Weatherford approves interlocal agreement to house Parker County law library at public library

The Weatherford City Council on a 4–0 vote approved an interlocal agreement for the Parker County Law Library to be housed at the Weatherford Public Library.

Chris Accardo, director of library services, told the council the county asked the library to host the collection and would provide the print holdings, online legal databases and certain equipment. “The county will provide a print collection. They’ll provide online legal databases,” Accardo said, noting the county currently subscribes to LexisNexis and Westlaw. Accardo estimated that, if the city had to subscribe, those two databases would cost “in excess of probably $15,000” per year.

Under the agreement the city will provide roughly 250 square feet of space, shelving, IT support and public access computers, printers and copiers; staff will operate the collection and the county will supply databases and additional shelving or furniture if needed. Accardo also said the county requested that computers be purchased by the county in consultation with the city’s IT department and that the county receive semiannual usage statistics; he told the council those requests were acceptable to staff.

Council members asked about public access to the databases; Accardo said the resources would be available to attorneys, judges and the general public at no charge, and that the previous law library had been housed in a locked basement room of the District Court building with limited public access. Councilman Cleveland praised the cooperative arrangement as “another example of building a strong community” and thanked staff for working with the county.

The motion to approve the agreement, including the two changes requested by the county, was made by the Mayor Pro Tem and seconded by Councilman Cleveland. The motion passed 4–0.