Page 17 - Pierce County Lawyer - July August 2025

stewardship of a library, like judging a
person by the color of their skin rather
than their substance. The destruction of
the state’s expert in Anatomy of Murder
is a master class on cross examination of
an expert. In that regard the book is far
superior to the movie.
This new and narrow interpretation of
what a Law Library should contain is
somewhat at odds with the Wikipedia
description of a Law Library;
“A law library is a specialist library used
by law students, lawyers, judges and
their legal assistants, and academics in
order to research the law or its history.
Law libraries can also be used by
others who work in local government
or legislatures to assist with drafting
or advocating for laws, as well as
individuals who are party to a case,
particularly self-represented, or pro se
in the United States, litigants, who do
not have legal representation.”
I am more comfortable with the
description in Wikipedia which considers
Law Library material in a broader scope
than the CDP does. Gideon’s Trumpet
DVD was disposed of as ‘not adding legal
research value’ to the collection. Layer:
a Brief 5,000 Year History was found
to have ‘no legal research information’,
Sonya Sotomayer: My Beloved World
was sent to recycling as ‘having no
practical legal research’, The Gordon,
Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson,
& Daheim: A100-Year-History was
removed for ‘having no practical legal
research’, and many joke books were
removed. I can appreciate the joke books
being removed but, in truth, they did
provide some humor during hours of
research and were also guides as to what
not to do in court.
The removal of all fiction material
resulted in my novels being taken off
the shelves which did not please me,
but I am not going to cry over those
books being removed. I do think a Law
Library that does not allow in legal
history, biographies and autobiographies
is shorting itself and its patrons. Not all
meaningful research comes in the form
of a court option or a statute. These are
some books in my personal library that
aided my practice: Techniques of Crime
Scene Investigation, by Barry A.J. Fisher,
Rules of the Road by Rick Friedman
and Patrick Malone, Flawed Conviction
by Deborah Tuerkheimer, and Forensic
Science from the National Research
Council. Research benefiting a case goes
far beyond reading cases and statutes.
The books by Sue Black, a forensic
anthropologist, should be required
reading for all prosecutors and criminal
defense lawyers who, as lawyers, like to
learn stuff. That is why lawyers often do
well on "Jeopardy."
A Law Library collection that is overly
restrictive short-changes the public of
needed information.
“In recent years, the advent of online
legal research outlets such as FindLaw,
Westlaw, LexisNexis, Bloomberg Law,
and HeinOnline (or in Canada, CanLII)
has reduced the need for some types
of printed volumes like reporters and
statutory compilations. A number of
law libraries have therefore reduced
the availability of printed works that
can easily be found on the Internet,
and have increased their own Internet
availability.” -From Wikipedia
The CDP also delineates what materials
will be acquired and retained. CDP
7.6. Two of the listed items are
the Washington Session Laws and
Washington Legislative materials. These
are both viable on-line for free and, in my
experience, seldom used.
Google Scholar is a handy resource, as is
free legal research provided by the State
Bar.
Many law materials available online
were not when I started my practice in
1986. When I started, the Law Library
was open on Saturdays and Sundays and
often in the evening during the week. As
staffing changed and more people could
do their research elsewhere, the hours of
the library have been reduced more and
more. Now it is only open during the
week and closed from Noon to one. The
stated reason for this is staff shortage.
Each employee is entitled to a morning
and afternoon ten-minute break, and a
half hour at lunch. For Pierce County,
employee’s lunch should be scheduled
between three hours after starting
work and three hours before quitting
time. Why it is we do not have staggered
lunch breaks so that we may have two
B Y J O H N C A I N
employees on at all times? I do not know.
If the staff believes for security that no
less than three should be on duty when
the public is allowed in, I do not know. If
that is so, perhaps security could be put
on alert when only two staff members
are present. What I do know is that the
noon-to-one afternoon time slot has
always been a peak time of library use,
as people meet to discuss their case and
prepare the afternoon docket, or come
from their regular job to do research,
studying or meeting one another.
As more lawyers work from home the
library has become a neutral site for
client conferences. A library is far more
than just its collection. It is a place
where people can make copies and talk
to each other. If people cannot get into
the library, then the number of books on
the shelves do not matter. If you have an
opinion on when the library should be
open and what should be in it, please let
me know.
Statutes and case law are not created in
a vacuum. Autobiographies, biographies
and history books assist us in knowing
how to move the law forward and why.
Manuals on how to prepare cases are
essential, especially for pro se litigants,
which, because of the cost of lawyers, are
becoming even more common. A Law
Library, open to the public and serving
the public, which does not contain such
items is like a dead battery; a lot of weight
but no spark. Since I was a child tagging
along beside my grandmother to the
library, I have known that a library is a
place to go to be inspired. That is what I
want for the Pierce County Law Library.
Note: All statements are the author’s
personal opinion and not the opinion
of the Law Library Board of Trustees or
of the library staff.
John Cain has been in
practice since 1986.
He serves on the
Pierce County Lawyer
Magazine Committee
and is past editor. His
latest John Abel mystery
is “Stumbling Down the
Road of Revenge”.
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