A BRIEF PROFILE OF OREGON COUNTY LAW LIBRARIES

by Jacque Jurkins, Multnomah Law Library Director

The Oregon Legislature authorized the establishment of county law libraries and provided for their
funding by a portion of the litigant filing fee. (1907 Oregon Laws, Chapter 239: 1927 Oregon Laws,
Chapter 222)

Today, all 36 Oregon counties collect the litigant filing fees to support their law libraries as provided by
the state statutes. (ORS 9.820, 9.840, and 21.350)

From1965 until 1997 the amount of the law library fee was 40 % of the uniform filing fee. In 1997 the
percent was reduced to 33% of the uniform filing fee. The 2007 legislature again reduced the percent
to 28%. The 1997 reduction of the law library fee was the result of a number of issues: 1) Increased
costs of the judicial system; 2) Legal Aid’s loss of Federal funding; 3) The legislative integration of the
Circuit and District Courts, resulting with the District Court filing fee equaling the Circuit Court filing
fee; and 4) Extreme pressure by the collection people to reduce the law library fee because the Circuit
Court’s uniform filling fee jumped from $65. to $97. (1997 Oregon Laws Chapter 801)

The fees collected for the 2006-2007 biennium range from the $992 collected by Wheeler County to
$892,706.39 collected by Multnomah County.
The administrative/organization structure of the law library differs from county to county. In some
counties the County Administrative Officer, the County Attorney's office, the District Attorney's office,
or the County Archives, administers the law library, in other counties there is a Law Library Advisory
Committee, generally appointed by the County Board in conjunction with the local Bar Association,
and in some cases, the County's Public Library system oversees the law library.

The physical location of the county law library varies: 24 of the libraries are located in the county
courthouse; 5 are located in separate buildings; 2 are located in the county public library. The rest are
housed in spaces in offices within the county.

Half the libraries are staffed with people who range from full-time professional librarians with library
degrees, or dual library and law degrees to part-time volunteers.

The hours of law library access also vary from just a few hours to approximately 90 hours a week.

The Pro se litigant use of the county law libraries has tripled over the past five years, because Legal
Aid Services have been cut. State-wide, the average monthly number of users is between 3,000 and
3,500.

In summary, there is no typical Oregon county law library.

07/12/2008