Alaska State Court Law Library

Borrowing | Interlibrary Loan | Legal Research and Advice | Photocopy Service

Legal Research and Legal Advice Policies

Court employees are prohibited from giving legal advice. Advising people what the law is and how it applies to their situation is practicing law, which is what lawyers do. Library staff are able to help you use the library, but we cannot research or interpret the law for you.

If you need someone who will research and interpret the law for you, you should consider talking to an attorney. The Alaska Bar Association offers a Lawyer Referral Service, available Monday - Friday 8:00 am - Noon; 1:00 - 4:00 pm:

907-272-0352

(800) 770-9999 (Outside Anchorage)

This service provides you with the names and phone numbers of three attorneys who practice in the area of law you need help with. If you use one of those three attorneys, you are guaranteed a rate of $50 or less for the first half hour of their time. Please note that this service includes only those attorneys who have requested to participate - it does not include all members of the Alaska Bar Association. You can also consult telephone yellow pages, or ask people you know to recommend a good attorney. Court staff cannot provide attorney recommendations.

If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be able to get help from Alaska Legal Services Corporation. They offer some legal services to qualified individuals. They also offer legal clinics on a variety of topics including custody, divorce and landlord-tenant issues. Refer to their home page at http://www.alsc-law.org/ for more information.

If you wish to do your own legal research we encourage you to visit your nearest Alaska State Court Law Library branch. Staff at Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan law libraries can show you what resources and indexes are available, but you are responsible for your own research. All other branches are unstaffed.

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Borrowing Policy - Anchorage Law Library

Eligible Borrowers
Court personnel, Alaska Bar Association members, and authorized employees of Alaska Bar Association members may borrow materials for the time periods described below.

Eligible Materials
A maximum of six items may be checked out at one time. Items may not be renewed.

One day checkout:

Alaska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals briefs
Three day checkout:

Treatises
Seven day checkout:

Law journals

Second copies of treatises (Look for "c.2" at the end of the call number)

Recall of Materials
Library materials may be recalled from the borrower if needed by court staff.

Fines and Penalties
Borrowers are responsible for all materials they check out. The library does not charge overdue fines. However, borrowers may have their checkout privileges reduced or revoked if they repeatedly keep materials past the due date, or fail to respond to overdue notices.

The replacement cost for lost or damaged items is $80, or the actual cost of replacement, (whichever is greater), and a $25 per-item processing fee.

Members of the Alaska Bar Association may designate employees to borrow items for them. Bring a completed authorization form to the Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan law library, or ask library staff for details and an authorization form.

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Interlibrary Loan Policy

The Alaska State Court Law Library will request materials unavailable locally on behalf of eligible borrowers. See the photocopy service heading for information about requesting materials from the Alaska State Court Law Library.

Eligible Borrowers
Court personnel and Alaska Bar Association members qualify for this free service, provided their requests are work-related. Requests by eligible borrowers that are not work-related or by those who are not eligible borrowers should be requested through your local public library.

Procedure
Requester must complete a Request for Information form, available in Adobe Acrobat and Word formats. Completed request forms must be legible and contain a full citation including author, title and other relevant citation information. Requests should also include the source of the citation. Library staff may refuse to accept any request that is incomplete or illegible. Completed requests should be faxed or mailed to the Anchorage Law Library, or given to library staff at the Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan law libraries.

Use of Borrowed Materials
The lending library sets the loan period and any restrictions on the use of materials. Any request for renewal must be placed before the due date.

Time Frame
Most requests for copies arrive within one week. Book requests generally arrive within two weeks, but some may take a month or longer to arrive. The time elapsed between placing a request and receiving the item depends on the location of the lending library and mail service.

Penalties
The library does not charge overdue fines for interlibrary loan materials, but the lending library may impose fines. Remember: the cooperative spirit of interlibrary loan will only work if borrowers respect the due dates set by the lending library. Borrowers who willfully fail to return borrowed interlibrary loan materials by the due date will not be eligible for future interlibrary loans of books. Borrowers are responsible for all charges incurred for overdue or lost interlibrary loan materials.

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Photocopy Service

Anchorage Law Library staff will copy and mail or fax materials in our collection to attorneys and the general public, subject to the following restrictions:

We cannot do legal research
We require a complete citation
Mail is the default delivery method
Our fax limit is 20 pages

To request copies:

Call the Anchorage Law Library at 907-264-0585 or complete a Request for Information form, available in Adobe Acrobat and Word formats.
Completed request forms must be legible and contain a full citation including author, title and other relevant information. Requests should also include the source of the citation, if known.
Mail, fax or email the Request for Information form:
Alaska State Court Law Library
303 K Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
907-264-0733 (fax)
library@courts.state.ak.us

We do not charge for this service. However, we will limit the number of copy requests supplied to one address each week if the request is excessive.

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www.courts.alaska.gov
library@courts.state.ak.us

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