Collections at the State Law Library

The Washington State Law Library collects legal materials in various formats to meet the diverse needs of its patrons. Some materials may not be available while the library is operating in Tumwater during renovations to the Temple of Justice. The law library welcomes suggestions for materials to be acquired. We also accept limited donations. To find out items we can and cannot accept, please read our Donations Policy. The following types of materials are available, in addition to many others not listed below.

Audio/Visual

Our audio/visual collection includes TVW DVDs (Supreme Court oral arguments, swearing-in ceremonies), instructional videos, court interpreter materials, and oral histories. Equipment to view VHS tapes and listen to audiotapes is available in the library. Please contact the law library if you need to use these materials here as we may not have the correct equipment on site.

Books

Search the law library’s online public access catalog, for books, self-help titles, government documents, statistical reports, treatises, and other catalogued items by title, author, subject or keyword. A large number of our books have been warehoused during renovation and will not be available for research, so limit your search by items available at "Town Center."

Briefs

The law library maintains one of the most comprehensive print collections of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals briefs, dating back to the establishment of the state. Our briefs are stored off-site and must be requested in advance. Brief books do not circulate. Online access to Supreme Court briefs is available for briefs filed with the court since June 2006. Briefs filed in the Court of Appeals are available online for Division I from June 2009; Division II from June 2006; and Division III from August 2010.

Cases and Digests

We collect the printed versions of the official Washington Reports (Territorial, 1st and 2nd series) and Washington Appellate Reports, including the latest advance sheets. We also collect some Regional, Federal, Supreme Court (by West and LexisNexis) and Bankruptcy (through 2011) reports, as well as U.S. Reports (through slip opinion) and American Law Reports in print.

Our digests include West's Washington Digest 2d, General and Decennial digests, Federal Practice Digest, United States Supreme Court Digest, and Pacific Digest. Only West's Washington Digest 2d is currently being updated in print.

Citators

Use Westlaw's KeyCite on our research computer. You can also ask a librarian to check KeyCite on our Westlaw database to determine what has happened to your case, statute or regulation since it was released. View a guide on checking citations in KeyCite by clicking here.

Databases

The library provides public computer and photocopier access in our research room for legal research in the following databases:

• WESTLAW - Westlaw Patron Access allows users to research federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, attorney general opinions, journal articles, legal texts, and more. Resources include Washington Practice, Wright and Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure, Black's Law Dictionary, Corpus Juris Secundum, American Jurisprudence 2d, and American Law Reports, just to name a few. It also includes KeyCite citation service.
• FASTCASE - A word-searchable library of deskbooks from the Washington State Bar Association covering such topics as family law, estate planning, real property and more.
• HEINONLINE - Full-image access to over 1600 law reviews and journals, all state session laws from inception, the Federal Register, Congressional Record, U.S. Statutes at Large, and more.

Patrons may view information online, save to a USB drive provided by the patron, or print to a connected printer. Patrons may print up to 200 pages for free.

Databases, other than Lexis eBooks, are not accessible remotely or through the Wi-Fi available at the library.

eBooks

Federal Laws and Regulations

We have an extensive collection of Federal primary source materials — historical and current — from all three branches of government including federal court opinions, court rules, United States Code, Statutes at Large (including the latest slip laws), Code of Federal Regulations, and Federal Register. We also have the United States Code Annotated (West), United States Code Service (Lexis), and the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (West).

Government Documents

As a selective depository library for federal government documents, we receive documents primarily of interest to the legal community including laws, regulations, administrative decisions, Congressional documents, court rules, and other publications appropriate to our collection. Our selected documents are in a variety of formats including print, electronic, and microform. Learn more about the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) or view a list of participating depository libraries in Washington.

The Government Printing Office manages an extensive collection of resources from all three branches of government on its Federal Digital System website, including many familiar government document titles. See our Legal Resources page for more information.

Law Reviews and Periodicals

The law library maintains a comprehensive collection of law reviews and periodicals, in electronic format (through subscription databases HeinOnline and Westlaw). Search our online public access catalog, for a particular title. If the location listed in our catalog is “HeinOnline,” we have in-library access to it through our subscription to the HeinOnline database. Our printed journal collection is currently in storage and will not be available until we return to the Temple of Justice.

Reference Materials

Our reference materials include dictionaries (legal, medical, general), legal encyclopedias (American Jurisprudence 2d and Corpus Juris Secundum), government directories and yearbooks.

State Laws and Regulations (Non-Washington)

The law library has traditionally maintained an extensive print collection of material from other states including case law, session laws and statutes. As we trend toward more electronic access, the nature of this collection is changing. Patrons can access case law from other states through Westlaw at our computer workstation. We will continue to maintain historical case law from other states that is not covered by star pagination on Westlaw, allowing for pinpoint citations. Additionally, session laws from all 50 states as well as U.S. territories are available in pdf format on HeinOnline at our computer workstation. See our Legal Resources page for online resources from other states under “Other Jurisdictions.”

Territorial Collection

We are proud to hold in our collection a number of books from the Washington Territorial Library. These books are stored off-site and will need to be requested in advance. The Territorial Library was created by the Organic Act of the Territory of Washington (10 Stat. 172) which was passed by the United States Congress on March 2, 1853. Section 17 of the Act provided five thousand dollars to be expended by the Governor of the new Territory in purchasing a library to be kept at the seat of government. After his appointment as the Governor of Washington Territory on March 17, 1853, Isaac Ingalls Stevens made a trip to New York and made the initial purchases for the library, carefully selecting the best books in each field of learning. Governor Stevens also wrote the executives of the states and territories and many learned societies requesting gifts of their publications for the new library. The books were shipped around Cape Horn, arriving in Olympia in February 1854. By the time the original funds appropriated by Congress had been expended in 1855, the Territorial Library had 2, 852 books in its collection, over 1200 of which were of a legal nature. Many of the law books that Governor Stevens acquired for the Territorial Library remain in the law library’s collection today.

Unrepresented Litigants

The law library maintains a collection of books written for non-lawyers that explain the general law relating to specific legal topics. See more resources for the unrepresented litigant.

Washington Laws, Rules and Legislative Materials

The law library collects and retains all print editions of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), Washington Administrative Code (WAC) and Court Rules. We also have codes that pre-date the RCW including the Code of 1881, Ballinger’s Code, Pierce’s Code, Hill’s Code, Remington and Ballinger’s Code and Remington’s Revised Statutes.

Our print collection also includes, but is not limited to, bills (1913-) (in storage), all session laws, House and Senate Journals, Washington State Registers (in storage), and Final Legislative Reports (back to 1975).

Many of these resources are also available electronically on the Legislature’s website or through electronic subscriptions available in our library. See our Legal Resources page for more information.