The Space & Physical Access

The Wahab Public Law Library is a part of the City of Virginia Beach Public Library System.  It is located in the Virginia Beach Judicial Center, in the main Courthouse, Building 10.  There is ample parking outside with handicap accessibility.  It is important to know that this is a courthouse and therefore cell phones, laptops, electronic devices and liquids (water bottles) are not permitted.  I made that mistake and had to return to my car to leave my laptop and cell phone.  They do provide lockers for those who want to lock it up while in the building.  One must go through security and get their bags screened as well.  After that hassle, it is a long walk through the building to an elevator to take you to ground level, where the Wahab Law Library can be found.  

Upon entering, I felt like I was in a very sterile environment, like a hospital.  The librarian at the front desk was very warm and welcoming as I timidly entered the quiet space, where one patron was at a computer.  Kimball, the library manager, was working on a puzzle when I arrived.  We later talked for quite some time.  After I walked around and got a little bit more comfortable with the space, I found a cozy chair in a living room-type nook to further observe.  I appreciated the modern features including, gray-blue painted walls, five maroon-colored stacks, and three cozy seating areas nestled within the stacks.  Long horizontal windows line two walls at the ceiling to provide a beautiful garden view of the trees and sky above. 

Towards the Information desk, there are five tables with chairs, one children’s table with puzzles and books, and one long divided desktop with six total computers available for patron use.  Towards the back side of the library, there is a cut-out mini-classroom area.  It contains two rows of long tables with chairs set up facing a SmartBoard.  There are also two small conference rooms available for patron use. A copy machine is available for $.20/copy.  (See my third photo for a full layout of the library).  Overall, the space is fairly small but comfortable and divided into different sections quite nicely with the furniture layout.      

People (Patrons & Staff)

I was acquainted with two of the four staff members that work in Wahab Public Law Library.  Three of them are full-time.  I spoke with Kimball, the law librarian and manager for quite some time.  He has an MLIS degree, and ironically lived in Oahu, Hawaii for ten years.  We talked a lot about Hawaii, the library system there compared it to the City of Virginia Beach.  It was an enlightening conversation and serendipitous meeting.  The other woman I met did not have a formal library background, but she was a paralegal with 20 years experience, so she knew her way around the References and Databases.  Two other library staff I did not see or meet, they do not have MLIS degrees but have varied experience that allowed them to qualify for their roles.  All the staff have worked in this branch for less than five years and they are under a new director.  

For the hour that I was hanging out in the library, there were a total of three patrons that visited.  All three used the computers to look up and print information, and all three were helped by library staff.  One employee brought in a fake Christmas tree and stayed to chat with the manager for a while.  One police officer made a round and stopped in the conference room for a bit.  It was pretty dead for how busy the parking lot and security lines were to enter into the building.  Kimball broke down for me who they serve, so that I could more fully understand who is walking into this space on a daily basis.  Wahab Public Law Library is there to serve the court.  Fifty to sixty percent of their patrons are the common public.  They are here for reasons of the law, and the Clerk’s Office refers patrons to the law library for various information they need to retrieve; such as codes, deeds, etc.  Most likely, patrons need a lot of assistance when entering the library.  The staff is there with open arms to assist them in finding the information they need.  Forty percent of the people they serve are attorneys.  10 percent or less is staff and attorneys using the rotating collection while in the building.          

Digital Access

Wi-Fi was available on six desktop computers.  It was slow, but available to patrons. Library staff needed to assist each patron with Login assistance; a generic library card number and passcode was needed for access.  Computers logged out quickly if not in use.  I had planned to bring my laptop to work, and my phone to take pictures but those items were not allowed for me in the building.  The Wahab Public Law Library website is found through the City of Virginia Beach website.  It is very easy to navigate as it is geared towards the general public.  It contains the location, hours, building access and security, and several hyperlinks to On Demand Topics, Legal Resources, and Ask the Law Librarian.  The catalog is accessed through the main VBPL website where one can then search just the Wahab Collection.  The main Databases used are Lexis and WestLaw.     

Services & Intellectual Access

No additional programming or services are offered online, and I did not notice any postings within the library.  I looked through all the brochures and pamphlets offered and took these three for reference (pictured below).  The mission of the Wahab Public Law Library is to provide the public with information about the law and reference materials.  They are there to help law professionals, attorneys, government agency employees, students and the common public by providing excellent, knowledgeable staff to guide them in their research.  Understanding the law and court systems is already like learning a new language.  I would imagine understanding information and researching in this library would be very intimidating for a non-native English speaker or individuals with cognitive-learning disabilities.  The staff are very friendly and willing to help those navigate the law as it is very complicated.        

Collections

The five maroon bookshelves and the bookshelves along the back walls hold, at first glance, large encyclopedia-type books.  Their reference section online says 799, but when I talked to Kimball, the library manager, he believes that number is titles alone, not total references.  He believed that each title has easily 100 volumes.  All in all, he reports that there are approximately 8,000 items in their collection.  He boasted that they have the largest Reference collection in Virginia Beach City Public Libraries.    

The collection is organized by the Dewey Decimal system, but what was more apparent was their numbering section on the shelves.  There were 14 numbered sections and the Library Manager and staff wanted to put information together more by category.  For example, 2 is Continuing Legal Eduction (CLE), 4 is Virginia Law and 14 is National Law.  The example he used was Elder Law; it involves elder abuse, healthcare planning, estate planning, disability and special needs planning, and so on.  All of these topics would be found in different sections of the library, but the staff would like to have it all in one section so that it is can be easily referenced when they are helping out a patron. He said it is common for the staff to access and locate the collection more so than patrons. Rubin and Rubin (2020) said exactly this about special libraries, “they generally involve the librarian researching and finding the answer for a client, rather than the client expecting to locate the answer with the librarians assistance” (p.160). I found Wahab Law Library to be no exception to this rule. (See the shelving plan below for more details on content.)

Other

Kimball and I also discussed the budget, which I found very interesting.  He shared that this particular library does not receive funding from the City of Virginia Beach, rather from the State courts.  Civil case filing fees (not criminal case filing fees) from the General District Court and Circuit Court are paid into a special revenue fund.  This fund is where the law library pulls their budget from and pays their employees.  

In the 1960s the Local Bar Association, which was then in Princess Anne County, managed the law library.  In 1971, the City of Virginia Beach was asked to take over and manage the Virginia Beach Law Library.  In 1979, it was renamed Wahab Public Law Library in honor of the late Circuit Court Judge.  Although the City manages the Law Library via its website, the Wahab Law Library reports directly to the courts and is fairly autonomous in nature.  In 1993, the library was moved to the building it currently resides in, and in 2017 it underwent a complete renovation.  I was surprised by the fresh and modern space.  If I return to learn more, I would want to understand what patrons are researching when referred by the Clerk’s Office.

References

City of Virginia Beach.  (n.d.).  Wahab Public Law Library.  Retrieved on July 19, 2022, from https://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/libraries/locations/lawlibrary/Pages/default.aspx

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G.  (2020).  Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.).  ALA Neal-Schuman.

Weidner, E. (2022).  Virginia Beach Judicial Center.  [photograph].  Retrieved from Personal Collection.  CC BY-NC

Weidner, E. (2022).  Wahab Public Law Library-brochures.  [photograph].  Retrieved from Personal Collection.  CC BY-NC

Weidner, E. (2022).  Wahab Public Law Library-shelving plan.  [photograph].  Retrieved from Personal Collection.  CC BY-NC