Law Libraries

The legal field in the United States, as in every country with a healthy and functioning legal culture, is built on the experience and perspective provided by past legal cases, decisions and careers. Access to the legal history of the past is a key component of the institutions that provide training to hopeful legal professionals. Law libraries are a necessary and required aspect of American law schools which are regulated with regard to certain levels of information, both in quality and volume, being available for the use of law students. The guidance that can garnered from a study of the past history of legal processes that is made available through a law library is not restricted in practice simply to legal professionals, but also to practicing legal institutions, particularly courthouses. Making the best use of law libraries is an essential aspect of the educational process for law students and in deciding which law school to attend, prospective legal professionals are advised by experts in the field to pay close attention of the law library provided by an institution.

The requirements that exist in the United States for regulating the minimum quality and size of law libraries operated by specific law schools are formulated and regulated by the American Bar Association in order to ensure that this essential service is available to law students. Though ordinary libraries made available to the public or organized out of colleges or universities may have sufficient legal text holdings for the purpose of general citizens or researchers, it is common for a well equipped law library to have a number of texts in its collection that will not be found in the possession of more general institutions. Such documents are expected by law students and law school professors to be available for their use will generally include “The West American Digest System,” a complete compilation of “United States Reports,” “The Federal Register,” statutes and regulations currently held and enforced by local governments and the federal branch, and volumes of “American Jurisprudence.”

One of the most extensive law libraries in the world can be found in the building that houses the United States Supreme Court. At least within the United States, one of the few law libraries that can be located of a comparable size and extensive collection of materials is the Law Library of Congress. Though every American law school, as is required by regulations, offers a law library, but in practice the physical location of law libraries can vary widely from, from collections which are maintained in the general library of the larger educational infrastructure of a law school to separate law libraries kept in the law school’s own building or in entirely separate buildings. Though no such requirement for the maintenance of a law library exists for courthouses as it does for law schools, it is common for courthouses to maintain their own collection of legal documents. Less commonly, various U.S. states will require counties to maintain a law library accessible to the public.