Circuit Library

The Circuit Library is the circuit’s primary law library and provides a full range of library support services to the circuit’s judicial officers and staff. These services include performing research, acquiring reference materials, developing and maintaining the library’s and chambers’ collections, procuring law books, periodicals, and other reference materials, and providing technical support. The Circuit Library also subscribes to a number of online research tools for the use of judges, law clerks, and court staff.

The Circuit Library’s collection includes more than 150,000 books, a number of periodicals, approximately fifteen research databases, and many large microform sets such as Supreme Court briefs, some appellate briefs, and congressional hearing records.

For many years, the Circuit Library has maintained an extensive collection of congressional documents and superseded research materials related to the District of Columbia. As such, the library serves as a primary source for these materials and assists other federal circuit libraries and executive branch agencies when research questions arise related to these collections.

In 1996, the D.C. Circuit Judicial Council adopted the following User Policy for the Circuit Library:

The law library of this Circuit shall be open only to court personnel and members of the bar of the Court of Appeals or the District Court and to any person who is counsel or a party in a case pending in this Circuit, or by the permission of a judge of this Circuit. Any person wishing to use the government document collection will be admitted for that purpose, subject to generally applicable security and other restrictions. (Please note: to allow our staff to prepare adequately for assisting our public patrons, we ask that public patrons call 202-216-7400 in advance for a two-hour appointment, to be scheduled for Monday through Friday between the hours of 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. You must provide your case’s docket number to secure an appointment. Attorneys may call 202-216-7400 to gain immediate access for time-sensitive research.)

The Circuit Library is a member of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).