Fall is upon us and it’s this time of year that the annual report of RCLL’s activities and highlights of the fiscal year’s accomplishments comes out. Year 2020-2021 was wrought with challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While our building was closed to the public for most of the year, we effectively transitioned to online services enabling the public to avail of our legal research materials, programs, and classes without needing to set foot in the library. I am pleased to share with you a few of the service enhancements and accomplishments highlighted in the 2020-2021 Annual Report.

• The barcoding project of the main library print collection was completed. This provided us with an accurate total count of books held in the law library, at all locations. There are 71,775 volumes, compared to 42,742 total number of volumes from the previous year. Nearly 30,000 volumes were barcoded and added into the library system.
• Fastcase subscription was added to the library’s legal database collection. This provided county residents remote access to cases, regulations, court rules, constitutions, and other primary law materials for all 50 states.
• Remote access to Westlaw, LexisNexis, HeinOnline, EbscoHost, and Wolters Kluwer databases were made available to county residents during the period of library closure. This was made possible in cooperation with the legal database providers.
• Lexis Digital Library was added to the library’s electronic resources. This provided county residents remote access to full-text and searchable eBook collection of LexisNexis treatises, deskbooks, practice guides, formbooks, and statutes.
• The library website was completely redesigned and updated. Launched in March 2021, the new website has integrated web-accessibility compliant features, easy to navigate user-interface, clean and modern look, and updated content. Its pageviews number increased by 66.5%.
• The renovation of the Victor Miceli Law Library building was approved by the Board. This renovation addresses the much-needed replacement and upgrade of the building’s HVAC and electrical systems. It is a necessary step in modernizing the facility to create a safe and comfortable space to engage in legal research, study, and collaboration.

You can read more of our other library activities, programs, and special events in the 2020-2021 Annual Report HERE

Construction work in our downtown facility is in full swing. You can expect to see a construction crane in our parking lot and construction crew members going in and out of our library building. The crew is working especially hard to keep construction noise to a minimum and to avoid disruption of work for our library users and staff. Library closure is anticipated from December 17^th through the end of 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted our “normal” library operations and significantly impacted how we deliver our services to the public. However, everyone in the law library has stepped up to the challenge, continued to work hard to provide access to quality legal information services and resources in a new and more efficient manner, unconstrained by physical space. Our goal is to continue to provide county residents with remote access to the library’s legal databases and programs, as well as, built upon the service enhancements that we have made despite of and perhaps because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As always, your continued support is greatly appreciated.