Good deal for Lexis, not for the taxpayer though
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — In April, the Washington County Quorum Court heard public comments, leading to a conversation revealing ongoing changes and activity of the county’s law library, which utilizes taxpayer funds.
Following public comment and concerns about the entity, County Judge Patrick Deakins motioned to send out information to the quorum court regarding his findings about the state of the law library over the year.
What is a law library?
According to the University of Arkansas’s Steve Probst, a law library is a library containing only legal materials and resources to provide legal aid and understanding to the community.
Probst is the Young Law Library Interim Director and said the university’s building is used by students and faculty of the University of Arkansas School of Law, but is open for public use.
“Sometimes we serve local attorneys or alumni who don’t have access to all the legal materials that we have… Other times, it’s a member of the public who is not represented by counsel that may be trying to do a little research on their own, researching a child custody issue or some sort of criminal law that they may have interaction with,” said Probst.
Prior Usage of the Washington County Law Library
According to County Treasurer Bobby Hill, the Washington County Law Library has been around for decades and is part of the Administration of Justice Fund.
The Administration of Justice Fund is composed of court fines and fees from taxpayers, covering the following Washington County agencies: the jail, the prosecutor’s office, the public defender’s office, and the law library.
Hill said the law library receives around $90,000 a year from the fund. He says it has more than $400,000 in unspent reserves.
The law library board decides how the funds and resources are used, which is outside of the quorum court’s authority in spending oversight, according to Hill.
In recent years, the law library ran under board chair Susan Purtle and then-law librarian Roger Northam, according to Deputy County Attorney Catherine Baker.
According to Baker’s letter to the quorum court, the law library subscribed to “Lexis-Nexis,” a legal research service.
Hill said this year, the law library is currently on track to spend $60,000 on the subscription contracts and has given $1,500 to The Jones Center in Springdale to rent out a space in the Center for Nonprofits at The JTL Shop.
Baker said the purpose of the money that went towards the Springdale center was to rent an office that would allow the public to have open access to the “Lexis-Nexis” database.
However, when she visited the location, Baker said the office was unstaffed and closed during the hours the JTL Center was open.
In 2024, Baker said the database had logged 30 hours for the entire year.
Separately, the law library was recorded as open only one morning a week, which Baker said was for Legal Aid clinics that the law library funded.
According to AR Legal Aid’s website, then-chairman of the law library, Susan Purtle, was also a managing partner and consumer of Legal Aid.
The website also confirms the weekly clinics, stating that the law library board provided funding to the organization to staff a help desk at the library every Friday.
Baker expressed concerns of “self-dealing” but recognized that the Legal Aid contract could have been “a legitimate expense.”
Upon further investigation, Baker said, after being appointed to the law library board, she spoke with the County Clerk to learn more about the terms of the other board members.
During this, Baker said the other members had not filed oaths with the clerk.
“By statute, this means they have declined their position, and the seat is vacant,” said Baker.
Baker said she was unable to learn how vacancies are filled with the library board, and followed the way the judge appoints members in that situation.
The Future of the County Library Board
According to Baker, a newly appointed group of attorneys now runs the law library board, with intentions to take the law library in a new direction.
“The newly sworn board is hopeful that these funds can be moved from supporting an idea that was once critically useful but is now, sadly, obsolete – a law library full of books,” said Baker.
Under the new legislation passed, Baker said the Administration of Justice fund will now include district courts. A district judge and a circuit judge will be added to the law library board.
