Wisconsin State Law Library

Do you need an attractive room in downtown Madison for a meeting, presentation, or event? Check out the rooms available for rent at the Wisconsin State Law Library.

Individual user workrooms are freely available on a daily basis, however they may also be rented for extended use. Browse photos of the user workrooms and try one out during your next visit.

The gorgeous Rare Book Room is freely available daily for quiet study, but is also available for rental and can accommodate up to 32 occupants at its tables. A full list of features is available on our Room Rental page.

The library's computer training room offers an intimate hands-on environment for those in need of a place to hold training seminars. See our Room Rental page for information on features and capacity.

Finally, the library offers a conference room for rental. The conference room seats 6-8 occupants at one round table.

It's easy to reserve a room. Our online room rental and reservation form will walk you through the reservation steps – or you can contact Tammy Keller for more information. Internet and electrical outlets are available in each room. More features, photos, and policies are available from our Room Rental page.

The March issue of the library newsletter, WSLL @ Your Service, has been published.

Highlights include:

• What's New: Upcoming class; 
• 1836-2011: Celebrating Our History: "I Remember When..." - Collecting State Law Library memories; 
• This Just In...: New and updated library materials; 
• Tech Tip in Brief: Scratched DVDs - fix or toss? 
• WSLL Recommends...: Commercial Real Estate Transactions in Wisconsin; 
• Odds 'n' Endings: Notables for March

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Wisconsin State Law Library. The following is reprinted from our February newsletter. 

107 years ago this month, in the early hours of February 27, 1904, a freshly varnished ceiling in the Wisconsin State Capitol building's Assembly Post Office was found ablaze by a night watchman. Even though the Capitol building had "one of the most advanced firefighting systems of the day," the fire would spread during the ensuing hours due in part to the Capitol's water reservoirs on the roof of the university's Main Hall having been drained for cleaning that evening – unbeknownst to anyone at the Capitol.

At that time, the State Law Library was located on the second floor of the Capitol's north wing. Thick smoked filled the building, making the stairways impassable. Students from the nearby University of Wisconsin raised ladders to the windows of the library and, once inside, began throwing books haphazardly out the windows to the snow banks below. Upon seeing this, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice R. D. Marshall organized the salvage brigade into lines to pass the books hand-to-hand to nearby stores and wagons.

By the following day the fire had been extinguished, and the Library's books were eventually returned to their shelves. According to a later account of the fire, only about 100 volumes were lost in the blaze. Still in our collection, a sample of the surviving volumes is pictured in this post.

To learn more about the Wisconsin State Capitol fire of 1904, read Capitals and Capitols in Early Wisconsin.

Sources:

• "'Save the books,' was the Cry - The Day State Capitol Burned," Wisconsin State Journal, Dec. 20, 1972.
• "Capitals and Capitols in Early Wisconsin," by Stanley H. Cravens. Feature article in Wisconsin Blue Book, 1983-1984 edition, pages 48, 50.
• "State Library Will Be 100 Years Old this April," The Milwaukee Journal, Sunday Jan. 19th, 1936.

The new State Bar title Commercial Real Estate Transactions in Wisconsin made its debut in our collection last month. This publication provides the perspectives of both the buyer and the seller and guides you from the beginning of a commercial real estate transaction through the closing. It features:

• Variety of sample contracts: residential, farm, vacant land, condominium, commercial, business
• Sample offers to purchase: commercial & vacant land
• Sample rider
• Property survey standards: WI minimum & ALTA (American Land Title Association)
• Environmental site assessment
• Financing considerations
• Insurance issues
• Leasing information
• Tax strategies
• Closing checklist & statement

The companion CD-ROM contains fillable sample forms & contracts. Visit the Wisconsin State Law Library today to review this new title. The State Law Library, the Dane County Legal Resource Center, and the Milwaukee Legal Recourse Center all provide on-site electronic access to this title through Books Unbound on our patron computer network.

Image credit: State Bar of Wisconsin