The Rhode Island
State Law Library
FRANK LICHT JUDICIAL COMPLEX
250 BENEFIT STREET
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND 02903
(401) 222-3275 Telephone
(401)
222-3865 Fax
Welcome
to the Rhode Island State
Law Library. The Law Library,
located in the Frank Licht Judicial Complex (the Supreme and Superior Court
building in downtown Providence, Rhode Island), operates under the authority of
Title 29, Chapter 3 of the Rhode Island General Laws.
The Law Library’s primary mission is to service the reference and
research needs of the bench and the bar. As
a publicly funded institution, the Law Library is also open to the public and
dedicated to the public’s right to legal information as a basic tenet of a
free and democratic society. As the
only public comprehensive Law Library located in the state of Rhode Island, the
library attempts to collect, disseminate, and make accessible all primary
sources of American law as well as a large selection of secondary materials.
MORE
ABOUT THE LIBRARY
Rhode
Island State Law Library User Survey 2003
Hours
History of the Library
Library Staff
Access To and Use of the Library
Library Collections
Periodical Holdings
Computer Services
Computer Assisted Legal Research -- Resources
Circulation Policy
On-line Library Catalog
Recent Acquisitions
HOURS
The
State Law Library is open to the public during the following hours:
Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00
p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00
p.m.
July and August
Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:30
p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 12:00
p.m.
HISTORY
OF THE LIBRARY
The Rhode Island State Law Library was organized as a subscription
library in 1827 by several members of the Rhode Island Bar.
Initially housed in the law office of Charles F. Tillinghast, the Law
Library led a somewhat nomadic existence in its early years.
In 1868, the original library association was disbanded and the
collection was turned over to the State of Rhode Island and moved to the Old
State House on Benefit Street. From
1877 to 1933 the Law Library occupied quarters in the old Providence County
Courthouse at the corner of College and Benefit Streets. Today the main library
is located on the eighth floor of the Frank Licht Judicial Complex.
The four county libraries are located in their respective courthouses.
From a mere 50 volumes in 1830, the library now houses over 100,000
volumes as well as an expansive multi media collection, including
microfiche, audio, video cassettes, CD-ROMs and other computer assisted
research tools.
LIBRARY
STAFF
Karen Quinn,
Chief Law Librarian
kquinn@courts.state.ri.us
Colleen McConaghy Hanna, Deputy Law Librarian
channa@courts.state.ri.us
Marcia Lakomski Oakes, Reference Librarian
moakes@courts.state.ri.us
(Garrahy Judicial Complex and county libraries)
Martha Moore, Library Assistant
mmoore@courts.state.ri.us
ACCESS
TO AND USE OF THE LIBRARY
Food
and Beverages
No food or beverages are permitted in the Law Library.
Smoking
Smoking
is prohibited in all courthouses.
Photocopying
/ Printing Services
For the convenience of its patrons, the Law Library contains photocopy
machines. The Law Library charges
$.10 for 8x10 photocopies as well as for microfiche copies and computer
printouts. A machine will make
change for $1.00 and $5.00 bills. Copy
cards in $50.00 denomination (500 copies) are available for purchase at the
circulation desk.
Accessibility
to Individuals with Disabilities
The Law Library is accessible to individuals with disabilities and will
make all reasonable efforts to meet the needs of those with disabilities.
The Law Library is equipped with a TeleSensory Chroma CCD, a CCTV system
(which enlarges text) and a Kurzweil “The Reading Edge” Xerox Imaging System
(which translates text into voice) to accommodate the visually impaired.
Those with hearing impairments may communicate directly with the Law
Library through the TTY/TTD (teletypewriter/telecommunications device for the
deaf) located in the Administrative Office of the Courts (401) 222-3269, through
Relay Rhode Island at 711, or the fax machine at (401) 222-3865.
Those with mobility impairments may request assistance with photocopying
or retrieving information. Additional
auxiliary aids and services may be provided upon request.
In determining what type of auxiliary aid and service is necessary,
primary consideration shall be given to the request of the individual with
disabilities. No fee will be charged
for these services. Further
information can be found at Court
Access for Individuals with Disabilities.
LIBRARY
COLLECTIONS
Periodicals
The periodical room contains the Law Library’s collection of over 300
legal periodicals, including law reviews from the majority of American law
schools. The current issues are
arranged alphabetically along the outside wall. Bound
volumes are shelved alphabetically by title.
Pre 1980 periodicals are located in the stack room.
The Index to Legal Periodicals and Legal-Trac provide subject and title
access to the contents of this collection. For
Law Library periodical holdings, please consult the periodical
holdings list.
Reference
Collection
The Law Library’s Reference Collection contains a number of legal and
non-legal reference sources,
hornbooks, current Rhode Island municipal ordinances, pattern jury instructions,
various building codes, current almanacs and directories, current Rhode
Island slip laws, slip opinions, various newspapers, and other miscellaneous
items. The foregoing volumes are
shelved both behind the Circulation Desk and in the reference section of the
treatise collection.
Treatises
The Law Library maintains a large variety of legal texts and treatises,
ranging from legal encyclopedias and form books to treatises on more specialized
fields of law. Treatises are
arranged according to LC classification scheme.
Many historical and older treatises are housed in the gallery section of
the library. These are arranged
alphabetically by last name of the author.
Government
Documents
In 1979, the Law Library was designated as a depository for United States
government documents. As such, the
Law Library receives many law related items available to depository libraries,
including United States Reports, United States Code, the Code of Federal
Regulations, the Congressional Record, and others.
The government document collection is shelved in the stack room according
to Superintendent of Documents classification scheme.
Loan
Library
The volumes in loan library collection, intended for more leisurely
reading, are arranged by the Library of Congress classification system on the
shelves to the right of the periodical room.
The loan library materials circulate for a period of four weeks.
Special
Collections
The Law Library owns a large collection of old and rare books.
Some of these date back to the 15th and 16th centuries.
Many of these valuable materials are housed in the vault, and can be
accessed by consulting with a staff member.
Video
and Audiocassettes
The Law Library has acquired a large collection of legal related video
and audio cassettes which circulate for a period of five days.
COMPUTER
SERVICES
The Law Library offers a number of research tools available using the
computers that are located in the library. The
computer services are both free and fee-based services.
Westlaw,
Westlaw
for Patrons, LexisNexis,
Shepards,
Matthew Bender Treatises, and
Loislaw
Commercial computer assisted online services containing case law,
statutes, legal periodicals, treatises, and a wide variety of legal and non-legal
databases are accessible in the library.
While you must have a personal subscription along with a password to access
Westlaw and LexisNexis, the other services are free for patrons performing
research in the library. Reference librarians are available to assist in planning a research
strategy as well as implementing searches.
Westlaw for
Patrons -- Provides access to cases, statutes, law reviews/journals, AmJur
2d, Restatements, and American Law Reports (ALR) free of charge.
Shepards
-- Citator service is available free of charge for all Law Library
patrons. Includes full access to
Shepards and includes “Get a Document” feature.
Matthew
Bender Treatises -- Access
via Lexis.com to Matthew Bender treatises covering many topics by table of
contents or query free of charge.
Loislaw -- Complete database available free of charge.
Internet
The Internet is a dynamic ever-growing source of legal information and an
excellent resource for current cases, statutes, and regulations, and an ever
growing historical collection of cases, law reviews, and other materials.
The Law Library has a number of public access Internet terminals.
Some of the Internet sites available through the Law Library computers
are:
BNA Labor and Employment Law Library -- Electronic version of BNA's Labor
Relation Reporter
Hein
On-Line
-- Historical an current legal journals available full text
Index to Legal Periodicals Full-Text -- Index of legal periodicals with nearly
200 select periodicals, as far back as 1994, retrievable in
PDF full-text
LegalTrac
--
Bibliographic index of periodical articles (1980 --)
Social
Law Library --
Massachusetts Administrative Law Library
Index
Master
-- Search the Indices/Tables of Contents of hundreds
of treatises
Municode
-- Ordinance and zoning maps for Rhode
Island
cities and towns.
RIA Checkpoint -- Electronic compilation of RIA's tax treatises, journals,
tax related news, cases, rulings, and more.
CD-ROM
The Law Library has a growing number of legal libraries available on
CD-ROM. CD-ROM materials are updated
on a regular basis and there is no charge for their use.
For a current list of CD-ROM materials as well as other computer
accessible programs currently available, consult computer
assisted legal research.
CIRCULATION
POLICY
The Law Library is not a typical lending library.
Library policy, however, does allow for limited borrowing privileges in
accordance with its role as a research library.
The Law Library's primary aim is to serve the needs of the courts which
have first claim on its resources and services.
Secondly, the Law Library aims to meet the reference needs of the
practicing bar. In
conformity with the majority of the country's appellate court libraries, the Law
Library does not circulate primary source material.
Materials which do not circulate include:
Statutes
-- Reporters (National
Reporter System)
Digests
-- City an town
ordinances
Citators
-- Loose-leaf
Services
Superior
Court Rescripts
-- Supreme Court
Briefs
Regulations
Materials that circulate may be checked out for a period of five days to
any practicing attorney/law firm registered with the Law Library.
Lay persons who have an active case before the courts may also obtain
borrowing privileges during the pendency of their proceedings.
Loan collection books circulate for a period of three weeks.
Below are listed materials that circulate for a period of five days
subject to recall for court use.
Am Jur, Am Jur Trials, Am Jur Proof of Facts
Annotated Laws of Massachusetts
Government Documents
Law Reviews and other periodicals (bound volumes)
Legal Treatises
Official State Reports
United States Code Service
United States Reports (Lawyers' Edition)
Audio and video cassettes
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