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About the Library

The Alameda County Law Library has proudly served the Alameda County Legal community and its citizens for over one hundred years. Established in 1891, the Alameda County Law Library is one of 58 county law libraries that serve the people of the state of California. Each county law library functions as a separate governmental entity within its county and derives the bulk of its income from civil filing fees.

The law library provides free access to the judiciary, state and county officials, members of the bar and residents of the county. (California Business and Professions Code Secs §6300-6365.)

Mark E. Estes, the law library director, was appointed by the Board of Trustees in 2008. The current trustees (May 1, 2009) are President Steve R. Sherman, Esq.; Vice President, the Honorable Vernon K. Nakahara; the Honorable Jacob Blea III; Boyd E. Burnison, Esq.; the Honorable Cecilia Castellanos; the Honorable David E. Hunter; and the Honorable Jo-Lynne Lee.

Mission

The Mission of the Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library is to provide access to current legal information to the public, attorneys and residents.

Vision

The Alameda County Law Library is a public Law Library. The Library envisions a future in which all people have effective access to justice. To bring about this vision, it provides access to information required for participation in the legal system, resolving legal disputes, engaging in commerce, and tending to personal affairs and academic projects.

A Century of Service

While the loyal support of the law library's many trustees has remained unswerving over the years, there have been many other changes in the past century. In December, 1893, the collection contained 1,376 volumes; and in 1927, 16,841 volumes. In 2008, the library contains 105,000 volumes in hard copy and 91,941 volume equivalents in microform for a total volume count of 196,941.

Architect Matthew R. Mills and his associates at the San Francisco architecture firm of Robinson, Mills, and Williams have preserved the gracious elegance of a bygone era in the renovated building while creating a functional space in which to use the latest technology. The first and mezzanine (second) floors form the new law library, the third floor houses county offices, and the fourth floor became the County of Alameda Conference Center.

The law library has many online services available including Westlaw, Lexis' Shepard's, CEB's OnLAW, HeinOnline, and an online catalogue at http://202.sydneyplus.com/netopac/Alameda/Portal.aspx. The library also has a public Internet workstation and is a WiFi hotspot which provides free wireless Internet access.

The library space and collection are not all that have grown since the appointment of Robert Fitzgerald as librarian in 1891. The staff has grown from one part-time employee to eleven full-time staff members as well as part-time employees and work study students.

As noted above, technology that was unheard of in the nineteenth century and for most of the twentieth century enables the law library staff to offer higher levels of service to our patrons. The law library also offers a fee-based copy service program that copies library materials and mails, e-mails or faxes them to patrons.

The 1891 Act directed that the law library be available to all county inhabitants. The Director and staff of the Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library are proud of our service to the bench and bar and the greater community over the past one hundred plus years. We look forward to continuing this tradition of service in our second century.