating an attorney-client relationship with anyone desiring representation based upon viewing this website. Finally, the use of Internet email for confidential or sensitive information is discouraged.

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