Request By:
Mr. Jack R. Underwood, Jr.
Assistant County Attorney
Jefferson County Attorney's Office
Citizens Plaza
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
The question of the duties of the Jefferson Circuit Clerk, who is ex officio librarian of the county law library, is presented in your letter. It reads:
"I have been requested by the Board of Trustees of the Jefferson County Law Library to solicit your office's opinion regarding the interpretation of KRS 172 et seq. as it applies to the duties and responsibilities that the Circuit Clerk has to a law library in his county in his capacity as ex officio librarian of the county law library. In the Board's judgment, the statute does not clearly set out the Circuit Clerk's responsibilities and duties and it would be most appreciative of an opinion clarifying the matter.
"The Board is particularly interested in learning whether, in the opinion of your office, the Circuit Clerk has a duty to provide personnel from his office to help staff the library. There is disagreement as to whether or not his responsibilities extend this far."
The main functions or duties are set forth in KRS 172.110, which reads:
"(1) The circuit clerk shall be ex officio librarian of the county law library, and he shall see that county and state officials have access to the library at reasonable hours each day except Sunday and holidays. He shall receive a salary of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) per month for his services as librarian.
"(2) He shall keep the library room in order, preserve, arrange and index all the books, charts, maps and furniture belonging in the library, and see that no books or other things are taken from the library rooms without a receipt being given therefor.
"(3) He shall receipt for all books, maps and furniture placed in the library. The receipts shall be given to the state law librarian and preserved in his office at Frankfort.
"(4) He shall take an inventory each December of all the books, maps, charts or other property in the library belonging to the state and report the inventory under oath to the state law librarian before January 1 of the following year. "
Under the statute the circuit clerk must keep the library open, for the access of "county and state officials", during reasonable hours each day except Sunday and holidays. Under KRS 172.140(1), any person may use the books of the county law library, but the clerk shall not permit anyone to take the books out of the library, except that officials and attorneys at law may take the books to courtrooms to be used in the argument of cases there pending, but not elsewhere.
Under KRS 61.160, public offices in any county may close one (1) full day of any week, or any two (2) half days Monday through Saturday of any week. Such a county law library schedule could be extended upon occasion where required by the courts' use of the library in that county.
Greenup County v. Spears, 259 Ky. 114, 81 S.W.2d 905 (1935). The clerk is required to maintain the library in an orderly fashion, with proper arranging and indexing of books, charts, maps and furniture of the library. The general duties of the clerk in preserving, arranging and indexing of books include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
1. Discard superseded Ky. South Western 2d Paperback advance sheets.
2. Replace pocket parts in the Kentucky Revised Statutes as soon as received.
3. Shelve promptly upon receipt the Kentucky Decisions, South Western 2d paperback advance sheets, Kentucky Reports, and Kentucky Revised Statutes.
The books loaned to officials and attorneys under KRS 172.140 must be under a proper receipt procedure, such that the clerk knows at all times just which person has a particular volume. The circuit clerk must receipt for all books, maps and furniture placed in the library, and turn the receipts over to the state law librarian in Frankfort. The circuit clerk, as county law librarian, must take an inventory each December of all books, maps, charts or other property in the library belonging to the state and report the inventory under oath to the state law librarian before January 1 of the following year.
The books of the county law library consist of all volumes belonging to the state heretofore sent to various county officials directed by law to receive such books, and all volumes sent directly to the library by the state, and all books now owned or acquired by the county for the library. KRS 172.100. See also KRS 57.300 [Acts of General Assembly], KRS 57.310 [House and Senate Journals], and 57.320 [decisions of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of Kentucky].
The circuit clerk who receives any books from the state shall hold them as public property and as an appendage to his office, and deliver them to his successor. See KRS 57.360 and 172.120 [library inventory to successor] .
The clerk must keep a record of books taken from the library [KRS 172.140(1)], and must see that the books are returned at the proper time. KRS 172.150.
The clerk is responsible on his official bond for the value of all books lost from the library during his term of office. KRS 172.120(2). Further, any clerk who knowingly permits any book of the laws of this state or reports of the Court of Justice to be taken from his office in such a manner that he cannot produce the book when called upon to do so, shall be fined not exceeding $50. KRS 172.990(3).
Assuming that the optional financing plan of KRS 172.180 has been adopted in Jefferson County, the trustees of the county law library have the responsibility for the overall management of the library, pursuant to KRS 172.200(3), directing the ex officio librarian in the exercise of his duties. The trustees have the responsibility for making purchases of law books, and related items, for the library. The trustees, in purchasing for the library and in the appointment and compensation of personnel to assist the ex officio librarian in the handling of materials and in the maintenance of the library, are subject to revenue restrictions as stated in KRS 172.200(4).
In counties in which the alternate method of financing (law library fee) has not been adopted, the circuit clerk is responsible to the fiscal court as trustees. KRS 172.130.
In counties in which the alternate method of financing (law library fee) has been adopted, the circuit clerk shall, at the end of each month, pay all sums collected as county law library fees during the preceding month to the trustees of the county law library. The clerk must make a full report of the payment and is entitled to receive a receipt for it. KRS 172.180(3)(b).
Unfortunately while KRS Chapter 172 stresses the custodial function of the county law librarian, there are no statutes, at present, dealing with any provisions for library science training and the basic methodology to be employed in maintaining a sufficient county law library.
Specifically you ask whether the circuit clerk has a duty to provide personnel from his office to help staff the library.
The duties of the county law librarian generally cannot be delegated to others. However, since under KRS 61.035 a deputy clerk may perform any act permitted to be done by the principal ministerial officer, the circuit clerk may designate one or more of his deputy clerks to assist in the librarian function, where necessary.
It is primarily a practical problem for the trustees in providing at least a basic Kentucky law library, in each county, depending upon the statutory sources of books and available financing.
While it appears that the somewhat skeletal statutory treatment of librarian functions must receive a practical construction, the provisions for librarians with basic library experience and knowledge are not made out. See