Legal Travels #1: Over the River...

On Dec. 11, I visited the San Diego County Public Law Library (main branch) in downtown San Diego. California has an interesting system of county law libraries throughout the state. Some are huge, multi-branched systems with numerous opportunities for public training in legal research, while others are small, one-room holes in the wall, circulating materials only to attorneys and judges. San Diego is on the larger end, with three branches, classes in legal research, and floors and floors of materials. The thing that impresses me most about other states' county law library systems is that certain states have placed importance on public access to and assistance with legal resources. States and counties have made access and assistance a priority through legislation or court rules that mandate the existence and funding (however small) of public law libraries. Similar measures in Wisconsin have failed in the past. For more information about the San Diego County Public Library, see http://www.sdcpll.org/ and for more information about the system of County Law Libraries in California, see http://www.publiclawlibrary.org/.