Law Libraries in Washington State & the U.S.

Updated Feb. 5, 2009.
Prepared by Ann Hemmens.

The following list of law libraries in Washington State is divided by type of library: state, county, court, and academic. Collections, services, staffing, and hours vary widely, especially among the county law libraries. Not all these libraries are “public libraries” that allow anyone to use their materials. Call the listed libraries for information about access and services.

This guide also contains links to directories of U.S. law library websites and directories of websites of other types of libraries (academic, public, special, and state libraries) located in the U.S. and worldwide.

Other types of libraries may have legal collections. Many large public libraries have legal collections that include selected primary source material (such as the Revised Code of Washington and the United States Code) as well as a variety of self-help law books written for the general public. Some community colleges have paralegal programs with library collections to support legal research instruction.

If you are not located near one of the law libraries listed below, contact your local public, community college, or academic library (see Directories of Libraries in U.S. and Worldwide) and ask if they have any legal materials or if they can refer you to a nearby collection.

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Washington State Law Library

Washington State Law Library
Temple of Justice Building
415 12th St.
PO Box 40751
Olympia, WA 98504-0751
(360) 357-2136

Washington County Law Libraries

For current information see also the Washington Association of County Law Libraries Directory.

Adams County Law Library County Courthouse 210 West Broadway PO Box 126 Ritzville, WA 99169 (509) 659-3271	Island County Law Library Law and Justice Bldg. 101 NE Sixth St. PO Box 5000 Coupeville, WA 98239 (360) 679-7363	San Juan County Law Library County Courthouse, 2d floor 350 Court St. PO Box 804 Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (360) 378-4101
Asotin County Law Library 135 Second St. PO Box 159 Asotin, WA 99402 (509) 243-2065	Jefferson County Law Library 1820 Jefferson St. PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 385-9360	Skagit County Law Library 205 West Kincaid #104 Mount Vernon, WA 98273 (360) 336-9324
Benton/Franklin County Law Library Columbia Basin College 2600 North 20th Ave. Pasco, WA 99301 (509) 547-0511 Ext. 2290	King County Law Library - Main Branch Suite W-621 King County Courthouse 516 3rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 296-0940 Catalog	Skamania County Law Library County Courthouse 240 North Vancouver Ave. PO Box 790 Stevenson, WA 98648 (509) 427-3790
Chelan County Law Library County Courthouse 401 Washington St. Wenatchee, WA 98801 (509) 667-6473	King County Law Library - Kent Regional Justice Center Library 1 N Regional Justice Center 401 Fourth Ave. North Kent, WA 98032-4429 (206) 205-2900	Snohomish County Law Library County Courthouse 3000 Rockefeller Ave. MS 703 Everett, WA 98201-4046 (425) 388-3010
Clallam County Law Library 223 East Fourth St. PO Box 863 Port Angeles, WA 98362-0149 (360) 417-2287	Kitsap County Law Library 614 Division St. Port Orchard, WA 98366 (360) 337-5788	Spokane County Law Library Paulsen Bldg. West 421 Riverside Suite 1020 Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 477-3680
Clark County Law Library County Courthouse 1200 Franklin St. PO Box 5000 Vancouver, WA 98666 (360) 397-2268	Kittitas County Law Library County Courthouse 205 West Fifth St. Ellensburg, WA 98926 (509) 962-7520	Stevens County Law Library Colville Public Library 195 South Oak St. Colville, WA 99114 (509) 684-7520 (County provides legal materials through an online service; public computers available at Colville Public Library and in Stevens County Rural Library District branches.)
Columbia County Law Library County Courthouse 341 East Main St. Dayton, WA 99328-1361 (509) 382-4321	Klickitat County Law Library County Courthouse, Room 206 205 South Columbus, MS-CH-29 Goldendale, WA 98260 (509) 773-5755	Thurston County Law Library County Courthouse, Bldg. 2 2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW Olympia, WA 98502 (360) 786-5560
Cowlitz County Law Library Hall of Justice 312 SW First Ave. Kelso, WA 98626 (360) 577-3070	Lewis County Law Library Law and Justice Center, 2d Floor 345 West Main St. PO Box 357 Chehalis, WA 98532 (360) 740-1333	Wahkiakum County Law Library County Courthouse 64 Main St. PO Box 397 Cathlamet, WA 98612 (360) 795-3652
Douglas County Law Library County Courthouse 213 South Rainier St. PO Box 488 Waterville, WA 98858 (509) 745-8529 Ext. 8	Lincoln County Law Library County Courthouse 450 Logan St. PO Box 396 Davenport, WA 99122-0396 (509) 725-3081	Walla Walla County Law Library County Courthouse 315 West Main St. PO Box 836 Walla Walla, WA 99362 (509) 524-2796
Ferry County Law Library County Courthouse 350 East Delaware Ave. #11 Republic, WA 99166-9747 (509) 775-5206	Mason County Law Library County Courthouse 414 North Fourth St. PO Box 905 Shelton, WA 98584 (360) 427-9670 Ext.345	Whatcom County Law Library County Courthouse, Suite B-03 311 Grand Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225 (360) 676-6556
Franklin County Law Library See Benton/Franklin County Law Library	Okanogan County Law Library 149 Third North Okanogan, WA 98840 (509) 422-7130	Whitman County Law Library County Courthouse North 404 Main PO Box 679 Colfax, WA 99111 (509) 397-6244
Garfield County Law Library 789 Main St. PO Box 915 Pomeroy, WA 99347-0915 (509) 843-3731	Pacific County Law Library 300 Memorial Dr. PO Box 67 South Bend, WA 98586 (360) 875-9328	Yakima County Law Library County Courthouse 128 North Second St. Yakima, WA 98901-2631 (509) 574-2692
Grant County Law Library 35 C St. NW PO Box 37 Ephrata, WA 98823 (509) 754-2011 Ext. 357	Pend Oreille County Law Library Newport Public Library 116 South Washington Ave. Newport, WA 99156-1708 (509) 447-2435 (County provides legal materials through an online service; public computers available at this library.)
Grays Harbor County Law Library Courthouse, Room 202 102 West Broadway Montesano, WA 98563 (360) 249-5311	Pierce County Law Library County City Bldg., Room 1A-105 930 Tacoma Ave. South Tacoma, WA 98402 (253) 798-7494

Thanks to Marcus Hochstetler, Director of the King County Law Library, for alerting us to website and phone number changes for many of these county law libraries in Feb. 2007.

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Washington Court Libraries

U.S. Courts Library U.S. Courthouse, Room 650 920 West Riverside Ave. Spokane, WA 99201-1010 (509) 353-3293

U.S. Courts Library U.S. Courthouse 700 Stewart Street Rm. 19105 Seattle, WA 98101-3141 (206) 370-8975

U.S. Court of Appeals Library Park Place Bldg. 1200 6th Ave., Suite 404 Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 553-4475

Washington Academic Law Libraries

Chastek Law Library Gonzaga University, 721 North Cincinnati St. Spokane, WA 99202 (509) 323-5792

Gallagher Law Library University of Washington William H. Gates Hall Box 353025 Seattle, WA 98195-3025 (206) 543-4086

Seattle University Law Library 900 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122-4340 (206) 398-4220 Not a public law library;  call for information.

Directories of Washington Libraries

Directory of Washington Libraries (Washington State Library, 1992- ).
This print directory contains contact information, hours of operation, and descriptions of collections and services provided by libraries in Washington State. It is organized by type of library (academic, government, public, and special libraries). Law libraries may be included under academic, government, or special. There are indexes by staff name, library and organization name. The online version is searchable by library name, location, and type or category of library.

Federal and State Depository Programs at the Washington State Library
This website is maintained by the State Library and contains links to a list of libraries participating in the Washington State Depository Program and a list of the Washington libraries participating in the Federal Depository Library Program.

Washington State Yearbook: The Evergreen State Government Directory (Electronic Handbook Publishers, 1983- ).
This print resource is published annually in cooperation with the Office of the Governor and the Office of the Secretary of State. It includes contact information for the various public libraries and county law libraries in Washington in addition to other state and local government information.

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Directories of U.S. Law Libraries

Academic Law Libraries

The Association of American Law Schools maintains links to the websites of member and non-member law schools, organized alphabetically.

Findlaw: Law Schools provides links to U.S. law school websites (including online library catalogs), organized by law school name or state and select foreign law school websites.

Law Library Catalogs links to the online library catalogs of U.S. law schools and select state law library catalogs. It is maintained under the auspice of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Public Law Libraries

Findlaw: Public Law Libraries links to the websites of select state, court, and county law libraries nationwide.

LegalTrek: Law Libraries & Associations links to websites of U.S. academic, state, and local law libraries, federal law libraries, and law library associations. Also includes links to select international law libraries and associations. Websites are organized by state or type of library. LegalTrek, designed by Adam Piacente, is a legal index providing links to websites containing U.S. federal, state, and local legal materials.

State, Court & County Law Libraries links to websites of state, court, and county law libraries in the U.S. and select Canadian and Irish law libraries. This website is maintained by members of the State, Court and County Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (SCCLL-SIS).

Print Directory

American Association of Law Libraries, AALL Directory and Handbook (1987- ) is an annual publication containing directory information for most U.S. law libraries.

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Directories of Libraries in the United States & Worldwide

Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Member Libraries links to library websites of over 120 member libraries in the United States.

Lib-Dex: The Library Index is a worldwide directory of more than 18,000 library websites and online library catalogs. Many types of libraries are included such as academic, government, religious, and law libraries. Browse the index by geographic location (country and state) and then type of library (law) or search by keyword. The directory was created by Peter Scott of the University of Saskatchewan Libraries.

Lib-Web-Cats is an online directory of over 5,000 libraries worldwide including links to library websites and online catalogs. It includes law libraries in addition to other types of libraries (such as, public, corporate, medical, and school). The directory can be searched by institution name, type of library, and geographic location. The website is maintained by Marshall Breeding of Vanderbilt University.

LIBCAT: A Guide to Library Resources on the Internet provides links to over 1000 U.S. academic, public, government, and special (e.g., law) library websites and online catalogs and library websites in other countries. The "U.S. Libraries" and "Other Libraries" databases are searchable by keyword (e.g., law) or geographic region (state or country). The databases are maintained by Metronet, a library system in Minnesota.

Libweb links to more than 7,500 library websites from more than 135 countries. Includes academic, public, national, regional, state, and special libraries. The directory can be searched by library name, location or type of library. Law libraries may be included in several categories; for thorough coverage conduct a keyword search for "law."

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