Law students push for county library reform

Seven law students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law completed a research project on Arkansas county law libraries this summer. The team, consisting of Brandon Bean, Rabecca Cisneros, Hank Herzfeld, Matthew Stocks, Katie Rainey, Abigail Hustead, and Blakely Spears, worked with Taylor Handford, an attorney at the Association of Arkansas Counties. They presented their findings in early August to Sen. Clarke Tucker, Rep. Carol Dalby, and members of the Association of Arkansas Counties legal staff.

The students identified significant differences in how funding is distributed across the state. Some counties held substantial balances, while others lacked law library boards entirely. Under current law, funding goes to county treasurers who remit funds to partners, ideally the county law library board. The students found that some counties kept materials locked up and others refused to discuss their libraries with the research team, despite public funding.

Rep. Carol Dalby, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the work could lead to new legislation. She noted that legislators want efficient use of tax dollars and fines that enter the system. Dalby stated that county law libraries need to be brought into the 21st century. She added that people want to see improvements in items that fall under her committee.

Sen. Clarke Tucker expressed confidence that reforms at the county and state level would result directly from this work. He described the group as talented and noted that the state has a limit to what its staff can do when operating at capacity. Tucker said the quality of the students' work was high from an analytical standpoint and that he did not think such an effort had been undertaken on this issue before.

Taylor Handford said he would be very surprised if legislation did not come out of the project. He described the data the students compiled as spectacular. Handford noted that the Association of Arkansas Counties was already looking into how the libraries function, so collaborating with Bowen made sense to tackle the issue holistically. The research confirmed that the system requires reform based on stakeholder input.

The students split their focus. Roughly half examined Arkansas county law libraries, led by Cisneros. The other half examined systems in other states, led by Rainey. Rainey, a Little Rock native in her final year, said there is no national model for these libraries. She noted that thriving libraries share commonalities such as mandates by state code and oversight on spending. She emphasized that local control is important because local officials know best, but accountability is needed.

Cisneros, a second-year student and military veteran, found the intent of local control created problems without a method to reallocate funds. She said there can be a chasm between policymakers and those who execute policies. The team also discussed building up courthouse kiosks. These stations provide free access to legal forms and guides. The state currently has more than 90 kiosks, according to the Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation.

Bowen Dean Colin Crawford said the school was proud of the students' impressive work. He noted that the research was prompted by conversations regarding the Administration of Justice law. The project is not closed, and Bowen students could assist in drafting legislation to enhance the law library system.