North Carolina Central University School of Law History and Scholarship Digital Archives A History of Struggle: NCCU Law Library Law Library History 2013 A History of Struggle: NCCU Law Library Debroah Mayo Jefferies Follow this and additional works at: https://archives.law.nccu.edu/history-of-struggle Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Legal Education Commons Recommended Citation Jefferies, Debroah Mayo, "A History of Struggle: NCCU Law Library" (2013). A History of Struggle: NCCU Law Library. 1. https://archives.law.nccu.edu/history-of-struggle/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Library History at History and Scholarship Digital Archives. It has been accepted for inclusion in A History of Struggle: NCCU Law Library by an authorized administrator of History and Scholarship Digital Archives. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE: NCCU SCHOOL OF LAW LIBRARY DEBORAH MAYO JEFFERIES* TABLE OF CONTENTS THE BEGINNING: 1619 - 1929... ........................ 170 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ....................... 170 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries ................. 172 THE "JIM CROW" OR SEGREGATION ERA: 1930 -1939 ........ 173 Societal Attitudes and Legislation .......................... 173 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries ................... 174 THE "SEPARATE BUT NOT EQUAL" ERA: 1940 -1949......... 175 Societal Attitudes and Legislation .......................... 175 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries ................... 178 A "Qualified" Librarian ..................................... 178 An "Adequate" Library ...................................... 185 THE DESEGREGATION ERA: 1950 - 1959 ...................... 190 Societal Attitudes and Legislation .......................... 190 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries ................... 192 A "Qualified" Librarian ..................................... 192 An "Adequate" Library ...................................... 194 THE INTEGRATION ERA: 1960 - 1969.......................... 202 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ............................ 202 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries ................... 205 A "Qualified" Librarian ..................................... 205 An "Adequate" Library ...................................... 206 THE ERA OF UNCERTAINTY: 1970 - 1979...................... 211 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ....................... 211 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries................. 214 A "Qualified" Librarian .............................. 214 An "Adequate" Library ............................... 216 THE DIVERSITY ERA: 1980 - 1989........................ 224 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ....................... 224 Professional Standardsfor Law Libraries................. 227 A "Qualified" Librarian .............................. 227 * Deborah Mayo Jefferies retired from NCCU School of Law in 2012, where she served as law library director for 23 years. She received her B.A. and M.S.LS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. Degree from North Carolina Central University. 168 2014] THE HISTORY OF NCCU'S LAW LIBRARY 169 THE TECHNOLOGY ERA: 1990 - 1999... ................. 242 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ....................... 242 Professional Standards for Law Libraries................. 243 A "Qualified" Librarian .............................. 243 An "Adequate" Library .............................. 245 THE COMPETITIVE ERA: 2000 - 2009 .............. ....... 262 Societal Attitudes and Legislation ....................... 262 ProfessionalStandards for Law Libraries ................. 265 A Qualified Librarian. ................................ 265 An "Adequate" Library .............................. 266 EPILOGUE ...................................................... 277 INTRODUCTION "A group of people without a written history is doomed to repeat it, both the successes and failures."' Although the law library was histori- cally extolled as the "heart" or "laboratory" 2 of a law school, written histories of law schools are oftentimes quiet, if not silent, about the events and circumstances that contributed to the development of their libraries.3 Therefore, as I prepared to leave North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law Library, after nearly two and a half decades as its director, I felt it necessary to record its history for 1. George W. Reid, James Edward Shepard, The Founder: An Educational and Commu- nity Leader and Fundraiser 8 (Sept. 26, 1984) (unpublished manuscript of a five-part transcribed symposium on the history of North Carolina Central University, from the perspective of univer- sity and community) (on file with the NCCU Shepard Library Archives). 2. GLEN-PETER AHLERS, SR., THE HISTORY OF LAW ScHooi LIBiRARIIS IN THE UNITED STATEs: FROM LABORATORY TO CYBERSPAC 93-94 (2002). 3. See, e.g., JULIUS GoEi.L, JR., FOUND. FOR RESEARCH IN LEGAL His iouy, A HISTORY oF Tim Scnool. OF LAW, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (1955) ; Harry G. Henn, The Cornell Law School - Its History & Traditions, 37 N.Y. ST. B.J. 146 (1965); ARTiHUR E. SUTHERLAND, THE LAW AT HARVARD: A HisToRY OF IDEAS AND MEN 1817-1967 (1967); PHILIP S. MOORE, A CENTURY OF LAW AT NOTIRE DAME (1969); DAVID I. MAYS, TFE PURSUIT OF ExcELLENCE: A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY oF' RICHMOND LAW ScHooL (1970); Robert H. McKenzie, Far- rah's Future: The First 100 Years of the University of Alabama Law School 1872-1972, 25 ALA. L. REv. 121 (1972); C. Maxwell Dieffenbach, The Origin & Development of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, N. Ky. L. FORuM 10 (1973); Jonathan Evan Maslow, The Preposterous and Altogether Unlikely Story of Vermont Law School, 44 JURIS DR. (May 1974); Vonciel Jones, Texas Southern University School of Law - The Beginning, 4 TEx. S. U. L. Ruv. 197 (1976); FRANK L. ELLSWORTH, LAW ON THE MIDWAY: THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CII- CAGo LAW Scuool (1977); Albert Coates, The Story of the Law School at the University of North Carolina, 47 N.C. L. REv. 1 (1968-1969); Robert A. Stein, In Pursuit of Excellence: A History of the University of Minnesota Law School Part 1: The Pattee Years- A Time of Accom- modation, 62 MINN. L. REV. 488 (1978); Robert A. Stein, In Pursuit of Excellence: A History of the University of Minnesota Law School Part 4: The Pirsig Years- A Time of Transition, 1948- 1955, 63 MINN. L. REv. 299 (1979); SANDRA P. EISrrIN, LAW Al BERKLEY: TillE HISTORY OF BOALT HALL (1997); JAMES A. RAIL & KURT SciwERIN, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ScHooL OF LAW: A SHoRT HISTORY (1960); W. Hamilton Bryson, The History of Legal Educa- tion in Virginia, 14 U. RICH. L. REV. 155 (1979) (recording the history of the law school but with little, if any reference to the law library). 170 NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 36:168 future generations. It is the intent of this article to preserve the his- tory of a law library that was born in segregation, raised in discrimina- tion, and refused to die in the wake of integration and affirmative action. I will describe how judicial decisions and legislation as well as societal attitudes toward African Americans impacted the history of the law library. I will further discuss the professional standards for law libraries which mandated how the law librarians that preceded me managed the law library at NCCU School of Law. My story begins with the premise that law library directors at NCCU School of Law faced many challenges, mainly due to racism. This article chronicles the history of the law library by dividing the past into ten-year periods, each decennial representing a distinct era in its history. Within each era, I discuss how societal attitudes about African Americans made it difficult for the NCCU School of Law, and ultimately the law library, to exist. Focusing specifically on the law library's directors, collections, facilities, and services, I will describe how the NCCU School of Law provided a library that was at least "adequate" for training law students.' I will also explore the ways NCCU School of Law was able to provide a librarian, "qualified," to develop and maintain "effective library service,"s despite the fact that academia largely believed anyone could do the job. Finally I explain how the law library struggled to overcome insufficient funding for col- lection building, insufficient space to house the minimal books col- lected, and still managed to survive, despite insufficient staff to process and maintain the collection. THE BEGINNING: 1619 - 1929 Societal Attitudes and Legislation "It's always best to start at the beginning,"6 so that is where I will begin in order to forge an understanding and appreciation of the ob- stacles that NCCU School of Law and its law library have overcome. This story begins with a society that embraced institutionalized racism and the concept "that the white race is superior to and should have supremacy over all others."' Institutionalized racism for African 4. AI.FRS, supra note 2, at 48. 5. AHLERS, supra note 2, at 52. 6. This is the advice Glenda, the "good witch" in the 1939 movie classic, Tiim WIZARD OF Oz, gave to Dorothy when she asked how to begin her journey to the Emerald City. TIHE WiZ- ARD OF Oz (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1939). I am beginning this journey with the slave trade because of the impact the vestiges of this era have had on every aspect of African American life, including the development of the law library at NCCU School of Law. 7. See Tm- WORiLD BOOK DICTIONARY 2387 (Clarence L. Barnhart & Robert K. Barn-