Library Services
The Library Services unit plays a critical role in the effective administration of justice in New South Wales. Legal authorities and timely information are provided to support the decision making of the courts and tribunals. We also support the initiatives and research of business centres in the courts.
The staff of Library Services is responsible for classifying and managing more than 200,000 volumes at the Law Courts Library. Located within the law courts building, this library was established in 1977 to provide a library service for both commonwealth and state courts
Its extensive hard copy collection is supplemented by a comprehensive range of electronic legal resources. The library houses a rare book collection in a purpose-built temperature controlled room. This historical collection predates the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1824.
Library service for judges and court staff
The Law Courts Library today provides services to the judges of the Federal Court of Australia (Sydney) and the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Smaller collections are available at other locations to support the work of judges, magistrates and court staff.
Library services is staffed by a team of librarians, library technicians, library assistants and administrative staff.
While the departments libraries are not open to members of the public; the law courts library provides library services for a fee to members of the legal profession, and to legal, academic and specialist libraries.
Library services collections are available for loan to other libraries as part of the inter-library loan network, with some exceptions such as rare and other specialist materials.
Law Courts Library fees
The Law Courts Library is open only to:
- Legal practitioners (individual practitioners, barristers or law firms)
- Academics and post-graduate law students
- Other libraries for inter-library loans.
To use the library, borrowers need to buy an access card for a set period. There are different access fees for each of the above categories of borrowers.
- For details of access card fees see Services for library communities under 'Access to the library' of the Law Court Library website.
- For borrowing fees see Services for library communities under 'borrowing' of the Law Court Library website.
