Law library size stirs tempest

By Brian Kelly

Herald Writer

COUPEVILLE — A teensy, tiny library is causing a big, big dispute in Island County.

Saying the law library in the new $5 million Law and Justice Center is woefully inadequate, the board of trustees for the library — made up of local lawyers and a Superior Court judge — have threatened to sue the county board of commissioners for whittling away the size of the library.

"The law library started out in excess of some 840 square feet. It was unilaterally cut by the commissioners without any consultation whatsoever with the library board of trustees," said Chris Skinner, an Oak Harbor lawyer and a spokesman for the library board.

Even if the library had been built as proposed, it still would have been too small, Skinner said. And it’s the public that will pay the price.

"Frankly, the majority of the lawyers who are practicing on a six-day-a-week basis have their own resources in their offices," Skinner said.

The law library primarily serves the needs of nonlawyers who can’t afford to hire attorneys to handle their cases, he said. "The perception that this is going to be a resource for lawyers to make a living is wrong.

"It sounds like we’re beating our chest about something esoteric, but access to justice is something that the judiciary in this state has been concerned about for many, many years. And this little law library is where we will be able to do that, finally," Skinner said.

Larry Kwarsick, public works director for Island County, said the law library was designed to take up 804 square feet. An increase in staff for the prosecuting attorney’s office led to an initial reduction to 637 square feet, and the prosecutor’s office has since taken over the office of law librarian Bonne Kelly.

Kelly’s desk has been moved into the library itself, and the usable space in the library is now less than 300 square feet, she said.

In a 29-page report that Kwarsick prepared for the county commissioners, he said the library meets state standards for law libraries. There’s enough shelf space to handle another decade of hardbound book purchases, he said, and the library is also planning to obtain more computer-based research materials.

Kwarsick said the new library is about 50 percent bigger than the one in the old courthouse, which he described as a "user-hostile, cryptlike environment whose door was best kept locked."

"It’s far superior to any law library the county has ever had," Kwarsick said of the new digs.

"There is a night-and-day difference in terms of its agreeable nature," county commissioner Bill Thorn agreed.

"My belief is they have been provided, as the statute requires, a suitable law library," Thorn said. "In addition, we’ve balanced that need with the requirement that we provide suitable space for our personnel.

"I think we’ve done the best we can at balancing those needs," he said.

Skinner, however, said the move to computer-based resources was a red herring in the debate over the size of the library.

The county has plans to eventually increase the size of the Law and Justice Center, and the library as well. But $9 million in building projects — renovation of the old courthouse and courthouse annex, construction of a new juvenile detention facility and other county campus improvements — will happen first.

Moving up the schedule for the expansion could solve the problem, said Skinner, who is optimistic that some solution can be found. One answer, he said, might be moving the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service office out of the new center.

Although the library board has threatened to sue over the issue, Skinner said the board will meet before taking action. That meeting will probably take place within the coming month, he said.

You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.