2005 Annual Report
24 hours @ the MINNESOTA STATE LAW LIBRARY

The Minnesota State Law Library (MSLL) is the oldest continuing library in the State of Minnesota and one of the State’s oldest institutions. The Library and the Territory of Minnesota were created by the same act of Congress on March 3, 1849. Section 17 of the act provided a $5000 appropriation to establish a library that would be located at the seat of government.  Minnesota's founding fathers believed the library was necessary to demonstrate a level of civilization and sophistication that would help establish the Territory as a bona fide candidate for statehood. They even debated whether the librarian should be elected or appointed. Today, 156 years later, MSLL is a public law library, still serving the citizens of the State of Minnesota. Our collections and services are focused on legal research, to serve the needs of the Judicial Branch. We also serve the Legislative and Executive Branches, county law libraries, the legal profession, inmates of various correctional institutions, and the public.

To outline the breadth of the service provided to the Judiciary and the people of the State of Minnesota, we offer this “day in the life” snapshot.

• 4:00 AM - Prison Visit – Stephanie Thorson, librarian for the Law Library Service to Prisoners program, starts her work day by answering kites (requests for legal information or photocopies) from inmates and preparing for her visit to MCF-Oak Park Heights, one of the eight correctional facilities visited by the program librarians.
• 6:30 AM - Processing – Cathy Knoke, library assistant II, arrives at the Library and starts processing books in Technical Services.
• 8:00 AM - Circulation – Sheri Huppert, circulation assistant, arrives and brings up the online circulation system.
• 8:30 AM - The State Law Library officially opens for the business day.
• 8:45 AM - Cooperating and Collaborating – Daniel Lunde, head of Outreach Services, prepares to host a meeting of the Capitol Area Library Consortium.
• 9:00 AM - Teaching – Anna Cherry, reference librarian, conducts a training session for Judicial Branch employees on efficient professional research using the Internet.
• 9:30 AM - Opinions Archive – Elizabeth Tuckwood, library assistant III, edits HTML to prepare Minnesota appellate opinions for the online archive.
• 10:00 AM - Outreach to Inmates – Susan Trombley, librarian for the Law Library Service to Prisoners program, answers a letter from a Minnesota prisoner serving time in a California prison, while providing instructions to Joan, a LLSP volunteer for over ten years.
• 10:15 AM - Bill Erlandsen, library assistant, shelves books for the Library throughout the day.
• 10:30 AM - Tours – Susan Larson, reference librarian and County Law Library Program coordinator, conducts a tour for 30 paralegal students. We are the library of certification for the paralegal program at Inver Hills Community College.
• 11:00 AM - Briefs – Debbie Kitzmann, library assistant II, processes the briefs and transcripts received by the Library.
• 11:15 AM - Online Resources – Randi Madisen, head of Public and Electronic Services, assists one of the Human Resources staff in the use of several online databases: Westlaw, LexisNexis, and CCH Internet Research Network.
• 11:30 AM - Cataloging – Robin Horowitz, cataloger, creates a bibliographic record and exports it to Aleph, the Library's online catalog.
• 11:45 AM - Juvenile Court at 100 – Barbara Golden, State Law Librarian, heads for a meeting with the Minnesota Supreme Court's Juvenile Justice Centenary Planning Committee.
• 12:00 PM - Continuing Education – Daniel Lunde, head of Outreach Services, starts a new Showcase Series by introducing a recently appointed Justice of the Supreme Court.
• 12:30 PM - County Law Library Program – Susan Larson, reference librarian, meets with a new county law librarian for orientation and training.
• 1:00 PM - Government Documents – Laurel Stiebler, library assistant III and the Federal Documents Coordinator, selects online government documents and adds them to the Library catalog.
• 1:30 PM - Jail Inmate Reference – Anna Cherry, reference librarian, answers a letter from a jail inmate.
• 2:00 PM - Periodicals – Elizabeth Tuckwood, library assistant III, sorts the mail and checks the new periodicals into the Library's online serials system.
• 2:15 PM - Table of Contents Service – Debbie Kitzmann, library assistant II, scans the table of contents for each periodical received for emailing to library users.
• 2:30 PM - New Books – Dennis Skrade, head of Technical Services, creates a list of materials received by the Library in the last month for email distribution to Judicial Branch employees.
• 3:00 PM - Inter-Library Loan – Sheri Huppert, circulation assistant, prepares materials requested from other libraries by Judicial Branch personnel and sends out materials from the Library to patrons of other libraries.
• 4:00 PM - Web site – Randi Madisen, head of Public Services and Electronic Services, updates links on our Web page.
• 4:30 PM - Issues in Briefs – Dia Lor, student worker, inputs the issues in briefs for the Library's Web site.
• 5:00 PM - Ask A Librarian Email – The Library closes for the business day, but the questions come into our Ask A Librarian email 24/7 and are answered by our reference staff at the start of the next business day.  From their desktops, patrons continue to use the online catalog and the Library Web site, www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us.

Administration 2005 Annual Report
Public Services 2005 Annual Report
Technical Services 2005 Annual Report
LLSP 2005 Annual Report