NOTICE OF THE 2009
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
APRIL 15, 2009
The Annual Meeting of the members of the Cleveland
Law Library will be held on Wednesday, April 15, 2009
at 12:00 noon in the Law Library, 404 Cuyahoga County
Courthouse. Agenda items will include the election of three
(3) board members to serve three (3) year terms from
April of 2009 through April of 2012. Please join us for
the meeting and a light luncheon.
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CHANGE IS COMING FOR
OHIO’S COUNTY LAW LIBRARIES |
Introduction: Significant changes are coming for the
Cleveland Law Library and all of Ohio’s county law
libraries as the result of a House Bill (420) that Governor
Strickland signed into law on December 30, 2008. This
Bill intertwined the future of Ohio’s county law libraries
with many other governmental issues and affected our
operations and funding in two major ways. Although it
completely restored county funding for our space and the
compensation of our public law librarians during calendar
year 2009, it enacted major changes that will start next
year. Beginning in 2010, the tradition by which county
law libraries were historically run by private boards of
local attorneys and judges will cease. Instead, official
county boards will begin to manage county law libraries
and control their public revenue and assets. While I am
confident that Ohio’s county law libraries are universally
relieved to have their county funding restored this year,
they are all looking at next year with different expectations,
plans, hopes, and, in many cases, trepidation.
A Little Historical Context: Many of you may not
believe that it has been over four years since Ohio’s county
law libraries entered the legislative spotlight. Back in
February of 2005, the County Commissioners Association
of Ohio (CCAO) inserted language into the biennial
budget bill (HB 66) that would have begun a five-year
phase-out of county funding for our rent and the
compensation of our public librarians. Without going into
all of the details, those changes were delayed until 2007,
during which counties only had to pay 80% towards
compensation expenses. Calendar year 2008 was even
tougher because the County only had to pay 60% towards
compensation and 80% for rent. This meant that County
law libraries had to really tighten their belts to make up
the difference from their dwindling public revenue and/or
private funds.
Throughout much of this time, a legislative Task Force on
law library associations studied and reviewed the funding
and operations of county law libraries and issued both an
interim and final report. Four major groups* then took up
the gauntlet of trying to turn the Task Force
recommendations into law. Although proposed legislation
was originally introduced as SB 345, county law library
changes were eventually incorporated as amendments to
HB 420.
The Immediate Impact of HB 420: HB 420 completely
eliminated HB 66's graduated cuts and fully restored our
county funding in 2009. The huge caveat is we only have
a one-year respite from the cuts in which to plan and
prepare for totally different changes that are coming in
2010.
Transition During 2009: Although January 1, 2010 is
the focal point for the transfer of authority over county
law libraries and their public assets and funds, much of
the ground-work for this transition will occur during 2009.
The first major step will take place by July 1, 2009 with
the creation of new entities in each county called County
Law Library Resources Boards (CLLRBs). Each CLLRB
will initially be composed of seven members, who must
all be county residents. Five of the CLLRB seats are
permanent, including two appointments by the local
County Commissioners, one by the Prosecutor’s office,
one by the Common Pleas Court, and one from the
municipal/county courts. The remaining two seats consist
of interim appointments by the existing private boards.
Each CLLRB will have six months to learn and digest
information about how its county law library operates.
Co-extensive with the creation of the CLLRBs, existing
private boards will begin to serve in an advisory capacity
for two years. After the initial two-year period, each
CLLRB can maintain a more informal advisory council.
2010 and Beyond: Beginning on January 1, 2010, each
CLLRB will be charged with serving local cities, townships,
county agencies, courts, and members of the public. Each
CLLRB should provide a public law library, employ a
librarian and other staff as needed, and establish local
policies relating to access, resources, services, and fees.
As a county entity, each CLLRB will also help to
coordinate the acquisition of legal research and reference
materials for all county offices, assume custody of all public
revenue and assets, and participate in the county budget
and appropriation process. The Task Force on law library
associations is being reinstated to help implement all of
these changes.
Interestingly, CLLRBs will have the power to create multicounty
partnerships with other CLLRBs. They will also
have authority to contract with other CLLRBs, private
entities, public agencies, and a state-wide consortium of
CLLRBs that will be created in 2011 to catalog each
library’s resources, facilitate state-wide resource sharing,
negotiate contracts, and issue recommendations and
guidelines.
None of these changes affect the continued existence of
private law library boards, like the one that currently runs
the Cleveland Law Library. Our present Board has some
difficult decisions to make in the very near future. Since it
will retain all private assets and funds after the transition,
it can move its operation and collection elsewhere, contract
with the CLLRB, contract with other entities or close. As
a result, HB 420 presents a number of possible scenarios
for continued law library services next year.
Conclusion: This article only touches the surface of the
changes enacted by HB 420. If you would like additional
information, please contact the Law Library Director,
Kathleen M. Sasala at 216-861-5070 or
ksasala@clelaw.lib.oh.us.
To read the law itself, please go to the following link from
the 127th General Assembly: http://tiny.cc/1LfVx
The State Auditor’s office is also planning to issue written
guidance on how to interpret various financial and other
aspects of the Bill, and the CCAO has issued its
explanation at the following link: http://tiny.cc/2pHps
*HB 420 represents the culmination of negotiations
between four major interest groups that pursued legislation
based on recommendations issued by an Ohio Task Force
on Law Library Associations. Although the CCAO was
the driving force for changes in the current system, the
Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio Judicial Conference,
and a Coalition of county law library boards and bar
associations had the opportunity to make
recommendations and participate in drafting the legislation.
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DAYS THE LIBRARY
WILL BE CLOSED |
The Law Library will be closed the following days in 2009:
- Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th
- Independence Day, Friday, July 3rd
- Labor Day, Monday, September 7th
- Columbus Day, Monday, October 12th
- Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11th
- Thanksgiving, Thursday and Friday, November 26th and 27th
- Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24th Library closes at Noon
- Christmas Day, Friday, December 25th
- New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31st Library closes at 4:00 p.m.
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In honor of National Library Week, we will be serving
complimentary bagels, muffins and juice from 9:30 - 11:00
a.m. on Friday, April 17, 2009. Please join us in celebrating
the wealth of information and knowledge available at our
Library. Upon request, we can provide a tour of our
facility.
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SELECTED NEW ACQUISITIONS |
• Ohio Insurance Coverage (West, 2008)
• Subprime Mortgage Crisis: From A to Z (ALI-ABA, 2008)
• Ohio Medicaid Manual (2008)
• Law Of The Internet (Aspen, 2009)
• Ohio Summary Judgment and Related Termination Motions (West, 2008)
• Ethics of E-Discovery (ABA, 2009)
• Ohio Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press, 2009)
• Asbestos Litigation: Where is it Going? When Will It End? (ALI-ABA, 2008)
• Manual Of Style For Contract Drafting (ABA, 2008)
• Electronic Evidence Law & Practice (ABA, 2008)
• Franchising In Ohio: Obligations & Litigation Risks (OSBA, 2008)
• Hot Issues In Employment Law: FMLA/Leave and Wage/Hour (OSBA, 2008)
• Garner On Language and Writing (ABA, 2009)
• Legal Career Guide (ABA, 2008)
• Mediating Legal Disputes (ABA, 2009)
• Unfair and Deceptive Acts & Practice (NCLC, 2008)
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OHIO
JURISPRUDENCE
AND ALR’S ARE BACK
ON LEXIS |
If you have not already noticed, Ohio Jurisprudence and
most of the American Law Reports (ALR2nd through
6th and ALR Fed through ALR Fed 2nd) are back on
Lexis. This is great news for Lexis subscribers, who missed
having these resources online last year. If you add them to
your Lexis plan, you can search these sources full-text,
through the use of segment searching, using the browse
function, or by searching their tables of contents. Both of
these sources are a great place to find detailed content
about legal issues, together with annotations to relevant
cases, statutes, and law review articles.
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CLEVELAND LAW LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Cuyahoga County Courthouse
1 West Lakeside Avenue-Floor 4
Cleveland, Ohio 44113-1023
Phone: (216) 861-5070
Fax: (216) 861-1606
Email: lawlib@clelaw.lib.oh.us
Home Page: clevelandlawlibrary.org
Board of Trustees:
Joseph N. Gross - Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, President
Carla M. Tricarichi - Tricarichi & Carnes, Vice-President
Kathleen B. Burke - Jones Day
Hon. Kenneth R. Callahan
Thomas A. Cicarella - Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP
Hon. Colleen Conway Cooney
Irene Keyse-Walker - Tucker, Ellis & West
Brian Linick - Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
David J. Naftzinger - Thompson Hine LLP
Alvin Podboy - Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
Patricia A. Poole - Baker & Hostetler
Scott E. Stewart - Stewart & DeChant
Philip M. Oliss - Squire, Sanders & Dempsey |
Law Library Staff:
Kathleen M. Sasala, Director
Anne McFarland, Reference & Research Services Librarian
Sharla Johnston, Circulation Services Librarian
Eric Hess, Network Services Librarian
Terri Faulhaber, Technical Services Librarian
Leslie Hall, Business Manager
Gwen Williams-Ross, Filing Clerk/Library Assistant
David Novak, Filing Clerk/Library Assistant
Isaac Mintz, Page |
Copyright © 2009, Cleveland Law Library Association. All rights reserved.
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