Wisconsin State Law Library

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April 25, 2011

Book Sale: Monday, May 2

Come support free access to legal information at the Dane County Legal Resource Center's (DCLRC) book sale on Monday, May 2. The book sale will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the lower-level cafe of the Dane County Courthouse.

The Dane County Bar Association and DCRLC are coordinating this book sale as part of Dane County's law day celebration. The book sale aims to raise enough money for another year's subscription to Shepard's to which the library currently subscribes and provides for free in the library. Shepard's is an important online legal research tool used to retrieve full text state and federal court opinions, verify that a case is still good law, and find additional relevant cases - all crucial steps in the caselaw research process but a service in jeopardy of being cut due to shrinking budgets.

The sale features gently used recreational books, including contemporary fiction and non-fiction, true crime, mystery, cookbooks, memoirs, travel guides, and more. Stop by and browse for "new-to-you" books just in time for summer, and invite your friends to join you! Paperbacks will sell for $1, hardcovers for $2, and there will be a 2-for-1 table.

All proceeds will be put towards next year's subscription to Shepard's online.

April 24, 2011

Celebrating Law Day

Walk-in legal clinics will be offered at four Milwaukee public libraries on Saturday, April 30, 2011. These clinics are hosted by the Milwaukee Bar Association and the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association. See their Law Day 2011 flyer for more information.

As part of the 2011 Law Day celebration, the Dane County Bar Association and the Dane County Legal Resource Center (DCLRC) are coordinating a book drive in order to have a book sale. The sale aims to raise enough money for another year's subscription to Shepard's, to which the library currently subscribes and offers for free in the library. Donated books are accepted at the DCLRC until Friday, April 29th. The book sale is open to all shoppers on Monday, May 2 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m in the cafeteria of the Dane County Courthouse. Please come and support free access to legal information!

To celebrate Law Day, the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the State Bar of Wisconsin focuses on outreach to schools. The American Bar Association (ABA) has developed an educational theme, The Legacy of John Adams: From Boston to Guantanamo, for use in the classroom and in the community. To learn more about celebrating law day in schools, see the YLD Law Day 2011 page.

April 21, 2011

Celebrating Our 175th Anniversary: Video

If you missed our anniversary celebration on Wednesday, April 20, you can now watch videos of it online. 

Birthday cake was served, and Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson read a proclamation by Governor Scott Walker recognizing the library's 175 years of continuous service. During Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson's remarks she noted that "with all the change in location and in everything else relating to libraries, the motto and mission of this library has remained the same: service."

Watch or listen to the event at WisconsinEye: Wisconsin Law Library: 175 Years of Service

NBC15 aired an excellent story on the event on April 20th. You can watch it online: NBC15: Oldest Library

We would like to thank everyone who shared the news and helped us celebrate our 175th anniversary.

April 20, 2011

Wisconsin State Law Library Day

Governor Scott Walker issued a proclamation recognizing the library's 175 years of continuous service. April 20, 2011 has been proclaimed as Wisconsin State Law Library Day throughout the State of Wisconsin.

On April 20, 1836 then President Andrew Jackson signed an Act of Congress creating the Territory of Wisconsin, which included all of present day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and parts of North and South Dakota. The final provision in the act appropriated funds for the purchase of law books to support the new territorial government, and so the Wisconsin State Library, as it was first called, was established.

The initial collection consisted of congressional documents and debates and "books of a miscellaneous nature" acquired in Washington and Philadelphia. Its first home was a rented room in Burlington, Iowa. After its first legislative session in Belmont, Wisconsin, the territorial government moved to Burlington to await construction of a capitol building in the newly platted "Town of Madison," the site they chose for the permanent capital. The library moved into the new building at Madison in 1841 and resided there - and in each subsequent capitol building - until 1999, when it once again operated out of temporary quarters during the construction of its current home in the Risser Justice Center, completed in 2002.

"We are very proud and excited to celebrate this special milestone," said Jane Colwin, State Law Librarian.

To celebrate our history we have compiled historical information, photos, and articles in a special section of our website, Celebrating 175 Years of Service: 1836-2011.

April 19, 2011

Oldest Library in WI Celebrates 175 Years of Service

April 20 marks the 175th "birthday" of the Wisconsin State Law Library, the oldest library in the state. Library staff and volunteers have been busily researching their old library catalogs, reading articles about the library's history written by former staff, poring over newspaper clippings at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and sifting through materials in the Wisconsin Historical Society archives in order to compile a more complete history of the library.

On April 20, 1836 then President Andrew Jackson signed an Act of Congress creating the Territory of Wisconsin, which included all of present day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and parts of North and South Dakota. The final provision in the act appropriated funds for the purchase of law books to support the new territorial government, and so the Wisconsin State Library, as it was first called, was established.

The initial collection consisted of congressional documents and debates and "books of a miscellaneous nature" acquired in Washington and Philadelphia. Its first home was a rented room in Burlington, Iowa. After its first legislative session in Belmont, Wisconsin, the territorial government moved to Burlington to await construction of a capitol building in the newly platted "Town of Madison," the site they chose for the permanent capital. The library moved into the new building at Madison in 1841 and resided there - and in each subsequent capitol building - until 1999, when it once again operated out of temporary quarters during the construction of its current home in the Risser Justice Center, completed in 2002. More historical highlights are in the interactive timeline the staff has developed on the library's 175th anniversary web page.

Their research has also brought the staff closer to identifying books in the collection that were probably among the first ones acquired back in 1836. "We haven’t been able to locate a list of the books purchased with the $5,000 appropriated by the U.S. Congress as part of the organic act establishing the Territory of Wisconsin," explained Colwin. "But we do have a catalog dated December 1840, and research by one of our volunteers has indicated that most of the books in that catalog were very likely part of the original collection." After some research of her own in the library's rare book room, Colwin agrees. "I found books on this list with 'Wisconsin Library' stamped on the leather bindings and hand-written accession numbers on the inside flyleaves."

Today the Wisconsin State Law Library contains approximately 135,000 volumes and is located in the Risser Justice Center, 120 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd in downtown Madison. The collection includes Wisconsin and federal statutes, regulations and court opinions, laws of other states, practice guides, legal treatises and journals aimed at the practicing attorney, and public computers with databases providing access to both current and historical legal research materials. The library's web site http://wilawlibrary.gov links visitors to free sources of Wisconsin and federal law, as well as information from legal and government information web sites that library staff has reviewed and categorized into over 400 different topics. The staff answers reference questions (but does not give legal advice), fills requests for copies of library materials, selects, orders and processes library materials, maintains the library's web site, and develops, teaches and presents a wide variety of legal research classes and programs for judges, attorneys, librarians, and the public. The State Law Library also manages the legal resource centers located in the Milwaukee and Dane County courthouses.

April 15, 2011

WSLL Recommends: WI Public Records & Open Meetings Handbook

A good "one stop" source of practical information on public records or open meetings law is the Wisconsin Public Records and Open Meetings Handbook, by Melanie R. Swank (4th edition published by State Bar of Wisconsin, 2009). While previous editions of this title were published as paperbacks, this one is in the State Bar's familiar "brown binder" looseleaf format.

The author is an attorney with the Milwaukee City Attorney's office, where she handles all city and school public records and open meetings issues. The Handbook, produced in cooperation with the State Bar's Government Lawyers Division, thoroughly explores Wisconsin's laws on public records and open meetings.
  • Part One discusses the practical applications of Wisconsin's public records law and offers guidance on requesting records, responding to records requests, and applicable time limits. The 4th addition contains a new chapter on the federal Freedom of Information Act. 
  • Part Two takes a practical look at the open meetings law, discussing notice requirements, when a meeting may be closed to the public, and enforcement. 
  • Appendices include full reprints of the state public records and open meetings laws, sample requests and responses to requests for public records, sample open meetings notices, synopses of key public records and open meetings cases, an annotated list of statutory exceptions to public records or open meetings laws, a sample verified open meetings law complaint, and a private practice attorney's advice on using email in the business environment.

April 14, 2011

Book Sale to Support the Dane Co Legal Resource Center

As part of the Law Day celebration in May 2011, the Dane County Bar Association and DCLRC will hold a book sale to try to raise enough money for another year's subscription to Shepard's. Shepard's is an important online legal research tool used to retrieve full text state and federal court opinions, verify that a case is still good law, and find additional relevant cases – all crucial steps in the caselaw research process but a service in jeopardy of being cut due to shrinking budgets.

The first way you can help is by donating your gently used, no-longer-wanted recreational books to our "Fill the Shelves for Shepard's" campaign. Popular genres include contemporary fiction, non-fiction, true crime and mystery but all donations are appreciated. Ask your friends and neighbors to donate, too.

Materials will be accepted through May 2 at the DCLRC, Room L1007 in the Dane County Courthouse.

On May 2, all donated materials will go on sale on Lower Level 1 of the Courthouse from 9 am-3 pm. And that's the second way you can help - invite your friends to join you and buy lots of "new-to-you" books, just in time for summer! Paperbacks will sell for $1.00, hardcovers for $2.00 and there will be a 2-for-1 table. All proceeds will be put toward next year's subscription to Shepard's online at the DCLRC. Any leftover books will be donated to the Juvenile Detention Center, Dane County Jails, or the Legal Resource Center's ongoing pro se book sale.

April 10, 2011

WSLL at Your Service Wins Award

If you have not yet seen it in our April newsletter, we are very proud and excited to announce that our newsletter, WSLL @ Your Service, has recently won an award. The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) selected our newsletter as the winner of this year's AALL Excellence in Marketing Award for Best Use of Technology. The award will be presented officially during the AALL annual meeting in Philadelphia July 23-26.

In their announcement, the AALL Public Relations Committee said, "WSLL @ Your Service … is well organized and user friendly. The selection committee was very impressed by the synchronization of the elements of the newsletter with the webpage. It is a great example of a relatively low cost effort with a very positive response."

You can read our current newsletter, as well as the online archives dating back to 2001 from our newsletter page.

If you like the training material we include in our newsletter, we have recently listed out each electronic research and Tech Tip article on our Tutorials page.

Finally, you can follow our new monthly column WSLL Recommends in our newsletter or through Library Highlights: WSLL Recommends.

April 6, 2011

WSLL at Your Service: April 2011

The April issue of WSLL @ Your Service has been published.

In this issue:

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