The Santa Cruz County Law Library was established August 3, 1896, by County Ordinance No. 126. Since that time the library has grown from a few shelves of books in the District Attorney's office on the lower floor of the former CooperHouse, to an excellent library containing 20,000 volumes supplemented with computerized online databases, plus a citizen's self-help collection. Today the library is housed next to Traffic Court, on the lower floor of the County Governmental Center.

The law concerning California county law libraries is set forth primarily in Chapter 5 of the Business and Professions Code Sections 6300 et seq. County law libraries are free public libraries for the judiciary, state and county officials, members of the state bar, and all residents of the county.

The governing agency of the library is the Board of Law Library Trustees. Members are appointed annually by the Board of Supervisors and the local judiciary. Trustees serve without compensation and meet once a month in public session.

The administrative head of the library, directly responsible to the Board of Law Library Trustees, is the County Law Librarian, who also serves as Recording Secretary of the Board.

County Law Libraries are as diverse as the communities they serve. When compared to the other 57 counties and their libraries, the Santa Cruz library is considered to be medium-sized, with the county ranked 23rd in population, 23rd in terms of total revenue, 20th in the number of attorneys, and 18th in the size of the law library.

The Library derives most of its funding from a portion of most Superior Court filing fees. It is thus supported by litigants who are directly benefited by the library. Other sources of revenue include donations and other income from various fee-based services.

For more information, please see our most recent Annual Report (pdf-752k).

The library is located in the County Government Center, 701 Ocean Street Room 070 (downstairs), in Santa Cruz, California.

Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm.

Closed Weekends and Holidays

The library observes the following holidays:

• January 1st
• The third Monday in January, Known as "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day"
• February 12th, known as "Lincoln Day"
• The third Monday in February
• The last Monday in March, known as "Caesar Chavez Day"
• July 4th
• The first Monday in September
• The second Monday in October, known as "Columbus Day"
• November 11th, known as "Veterans Day"
• The last Thursday and Friday in November
• December 24th (close at noon)
• December 25th
• New Year's Eve (close at noon)
  .......and any other day appointed by the President for a public fast, Thanksgiving, or holiday.