by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
It’s tucked into a small section of the County Courthouse.
It’s funding has been cut nearly in half over the past several years.
It’s survived the introduction of the Internet.
And, it’s still attracting 200-plus attorneys, judges, law school students and the general public on a daily basis.
The law library in the County Courthouse is run by Director Bud Maurer, Assistant Director Joan Blaylock and Assistant Director of Technology Grace VanHousen. That’s it.
However, those three help provide the legal community and the general public with virtually every bit of legal information that’s in print and on-line. Within just feet of several Internet-accessible computers are hundreds of volumes of Florida (and other states, as well) law that date back decades. The oldest book in the library is the Florida laws from 1847.
“What has occurred, is we have seen a shift in the way people have been using our services,” said Maurer, who has been with the court system since 1997 and the director of the library since 2000. He’s also a 2002 graduate of Florida Coastal School of Law. “There’s the Internet and the big firms have their own law libraries. But, we have started catering to the sole practitioner or those with just a couple of attorneys in the firm.”
In addition to the rows of volumes of Florida law books and other legal resources, which include at least one volume of the laws of the other 49 states, the law library offers access to Westlaw and Lexis, two popular — but not free on a private basis — Internet legal research engines. While many of the larger firms may pay for their attorneys to have access to these sites, at $200 to $300 a month, it’s too expensive for sole practitioners, small firms and members of the public who may want to research case law.
Todd Sager is a 2001 Coastal Law graduate who recently joined the law of Kohl & Smith. His office is in Julington Creek, but Friday Sager had business at the State Attorney’s Office and used the trip Downtown as an excuse to access Westlaw through the law library.
“It’s an expensive service, but here it’s free,” said Sager, who also uses Lexis, but prefers Westlaw. “You can pay to make copies here, but e-mail the pages I want back to my office. This is my first time since joining the firm, but I used to come in about every two weeks. It’s very resourceful and it has everything you need.”
A long time librarian, Blaylock said she appreciates the convenience of the Internet. However, she notices that attorneys and even a few judges still like to come in, select a few resources and get to work.
“As for research, people still like print,” she said. “It’s easier to lay out five books and get the big picture. You can’t do that on a computer screen. You can only look at one screen at a time. Print is still very convenient and it’s a desired form of research.”
Maurer agreed.
“The older attorney still wants a book in his hand, it’s more comfortable,” he said.
“The young attorneys were raised on the Internet, but they still come in here to do research,” said Blaylock.
Funding for the library, not surprisingly, is an issue. For several years, exactly who was responsible for funding the library was debated. Maurer said the City believed the library was a function of the courts, and therefore should be funded by the State. The State contended that since the Duval County Law Library was one of 17 in the state’s 67 counties, it was a county function, therefore a local funding issue.
That issue has been settled and the library is now funded through a combination of filing fees and penalties paid by those convicted of crimes. However, the law library budget has been clipped by about $20,000 a year for the past two years and now stands at about $300,000 a year.
“When my budget was $600,000, my budget for books was $300,000 alone,” said Maurer.
In addition to presenting what Blaylock calls a traditional library environment, the law library also offers CLE classes and a DVD on small claims court that can both be rented for just a $20 deposit.
Attorneys and judges aren’t the only patrons. Maurer and Blaylock said a large percentage of their users are members of the general public who research everything from divorce to foreclosure.
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