The Minnesota State Law Library is a

law library A law library is a special library, specialist library used by Legal education, law students, lawyers, judges and their Law clerk, legal assistants, and academics in order to Legal research, research the law or its Legal history, history. Law ...

operated by the judicial branch of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. It is currently housed in the ground level of the Minnesota Judicial Center, which was built in 1915. An expansion of the building was completed in 1990. The Minnesota Judicial Center is adjacent to the State Capitol in

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

. As cited in the

Minnesota Constitution The Constitution of the State of Minnesota was initially approved by the residents of Minnesota Territory in a special election held on October 13, 1857, and was ratified by the United States Senate on May 11, 1858, marking the admittance of Min ...

, the State Law Librarian is appointed by the

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...

.Minnesota State Legislature.
Minnesota State Constitution Article VI. Section 2.
St. Paul, October 13, 1857. Amended November 2, 1982. Retrieved March 15, 2010 In its long history, the library has benefitted from the contributions of 25 State Librarians/State Law Librarians, who have come from many walks of life. Doctors, journalists, teachers, legislators, mayors, and in recent years, attorneys have held the office. Some of the more colorful State Law Librarians have been Gen. Samuel P. Jennison, who later served in the Civil War. Louisa Goodwin, widowed by the Civil War, served as the nation's first female state librarian. Captain DeWitt Smith and Melissa Smith were the first husband and wife to hold the same state office in Minnesota. William Henry Harrison Taylor was a grandson of

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

, the 9th President of the United States. Margaret S. Andrews was the last person to be referred to as State Librarian and the first to be called State Law Librarian.

References

External links

Official websiteMinnesota Judicial Branch
{{Authority control Education in Saint Paul, Minnesota Law libraries in the United States Libraries in Minnesota State libraries of the United States