A GUIDE TO LEGAL RESOURCES FOR THE PUBLIC

The Carbon County Law Library serves the legal research needs of the court, government agencies, members of the bar and the general public.

The Library was established on April 9, 1868, by an Act of the State Legislature (Act No. 720 of 1868). The act provided that all fines and penalties imposed by the Court and all forfeited bail bonds not payable to the Commonwealth be used to establish and maintain a law library to be set up in the Court House for the use of the court and the bar. The library's collection of books was augmented in 1915 upon the death of Mauch Chunk attorney Frederick Bertolette, whose family donated his extensive law library to the county, and again, in 1928, upon the death of Laird H. Barber, formerly President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Carbon County, who bequeathed his law library "for use of the Courts of Carbon County and the present and future members of the Carbon County Bar Association."

Over the years, the holdings of the Library have steadily expanded and presently number in excess of 8,500 volumes.

In 1978, the Judiciary Act Repealer Act (JARA) repealed the old statute which had provided for the establishment and maintenance of the library. Since then, all library funding has been provided by the County of Carbon out of the court's budget.

The Law Library is located on the second floor of the Carbon County Court House, in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The Library is open to the public between the hours of 8:30 A.M. and 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday.

The Library houses a complete collection of the decisions of Pennsylvania's appellate courts, beginning in 1791, all reported decisions of the Courts of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania statutes and administrative code, and Federal statutes. In addition, we have numerous digests, legal encyclopedias and form books, as well as textbooks and treatises on particular topics or subject areas of the law, many of which are helpful to members of the public seeking information or assistance with specific legal questions.

In 2002, computers were added to the Law Library. The computers provide access to the Westlaw system which gives the public even greater access to researching the law.

Library staff will be glad to assist you in finding suitable materials in a particular subject area. However, by law they are not permitted to give you legal advice or assist you in choosing or filling out legal forms.

A coin-operated copy machine is available for your use in making copies (at $.10 per page). Library materials are not permitted to be removed from the Library.