The Mississippi State Law Library is coming up on its 200-year anniversary this January. To celebrate a little early, State Librarian Stephen Parks has organized an event in conjunction with the Mississippi Book Festival (August 19). On Friday, August 18, the librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, will meet with the justices and judges of the state court, as well as law librarians from throughout the state.
Parks is a North Carolina native. He earned his political science degree at East Carolina University before attending law school at Mississippi College in 2010. Afterward, he earned his master’s in library and information science at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Sun Staff Writer Megan Phillips spoke with Parks about the history of the State Law Library.
When was the State Law Library of Mississippi created?
“The first legislature of Mississippi met in late 1817, early 1818. On January 31, 1818, they passed a resolution directing the secretary of state to purchase certain law books and maps for the state. The library has always traced their lineage, you could say, to that resolution… It speaks well of Mississippi because so soon after becoming a state in December 1817, they decided to create a collection of books and maps the very next month, in January 1818, to start organizing a library that eventually became what it is today.
“Officially, they gave the library its name in 1838 but the 1818 resolution was what created the first collection of material for the state.”
What did the process of creating a state law library entail?
“We don’t know too many details after that first resolution. (The resolution) was very specific; it even detailed what maps they should purchase. For instance, they wanted a map of Louisiana in place at the time, a map of the Mississippi territory, even a world map. But as far as what happened in that timeframe, for the next 20 years we don’t know much as far as record keeping.”
How has the library been improved since then?
“It’s definitely increased in size. At one time, we were hailed as the third-largest in the nation. That was in the 1960s. We’re slowly moving toward more electronic material. For instance, we provide free online research for public access. So anybody can come use our library and go online to research case law, Mississippi law. We don’t provide legal advice. As librarians we can lead them to the book; we cannot interpret it for them or suggest how that might apply to their case.”
How big is the library?
“We have about 300,000 books. As far as our claim to fame, we have the most complete set of Mississippi laws predating statehood. So we have copies of all the law going back to that timeframe. Whereas the law school libraries, like Ole Miss and Mississippi College, don’t have the complete set. We, on the other hand, do.”
Who is in charge of maintaining the library?
“As far as running the library day-to-day, it’s myself and I have three staff members. So I make decisions on what to add to the collection, what to take out… The library up until 1989 was a separate state agency with its own budget and reporting requirements, like a state agency today. But in 1989, the legislature put the library under the Supreme Court’s authority.”
Why did they do that?
“Over time, the State Library had evolved into a law library with its legal collection growing in size. In 1973, the library was moved from the capitol building to the Carroll Gartin Justice Building. While across the street in its new location, the state library still had authority over the Legislative Reference Bureau in the capitol. In 1980, the legislature removed the state library’s authority over the Legislature Reference Bureau and placed it under the legislature itself.
“Years later, in 1989, the legislature placed the state library under the supervision and control of the Mississippi Supreme Court, so while the official name still remains the ‘State Library,’ it is more commonly known as the ‘State Law Library.’ This move was a logical evolution of the library’s mission, and it is the norm nationwide — to have a state law library under the authority and control of the state’s highest court.”
When do you take books out?
“Well when a new edition comes in, if it’s not a Mississippi-specific title, I might take it out of collection. But if it’s a Mississippi-specific title and will be good for historical purposes, I’ll keep older editions.”
Is it just attorneys who use the library?
“Anybody can come in. There’s not even a restriction on checking items out. If you come in as an attorney, you can check things out. We just want to see your BAR card. But if you’re from the public and want to check things out, we allow you to do that. You don’t have to have a library card. We will probably just take a photocopy of your license the first time we meet you. But anybody can come in and use it.”
How many people use the library?
“That’s one thing I’m trying to figure out. I took on this job last year, and there aren’t really good records for that. I would say on average, throughout the week, maybe 50 to 60.”
Is that a good number of people?
“It’s good, but I’d like it to be better. One thing that might be good to know: we’re the state library, but we’re also the Hinds County law library. Each county gets a certain percentage of funding from court filing costs, and they can create a law library if they choose to. Hinds County has decided to give grants to our library… So we get a generous grant each year from them to keep a good collection for the public. Materials that can be used by the public, materials that are not necessarily lawyer slanted but materials that anybody can come in (and use) and understand the law better. We also use that grant to provide the online Westlaw access.”
What is the library’s annual budget?
“Our budget is about $680,000 per year.”
How much is the grant from Hinds County?
“It’s changed over time, but currently it’s $30,000 per year.”
Where do the rest of those funds come from?
“It’s all state, state budget.”
How often are materials and books updated?
“It varies for what book it is. For instance, the Mississippi code, that’s updated every year. So we update those every year, but we also keep the older codes. For instance, it’s called a superseded code. For those that don’t know, a lot of times we’ll get someone calling up, ‘Hey, what was robbery in 1982?’ We can go back here at our superseded codes and look at the specific law that was in place then. That’s not provided online anywhere for free, so that is one of our big draws here. We keep all of those older codes, so people come in for that.
“But it just depends on the item. Some books are updated every four or five years, some every year. It just depends, but our staff is in charge of getting the new updates put into the new books each year.”
The library will have its bicentennial this coming January. Do you have anything planned to celebrate?
“August 18 of this year, the librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, she’s in town for the Mississippi Book Festival. I had reached out to the Library of Congress last fall to try to get somebody to come speak to us, and Congressman Greg Harper’s office found out about it. They reached out to me to try to pair both events the same weekend. So it worked out great that Dr. Hayden will be here Friday, August 18, that morning, to meet and greet with the justices and judges here in the court and law librarians from throughout the state.
“As far as next year in January, I’m going to hold a free CLE (continuing legal education) for attorneys. They have to get continuing legal education credit. I may also do something for public librarians about how to do legal research. Then I’ll have a day of giving a history of the library. That’ll be all that week of January 31 of next year, leading up to the actual day. So the week of January 29, we’ll have events all week.”
If people would like to work or volunteer at the library, or help with events coming up, how can they get involved?
“They can reach out to me through my e-mail: sparks@courts.ms.gov, or call the library at 601-359-3672. The State Law Library recently won an ‘Excellence in Marketing – Best Newsletter’ award given by the American Association of Law Libraries. Our newsletter, ‘Letters from the Library,’ is published electronically three times per year. If anyone would like to sign up for it, they can contact me by e-mailing me.”
