Earlier this month, I met up with Executive Law Librarian Joanne Kiley to learn more about Cook County Law Library (edited for clarity).
Susie: Joanne, I’ve known you for a long time, and you’ve had a lot of different roles in law librarianship. What motivated you to take the Cook County Law Library executive position?
Joanne: Honestly, it was a great marriage of opportunities. I’ve always been interested in service, and I’ve always been interested in law librarianship. In my previous roles, service in private practice was different. This was an opportunity to serve the public, and that’s why I was excited about the opportunity.
Susie: How would you describe the Cook County Law Library’s mission. What are you here to do?
Joanne: We are here very specifically to serve the bench, the bar, and the public. Our mission is to make sure that people, all people within Cook County, have equitable access to legal resources. That’s why we have both Lexis and Westlaw. Having access available is important for legal professionals and for our public. We serve a lot of self-represented litigants and small business owners too.
Susie: That is interesting. There’s a lot of legal research and access that people don’t necessarily think about.
Joanne: We recently were pointing out the tax resource we have. If you have a legal question about taxes, and you’re a small business, maybe you want to do some investigation yourself before you call your attorney and start racking up billable hours.
I think of my mom. She just had to deal with her friend’s estate in New York a couple of years ago, and she could have used a resource like the Cook County Law Library for support sorting through the legal elements.
A lot are people are not here on their very best day, because if you are dealing with something in court, it’s stressful, right? We want to make sure that we’re able to support everybody where they are, and to get them the information they need. I think even just letting people know that we exist is important, so that maybe we come to mind when they do have that day and need to handle a legal issue.
Susie: What do you want CALL members to specifically understand about the Cook County Library and what you provide?
Joanne: We have several resources that specifically support the work CALL members do. Maybe you don’t have the permission to spend time on Lexis or Westlaw digging through databases without a client number. You can come over here and get familiar with some things that are on the shelves in print and online.
There’s an added benefit for CALL members, which is the historical content we have. We have many historical records, statutes, and board meetings that may be hard to uncover.
Something that I really want to do is find out which institutions within the Chicagoland area are the place of record for specific historical resources. If everyone’s relying on Cook County to always have X, Y and Z, what can we do to make sure that we are always providing that? On the other hand, what historical content do other libraries provide? Maybe DePaul, for example, has content they are known for and plans to always provide that resource.
Ideally, I’d like the Cook County Law Library to collaborate and coordinate maintaining historical resources with other Chicagoland institutions. I know the law firms are unable to keep historical material given the square footage available to them. We are, as a community of law librarians, responsible for maintaining those records that might otherwise be lost.
Finally, I’ve always been a big proponent of mentoring and encouraging people to explore law librarianship. Cook County Law Library is a place where you can learn about law librarianship and legal research. It’s a great space to learn how to use legal research tools and to build community. I know that other people in CALL are very passionate about mentorship, and they can send people here to learn.
Susie: Great point. If you are interested in law librarianship, Cook County Law Library is a great place to learn more about legal resources and the profession.
Joanne: We also offer training with CLE credits, which could be helpful for some people, and we offer general legal research training. For a lot of it, you can log in and register remotely. If you have a more junior librarian on your staff, or somebody who wants to learn about legal topics, they can register and take a class here through Cook County Law Library.
Susie: I’m thrilled you have used the word community so many times, because that’s the theme of our upcoming CALL Bulletin. As a law librarian, there’s so many times Cook County Law Library was the only place I could get the resource I needed. It’s been invaluable to me throughout my career.
As members of the CALL community, what can we do to support your mission? You help us out so much and we would be lost without you.
Joanne: One thing that is helpful is when you use our resources, make it known that you got it done because of Cook County Law Library. I’m focused on growing awareness of the resources available to people and making sure that people know we’re here to help. Please make sure that the partner at the firm, or the professor or student at the law school, knows that this wouldn’t have been possible without the Cook County Law Library.
The other thing I want to make sure people know is that we are not just at the Daley Center. We are also at five of the other courthouses in the county. We are in Skokie, Bridgeview, Maywood, Markham, and the Criminal Court courthouses. I think a lot of people, when they think of the Cook County Law Library, they think of our Main Branch at Daley Center. We have branches throughout the county, and people don’t have to make their way all the way downtown to avail themselves of the services. They can use one of the branches that’s in the south suburbs, the western suburbs, the northern suburbs.
If any of our law library community has jury duty at one of those courts, or here at the Daley Center, they should totally stop by and say hello during their lunch break!
Susie: I will stop by next time I have jury duty for sure! How can we be good patrons when coming in to use the library?
Joanne: Always sign in!
Joanne: I think the thing that we all need to remember in the library world is we’re really good at asking reference interview questions. I’m not sure if we’re good at receiving the reference interview question. If you come into the Law Library, I would almost turn off your library brain for a moment and be like a second- or third-year associate and have a lot of questions for our librarians. You might end up getting a better result and a resource that is just right for you.
Susie: Any fun facts about Cook County Law Library?
Joanne: One of my favorite fun facts: Since joining Cook County I had the privilege of meeting with Madam President [Toni Preckwinkle] a few months ago. A lot of people know that she’s a teacher, but what I didn’t know is that her mother was a librarian.
Another interesting fact is that more people are coming in and using the library. We have added four terminals for online research, and we’ve increased attendance from 2023-2024 by about 19%.
Susie: What would you say is the biggest challenge facing Cook County Law Library?
Joanne: The budget is challenging. The law library is under what’s called a special purpose budget. We are funded through court filing fees. There is a part of the court filing fee that is assigned to Cook County Law Library. That is our budget, and the filing fee has been fairly flat for a very long time.
The opportunity is getting people to know about this great resource, and it’s really important to me. It’s really important to the staff too. It’s a great group of people who work here, and they’re very proud of what they do and how they serve the community, as they should be.
When we see people come in and use the library and ask questions, it feels good. It contributes to that sense of service and giving back to the community. It’s an honor and a privilege. It’s an opportunity. And it’s something we need to make sure people know is here and is available, and that it’s important to a wide array of Cook County residents
Susie: OK, that was moving and I’m feeling a little teary now. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I have a new appreciation for what you and everyone at Cook County Law Library does. Anything else?
Joanne: We’re working on a big splash for Law Day on May 1st. I’ll be posting on CALL. I really hope that the law library community comes out for that. It would be great to see people and we’re hoping to offer extra trainings and tours. It will be a good day.