June 29, 2005                                                            Contact: Laura Kiernan
                                                                                                 Communications Director
                                                                                                 603-271-2646 ext 359

NEWS ADVISORY
   

Law Library Catalog Now Available Online

CONCORD---  An online catalog for the New Hampshire Law Library is now available at http://nhll.ipac.dynixasp.com, for the first time providing the public with electronic access to a listing of the library’s legal treatises, journals, case reports and state statutes.

              “The on-line catalog is a key into the many legal resources of the library,”  Law Librarian Mary Searles said. On-line searches for available resources can be conducted by typing in key words for authors, titles, or subjects. Listings provide the title, author and “call” number used to find the item in the law library, which is located in the Supreme Court building at 1 Noble Drive in Concord.

           “Other libraries around the country with on-line resources will now be linking to our catalog which will highlight for users outside our state the resources available in the New Hampshire Law Library,” Searles said. She added the new on-line catalog will be “a great benefit to the public, attorneys and other state agencies, as well. ”

           Searles says she hopes the higher visibility of the library’s resources through the on-line catalog  will result in increased usage of the library by the legal community, students and members of the public.

           Most of the work of converting the libraries paper card catalog to electronic form was completed by Christine Swan, who was the law librarian from 1993 to 2004 and Kathy Fletcher, now the cataloger at the Pierce Law Center library in Concord.

           In 1716, a collection of law books belonging to the provincial government formed the first state library collection. After the State House was built in 1816, a room was set aside for the library. For a time, the Secretary of State also served as the State Librarian. In 1895, a separate building was constructed to house the State Library and the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

          In 1943, the State Library separated out its legal materials and created a Law Division of the State Library. It served as the Law Library for many years. In 1970, the current Supreme Court building was constructed, and the Law Division of the State Library moved, along with the New Hampshire Supreme Court, to the Supreme Court building.

          In 1994, the legislature transferred administration of the Law Division of the State Library to the Judicial Branch, under the Supreme Court, thereby creating the New Hampshire Law Library. 

           The Law Library contains 94,000 volumes of legal materials.  These materials include current and superceded New Hampshire laws, NH session laws, and NH court decisions, as well as other related legal resources for New Hampshire. In addition, it contains New Hampshire laws, court decisions, court rules and other related legal resources for New Hampshire. It is the only public law library in the state.

           For more information about the New Hampshire Law Library, visit the Judicial Branch website at (http://www.courts.state.nh.us/lawlibrary/)