Paralegal Studies

Page 31 and 32 of the ABA guidelines

The institution must have available a library adequate for its program of education of paralegals.

A. A library must be available containing resources that are relevant to and adequate for the courses being taught.

B. The program director must evaluate the adequacy of the library/information resources.

C. The library and library support must be available to students during hours that makes its use convenient and practical.

D. The library administration must permit instruction in legal research inside the library, subject to reasonable restrictions.

E. The program can satisfy this Guideline by the availability of an external law library, such as a law school library or a city, county, or bar library, by an internal library maintained on its premises by the institution, or by combining elements of both an external library and an internal library.

F. If the program relies on an external library to fulfill these requirements, the following conditions must be met:
     1. The library must be located within a reasonable distance of the institution. 31
     2. There must be an understanding between the library administration and the institution with respect to student accessibility and onsite instruction.

G. At a minimum the library must provide adequate access to the following resources, all of which must be up-to-date:
     1. The code of the state in which the institution is located;
     2. The reporter for the state in which the institution is located, or the regional reporter that includes such state, covering at least the preceding 25 years;
     3. A citator resource to check on the currency and validity of primary source material for the state in which the institution is located;
     4. A legal encyclopedia, e.g., American Jurisprudence, Corpus Juris Secundum, or a comparable state encyclopedia;
     5. Texts, practice manuals and form books, in all areas of legal specialty instruction;
     6. Texts, periodicals and other resources about the paralegal profession; and
     7. Law dictionaries.

H. The appropriate mix of print and electronic resources depends on the needs of the program to make available resources that are relevant to and adequate for the courses being taught. Programs must provide sufficient access to electronic resources and clearly label print resources that are out of date