Origin and Development of County Law Libraries

By Coral Henning, Sacramento County Public Law Librarian

The origin of county law libraries can be credited to William B. Olds of San Francisco. Olds was an attorney who attempted to found a law library in 1853. The library was essentially a law book collection purchased for $20,000 that was housed in San Francisco’s City Hall. While it would be open for general use, Olds hoped that the San Francisco Bar association members would voluntarily offer financial support for his investment. When he was unable to garner enough support, he offered it to the State of California. In 1856, three years after Olds attempt to establish a law library began, the collection was purchased and delivered to the California State Library.

Almost 10 years later, in 1865, San Francisco bar leadership established the San Francisco County Law Library Association to provide a law library for bar members. In a few years, the library accumulated many volumes, but ultimately found that private funds and membership dues would be insufficient to maintain and update the collection, let alone hire a librarian. This need for financial backing, combined with a growing group of patrons, led to a petition to the Legislature to create a public law library.

In March 1870, the Legislature enacted the San Francisco Law Library Act, which mandated that a fixed share of civil filing fees be allocated to fund a county law library. With this act, California became the first western state to fund a public county law library with a portion of civil filing fees!

In the 1880’s, Los Angeles Assemblyman John R. Mathews decided to introduce a bill that would go beyond legislation affecting only one regional jurisdiction. He proposed a statewide plan that would allow, but not require, the creation of law libraries in every county. They would follow the same financial funding scheme and draw from civil filing fees. The bill became law in March 1891.

Although the creation of a public county law library was at the discretion of the county, within one year of the passage of the bill 25 public county law libraries had been established in California including this one in Sacramento.

The law library portion of the civil filing fee remained $1 from 1891 to June 1947 when the maximum law library portion of the civil filing fee allotted to county law libraries increased from $1 to $2. Within 15 years, fees increased by $1 increments twice, and by 1968 the fees were increased to a maximum of $5. In 1980, the filing fee maximum was set at $12. Ten years later, legislation to raise the maximum fee to $20 was successful. In addition, provisions were established to allow for increases to the maximum fee in $3 increments, beginning in 1995. Today, county law library fees vary from county to county.

The services and users have changed significantly in the lifetime of county law libraries. Originally, although open to the public, law libraries served the judiciary, legal community and members of the bar. Now there is a growing contingent of law library users who are non-attorneys and self-represented litigants. In many counties, county law libraries and their library staff often become the last and only option to obtain legal information for litigants who plan to represent themselves in court as well as for other non-attorneys who need to research various legal issues.

It is important to note that not all of these non-attorney users are self-represented litigants. While some are using the library to prepare for court appearances, a significant number of patrons are utilizing the county law library for other purposes including drafting their own contracts and wills, organizing businesses, managing rental property, patenting an invention, getting a visa, homesteading their home, etc.

Today the challenges facing county law libraries are exacerbated by factors such as our declining revenue source, inflation, and the rising costs of legal publications, subscriptions and online databases. However, the Sacramento County Public Law Library is confident that we will be an asset to the Sacramento legal community for another 100 years!

July / August 2006