History of the Law Library

The collection was originally started by the Roanoke Bar Association in 1925 exclusively for the use of its members. The Roanoke Law Library was originally financed by RBA funds and donations from its members. Eventually the RBA purchased a copier for the use of attorneys researching cases in the library. The RBA then used the proceeds from the copier to fund the expenses of the Law Library.

In 1976, the RBA transferred the administration of the law library to the Roanoke Public Library, and the library was officially opened to the public. Since 1976, most of the Law Libraries budget is generated by the filing fees collected from civil cases in the Roanoke City courts (per Virginia Code 42.1-70).  Many years these fees did not completely cover the expenses and as part of the 1976 agreement, the RBA continued to financially support the library supplying 50% of the Law Library budget deficit from 1976 through 1999. Beginning in 2000, for budgetary reasons, the RBA began an annual donation to the Law Library in lieu of the deficit support.

The Law Library has over 18,000 legal volumes available for public research including some statute books dating back to 1819. The Law Library provides free access to Lexis Advance, a sophisticated online legal research database where you can search statutes and case law for all 50 states and federal materials.

The Law Library’s legal collection is non-circulating except for a small collection of basic primers on legal subjects published by NOLO and the West Nutshell series. The library provides free public access to computers with Internet access and Microsoft Office productivity software (the user must have a valid Roanoke valley public library card). The Law Library’s collection is searchable in the Roanoke Valley Libraries online public access catalog. The library was located in the Roanoke City Courthouse at 315 Church Street in downtown Roanoke until 2021 when it was moved to the main Roanoke Library located at 706 S. Jefferson Street.