W.Va. law library open, but needs a librarian

May 24, 2008|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - A full-time librarian has not yet been hired yet, but the 23rd Judicial Circuit regional law library is open for public use, a spokesperson with the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia said Tuesday.

While the hiring process is under way, state law librarian Kaye L. Maerz and Sara Thompson, the high court's education and outreach services librarian, are alternating staffing duty on a weekly basis at the library in the Berkeley County Judicial Center, Information Services Director Jennifer Bundy said.

The library hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but Bundy said because Maerz and Thompson are traveling from Charleston, W.Va., each week, availability on Mondays and Fridays could be affected.

Until someone is hired, Bundy recommended that people interested in using the facility on the second floor of the judicial center call Maerz or Thompson at 304-267-3730.

The library has not been regularly staffed since January 2007, when the previous librarian resigned to accept a job at the U.S. District courthouse in Martinsburg, Maerz said in April.

Maerz said she had begun the hiring process after Deborah Hillyard resigned, but was ordered to stop after receiving several applications.

The court's administrative director, Steven D. Canterbury, separately said the extended vacancy simply was an oversight, and indicated Chief Justice Elliott E. "Spike" Maynard asked him to take immediate action to hire a new librarian.

The 23rd Circuit library is one of six regional libraries in the state that are staffed full time. The library features work and conference rooms, two computer terminals for Internet access to online legal services and numerous volumes of the South Eastern Reporter, a legal reference series containing West Virginia case law.

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