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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librarian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Library_of_Congress

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_Law_Libraries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_Irish_Association_of_Law_Librarians

http://iall.org/

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A law library is a special library used by law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, historians and other scholars of legal history in order to research the law. Law libraries are also used by people who draft or advocate for new laws, e.g. legislators and others who work in state government, local government, and legislative counsel offices or the U.S. Office of Law Revision Counsel and lobbying professionals. Self-represented litigants also know as pro se litigants (parties to a civil lawsuit or criminal defendants who do not have a licensed attorney representing them) will also use law libraries.

A law library may contain print, computer assisted legal research, and microform collections of laws in force, session laws, superseded laws, foreign and international law, and other research resources, e.g. continuing legal education resources and legal encyclopedias (e.g. Corpus Juris Secundum among others), legal treatises, and legal history. A law library may also have law librarians who help legal researchers navigate law library collections and who teach legal research.

Law libraries in the United States are usually classified as a type of special library because of their focus on providing specialized resources, as well as their specialized and limited user base.

Most law schools around the world have a law library, or in some universities, at least a section of the university library devoted to law. In the United States, law school libraries may be subject to accreditation review by the American Bar Association Standards of Legal Education.

Law libraries may be found in courts, legislatures (e.g. the Law Library of Congress), prison libraries, government departments, private law firms, and barristers chambers.

Public law libraries[edit | edit source]

Public law libraries are funded by the public, through taxes or court filing legal fees. Public law libraries are usually open to the public, without additional charge. Some are "public" only in funding and are not open to the public. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court Library is funded by taxpayers through the United States federal budget, but it cannot be used by anyone not employed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Alternatively, some private or membership law libraries will serve the public, with conditions, e.g. Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia and the Social Law Library in Boston. Private university law school libraries, not otherwise open to the public, will also provide some legal research services to the public.

The Cornell University Legal Information Institute is an example of a private university law school that provides free legal information to the public.

Many U.S state and local courthouses also have a public law library. Some public law library collections may be housed in public libraries and academic libraries. The United States Supreme Court Building houses one of the most extensive publicly-funded law libraries in the world, rivaled by the Law Library of Congress.^{[citation needed]} New York and California by statute require all counties to maintain a public law library. While New York public law libraries have remained relatively small, the LA Law Library in Los Angeles County is currently second in size behind the Law Library of Congress among U.S. public law libraries, with a collection at just under 1 million volumes.

Some state and federal agencies maintain law libraries focusing on their regulatory areas. One prominent example is the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which runs a National Library Network providing access to specialized material to agency researchers and the general public.

Many public law librarians are members of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and specifically belong to the Government Law Libraries special interest section.

MORE: under private law libraries - and maybe add a Membership and Subscription Law Libraries section

Some law firms and corporate legal departments maintain in-house libraries, the size and content of which vary depending on the practice area and needs of the organization. These libraries would rarely, if ever, be available to individuals outside the organization, although in some locales law firm librarians have informal lending agreements between firms.

Law firm libraries can range from small print collections in a law firm conference, side room, or hallway to large, multi-level dedicated law libraries with print and electronic resources. Professional librarian and support staff members provide a variety of services from interlibrary loan to in-depth business and legal research. Some law firm library employees also provide the law firm with related services such as knowledge-base management, conflicts reviews, continuing legal education program management, and investigative services.

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The family of private law libraries also includes membership and subscription law libraries although both may be found in public and private law libraries. Some are nonprofit entities that are funded by membership fees, subscription dues, grants, endowments, donations, etc. Other membership law libraries co-exist in public law libraries and can also receive government funding, e.g. from court filing fee revenues or a direct appropriation from a governing body, e.g. a county or a state. 

Two examples of hybrid public/private law libraries are the Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia, PA, and the Social Law Library in Boston, MA. They receive private member and government funding and serve members and the public.

One example of a privately funded law library is the Library of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (1870).

Ask law-lib about whether or not the New York County Lawyers' Association Law Library is public, private, or hybrid. https://www.nycla.org/

http://www.nycbar.org/library/overview-hours

New York County Lawyers' Association Law Library