In November, 1999, Duquesne University Center for Legal Information (DCLI) and the Allegheny County government located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered into a contract for the DCLI to manage the operations of the Allegheny County Law Library (ACLL). This partnership between a private academic law library and a public county law library is the only operation of its kind in the nation.1 The partnership has proven to be a success and a second five-year contract was implemented on June 1, 2004. This article is intended to share with the law library community the background, the operations, and the benefits to both libraries and the legal community of the greater Pittsburgh area from this unique partnership.
ACLL was founded in 1867. It is one of the oldest and largest county law libraries in the United States. ACLL is located on the 9th floor of the landmark City-County building built in 1911. The mayor’s office is located on the 5th floor. The library has approximately 200,000 volumes, with an extensive rare book collection and one of the most comprehensive Pennsylvania records and briefs and legislative journal collections in the country.
Duquesne University, a Catholic university, was founded in 1878 by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost Order. Presently, the University has eleven schools and a total of over 10,000 students and 422 faculty members. The law school was established in 1911. It has both a day and an evening division with over 600 students and twenty-seven faculty members. DCLI has over 281,000 volumes housed in a newly renovated facility of about 45,000 square feet. DCLI has an extensive Pennsylvania law collection and maintains the most comprehensive web site on researching Pennsylvania law.
DCLI is located at the Duquesne University campus on Locust Street which is three blocks and a ten-minute walk from ACLL. The close proximity of the two libraries is a key factor for the success of the partnership.
ACLL was a division of the Court of Common Pleas since the mid-1970s. Under the courts, the library reported first to a law library board, and since 1984, the head librarian reported to the court administrator. In 1996, the Republican Party won the majority of Commissioners Office (2 to 1) on a platform of decreasing taxes. On the first day in office, the Commissioners cut property taxes 20% without knowing exactly how revenues would offset the decrease. During the first year, several row offices had trouble with the commissioners, including the court, and began a law suit against the commissioners that was resolved in the favor of the courts. At the end of 1996, however, the court administration, determined not to fight in the courts again, made a deal for the 1997 budget that included cutting the law library from the court’s budget and transferring it to the commissioners’ budget under the jurisdiction of the Law Department.
The commissioners cut the 1997 law library’s budget by three quarters, from $800,000 down to $206,000. An outcry from the judges and bar association quickly led to a deal in which filing fees would be increased to increase revenue to approximately $300,000. However, the initial estimate was too high, and only $200,000 was collected to offset part of the county’s funding. An outside consultant was also hired to study the library. The consultant’s study requested more than a million dollars to fix up the library and improve its collections. His report was presented in February 1998.
For eight months, there was no response. Finally, in December 1998, the County Solicitor announced to the bar and to the library staff that Duquesne University Law Library was taking over the library. During the year he had approached both the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Law School, but neither felt it was in their interest to make some arrangement with the library.
Initially, the judges of the court and the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA) expressed opposition to the arrangement. However, after DCLI presented its detailed plan which would maintain ACLL in its current location and its collection and services as a separate entity, the bench and ACBA gave their strong stamp of approval. The county commissioners approved the plan in March 1999 to a five-year contract from June 1999 to May 2004 for DCLI to manage the library starting November 8, 1999. The contract was renewed on November 4, 2003, for another five years from June 2004 to May 2008.
During the first year under new management, the staff members of the two libraries were involved in a complete refurbishment of the ACLL facility. Under county administration, the library barely got light bulbs replaced much less had any major maintenance work. Under the new DCLI administration, the library’s beautiful large main reading room, with its magnificently designed high ceiling, was restored by refinishing the walnut tables, cleaning the brass lights, painting the walls, and carpeting the floor. The old six-foot long card catalog was removed and replaced with a six-carrel computer station. A new reference desk was also installed. All the book stacks were removed from the balcony of the reading room, and a tastefully furnished lounge area was created for the public’s popular reading pleasure. In 2001, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation awarded Professor Frank Y. Liu, DCLI Director, with a certificate of merit for his work restoring the library’s main reading room.
Other rooms in the library were also carpeted and painted. Part of the treatise collection that lined two walls of a long, cramped hallway was relocated to the regular stack area; the old acquisitions room was renovated into a computer training lab. Another large room formerly used by the secretary was painted and carpeted. The rare book collection was transferred to this room and placed on the bookshelves that line the perimeter of the room. A new large conference table and chairs were furnished for creating a conference room that can be used by staff or rented out. The former small room of the rare book collection became the reference librarian’s office. Finally, in 2003, after persistent and methodical public relations work, the DCLI management persuaded the Allegheny County Public Services Department to install air conditioning in the library with county funds, a $200,000 investment. The ACLL facility was the last facility in the entire City-County building to be air conditioned.
Now, ACLL is a clean, attractive, comfortable, well-equipped and organized modern public legal information center enjoyed by the Pittsburgh legal community and general public. Compliments and accolades from patrons on the success of the renovation are still frequently heard.
The management of the two libraries is under the direction of the Director of DCLI, Professor Frank Y. Liu. All personnel of ACLL report to DCLI and are employees of Duquesne University and members of the DCLI staff. Fortunately, no staff members lost their positions as a result of the new management agreement. By November, 1999, only the head law librarian Dr. Joel Fishman and reference librarian Paul Recht, Esq. remained on staff. Other full time staff had left ACLL over the previous two years, some of whom had taken positions with DCLI; and the final two clerical staff members were transferred to other county jobs to maintain their seniority status. Dr. Fishman became the Assistant Director of Lawyer Services of DCLI, and Mr. Recht retained his title as Reference Librarian. Three part-time workers were added to assist in the daily work in the library.
In all matters relating to ACLL, the DCLI Director reports to the Dean of the Duquesne Law School. However, he maintains a close working relationship with the county’s Law Department Administrator who is in charge of the enforcement of the management agreement. Based on the contract terms, the Director is required to submit a management report to the Administrator every six months. The Administrator has no direct administrative authority over the Director. However, the incumbent Administrator, Robert Reith, Esq., was instrumental in developing this partnership. He is a strong supporter for the day-to-day operations of this management arrangement. It is fair to say that without his support, this partnership might not have worked out as well as it has.
The Director heads a management team which is composed of all the librarians and technical professionals of the two libraries. The management team meets once a month to determine the major professional and operational policies for both libraries.
The annual ACLL operating budget comes from three sources: the annual management funds paid to the DCLI by the Allegheny County government, a specific allocation of the filing fees from civil law suits of the Common Pleas Courts of the county, and funds generated by the ACLL, including the annual borrowers’ fees paid by law firms, individual lawyers, and members of the public; copying and document delivery charges; rental of the computer lab and conference room; and income from the continuing legal education programs.
With the exception of the filing fees, all funds are payable to DCLI and are deposited in special accounts created by the Duquesne University Controller and managed by the DCLI staff. The filing fees are exclusively used for the acquisition of library materials. As the filing fees account is controlled by the county, a set amount of vendor invoices are sent to the county’s accounting office each month to be paid with these funds.
Under the DCLI management, the salaries of the ACLL librarians and their benefits in travel and professional development were significantly increased. DCLI staff members also received additional salary incentives for the extra work performed for ACLL.
Acquisitions, checking-in and processing print and electronic library materials are centrally handled by the DCLI. ACLL materials remain the property of the county and bear its property stamps where appropriate. The processed print materials are delivered to ACLL through a daily courier service.
The standards for collection development for DCLI are based on American Bar Association and Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Law School Library Standards, and those for ACLL are based on the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) County Law Library Standards. Each library has its own collection development plan. Cost sharing measures were undertaken to maximize the use of the library material budgets for both libraries. For example, ACLL no longer maintains a periodical collection except for Pennsylvania law reviews, and it keeps only a small state collection of surrounding states, plus California and Florida. Patrons needing printed state statutes are dependent on the DCLI collection. For treatises, the two libraries share the costs of multi-volume treatises with each library keeping at least one major set, e.g. Couch on Insurance at ACLL and Appleman on Insurance at DCLI. On an on-going basis, the librarians examine both collections topically to identify areas of shared acquisition responsibilities.
ACLL continues to be a Federal Depository library separate from DCLI, but the documents are routed to and processed through DCLI.
Under the new management, ACLL has increased significantly the number of electronic resources for its patrons. At the present time, patrons have free on-site access to Shepard’s Citations, West’s KeyCite, LegalTrac, HeinOnline, and Loislaw. Library card holding patrons also have access to Lexis and Westlaw (federal and state primary sources).
Fortunately, both ACLL and DCLI had online cataloging systems from Innovative Interfaces (III); it was relatively easy to merge the two systems. The system has since been upgraded to III’s Millennium product. Patrons can view both collections through an integrated public catalog, called SOLCAT (School of Law Catalog), at http://library.law.duq.edu. All patrons can search the catalog to see the holdings of both libraries simultaneously or, through the use of scopes, limit their searching to just one library.
All new titles are cataloged and classified at the DCLI. One of the major savings for both libraries is sharing the costs for maintaining and upgrading the Millennium on-line system. The libraries are also able to share selective OCLC charges for cataloging and authority control. However, the libraries retained separate OCLC holdings symbols.
Under the new management, the DCLI information technology staff has applied technology to the operations of ACLL on a daily basis. ACLL also has ready access to the extensive infrastructure support provided by the Duquesne University Computing Technology Services, which include continuous upgrades in computer hardware, software, networking and email capability.
One of the first major improvements was the installation of new Internet accessible computers throughout ACLL (Dell Optiplex computers.) A carrel with six computers was installed in the main reading room for public access to the Internet, SOLCAT, and other electronic resources. All staff members were provided with networked computers and access to the Duquesne University email system. The system was initially connected to the University’s network using an ISDN line, but was later changed to hookup with the county courts’ T1 line located in the building.
A computer lab with twenty computers and an overhead projector was installed in the former acquisitions office. The regional office of West Group contributed to the equipment and facility of the lab. The lab has become useful for a variety of programs, including CLE classes, attorney training for electronic filing at the Prothonotary’s Office, and general county and bar association training for installation of new software in their respective organizations. The installation of additional public computer workstations in the main reading room has been planned for the near future.
One web site was created for both libraries, at www.lawlib.duq.edu. The management agreement facilitated Dr. Fishman’s appointment as Co-Director of the Pennsylvania Constitution Web Site, www.paconstitution.duq.edu, maintained by the Duquesne University Law School. The constitution site is the most extensive state constitutional law web site in the country.
Under the new management, ACLL extended its daily hours from 5:00 pm Monday through Thursday to 7:00 pm, and is now open on Saturdays from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.
ACLL permits a large part of its collection to circulate to its patrons. For many years, only ten dollars ($10.00) a year was charged for an individual to obtain a library card. As a result, all law firms, large or small, paid ten dollars a year for one library card to check out numerous library materials throughout the year. An attempt to increase the fee structure in 1996 failed. In 2002, DCLI received the unanimous support of the Board of Governors of ACBA to institute a new fee structure: $30.00 per person for members of the public and lawyers with up to 30 lawyers in a firm; $1,000 for 31 to 60 lawyers; $2,000 for 61 to 100 lawyers; and $3,000 for 101 lawyers and above. The library card fees have generated over $40,000.00 additional annual revenue for ACLL.
Beginning in 2003, DCLI opened its collection for circulation to all ACLL library card holders. Duquesne law faculty, staff and students can also check out ACLL materials. Since the collection development policies of the two libraries are based on the sharing of the collections, this extends both collections to all patrons and helps to justify the additional fees charged for ACLL library cards.
Books from both collections can be checked out at either library’s circulation desk; a daily courier service transfers library materials between the two libraries.
The combined resources of the two libraries provide one of the most comprehensive collections of print materials and electronic data bases in Pennsylvania law in the country. The two libraries field legal reference or research questions relating to Pennsylvania law from all over the world. Working together, it is unusual to find a Pennsylvania legal information question without a credible answer.
Beginning in April 2001, Mr. Dittakavi Rao, Associate Director of DCLI, and Dr. Fishman began to teach CLE courses approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the ACLL computer lab. There are four three-hour courses on manual and on-line legal research, and a one-hour legal ethics research course. These courses are taught throughout the year; and have brought significant income to the ACLL.
Both ACLL librarians, Dr. Fishman and Mr. Recht, participate in teaching legal research to the first year law students at the Duquesne Law School. With three DCLI user services librarians, including the Director, there are a total of five legal research instructors. This allows the program to group the first year law students into smaller sections of approximately twenty students per section. Each legal research instructor is in charge of two sections of first year students. This small group approach to legal research instruction allows the instructor to provide more personal attention to the legal research skill needs of each student.
Under the leadership and scholarship of Dr. Fishman, ACLL has published a number of significant legal research reference books in Pennsylvania law. With the joint effort of the librarians of the two libraries, the first comprehensive and in-depth legal research guide for Pennsylvania law, titled Pennsylvania Legal Research Handbook, co-authored by Frank Y. Liu, Dittakavi Rao, Joel Fishman and Tsegaye Beru, was published by American Lawyer Media in 2001. After joining the DCLI library staff, Dr. Fishman has been actively working with Duquesne Law faculty members to produce other scholarly works, such as the monumental treatise titled The Pennsylvania Constitution, A Treatise on Rights and Liberties, published in August 2004. During the past five years, Dr. Fishman has published numerous articles in a variety of publications.
As part of the ongoing publication program, DCLI/ACLL has published the following titles to serve the Pennsylvania bench and bar:
The partnership between DCLI and ACLL has significantly benefitted both libraries in many areas. Financially, both libraries have realized substantial savings by sharing costs in acquisitions, processing, collection development, bibliographical control, system maintenance, and upgrades. The staffs of the two libraries have formed an expanded single service team; their combined expertise provides much more knowledgeable and in-depth services to their respective patrons. The patrons of both libraries now have access to a comprehensive collection of information resources of close to a half million volumes of books and extensive electronic databases of the two libraries. This is a win-win situation. The Pittsburgh legal community and the Duquesne Law School faculty and students have been very pleased with the results of the partnership.
However, the success of the DCLI - ACLL partnership is based on a unique set of circumstances including the proximity of the locations of the two libraries, the community service tradition of Duquesne University in the greater Pittsburgh area, the vision and leadership of the incumbent County Law Department Administrator, Robert Reith, Esq., the support of the bench and bar, and the close working relationship between the two library staffs before the partnership was instituted.
This partnership is not a model for substituting a properly funded public county law library system, but an experiment for sharing and maximizing limited resources between a county law library and a private academic law library. In fact, it is a unique and creative way for preserving and expanding the functions of a county law library which did not have sufficient operating funds.
Free access to basic legal information for the bench and bar and the general public is essential for preserving the true democratic system. The government must provide sufficient funding to finance a viable county law library system throughout the United States.
* Frank Y. Liu is a Professor of Law and Director of the Duquesne University School of Law, Center for Legal Information and Allegheny County Law Library. Joel Fishman, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director for Lawyer Services of the Duquesne University School of Law, Center for Legal Information and Allegheny County Law Library.
1 The joint operations in Arkansas between the two law schools and their public law libraries started early in their history; John Marshall U. Law Library purchased the Chicago Bar Association collection and maintains it within its library. Our libraries have been two distinct libraries since 1867 (ACLL) and 1911 (DCLI).