HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Before the creation of the Guam Law Library, Professor Marian Gallagher from the University of Washington School of Law was invited to Guam into 1978 to prepare a study of the law library resources on Guam and to assist in the passage of the laws establishing the Guam Law Library. At that time, Guam had a population of approximately 100,000 and there were over 100 active attorneys including those in private practice, government service and military service. Today, the population of Guam is over 150,000 and there are over 397 members of the Guam Bar Association.

In 1978 the primary source of legal materials in publicly funded libraries were the Attorney General’s library, the District Court library, both located in the Pacific News Building in Hagatna, and the Superior Court library. The Attorney General’s library had the largest collection. It contained some basic primary authorities and search books not found elsewhere on the island. It had the National Reporter System and its corresponding Shepard’s Citations and the American Digest System.

The 1979 “Gallagher Report” surveyed the holdings of these three libraries compared it with the California County Law Library Basic List published in May 1976. The California County Law Library is another publicly funded law library. The result of this survey helped to set up the major legal collection at the Guam Law Library. Since then, the collection is the largest on-island and is a central source for Guam materials and other legal materials for the communities here and in the western Pacific.

In 1995, the Board of Trustees decided to engage another Library Consultant to review all aspects of the Library. Areas such as personnel, budget, and collection developments including modernizing the library with use of new computer technology were to be considered. Other areas that needed attention were the library facilities and operation procedures. This resulted in the hiring of Alan Dear as Director. Alan Dear made significant changes in the operations of the Guam Law Library that brought great benefits to staff and patrons alike.