Philadelphia, PA - December 5, 2005 - The Board of Directors of the Jenkins Law Library has approved a membership dues increase of $25 per year for 2006 and 2007. This will go into effect on January 1, 2006. Attorneys who are not members of Jenkins will be unable to use the library on a daily basis unless they subscribe to the membership program.

As the county law library for Philadelphia, Jenkins’ primary revenue comes from court filing fees which declined substantially in 2005. Since membership dues presently account for only 9% of the law library’s funding and have not been raised in 15 years, the board agreed this increase was necessary.

According to Library Director, Regina L. Smith, “Without a predictable source of funding, it is difficult to maintain the high level of customer service and in-depth print and online collections that our members have come to rely upon for their legal research.” The dues increase was recommended by the law library’s Strategic Planning Committee chaired by the Honorable James J. Fitzgerald, III. The committee will be presenting the finalized strategic plan to the board in early 2006.

The Jenkins Law Library supports the legal information research needs of the general public and over 9,500 members. The library’s legal collection is one of the best in the country. In addition to an extensive current and historic rare book collection, library members have free public access to LexisNexis, Westlaw, palawlibrary.com and numerous online research tools. As an added benefit, many online research materials are now available 24/7 to members through the library’s website www.jenkinslaw.org.

Submitted by: Ida Weingram, Head of Outreach Services
on December 05, 2005 - 12:00 am

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