Law Librarian

SCOTT STEVENS—DIRECTOR OF THE LAW LIBRARY AT THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY By Valerie Taylor

Scott Stevens is currently serving as the Director of the Law Library at the Circuit Court for Baltimore County and he has been a member of the team at the Law Library since 2002 during which time he served as an Associate Law Librarian. Prior to his employment at the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Mr. Stevens gained experience by working at a seminary library, University of Maryland’s Human Service Library, and NASA Goddard’s library. Mr. Stevens attended Goucher College and earned his B.A. in Communication. He then went on to earn his Masters in Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and his M.B.A. from University of Baltimore/Towson University. Mr. Stevens recounted that although he initially did not have a desire to pursue a law degree when he first began working at the Law Library, he was immensely inspired to do so by The Honorable Susan Souder. After graduating from law school and passing the bar, Mr. Stevens stayed within the library world due to the growing need for self-help in the law and his love for sharing information with people. Mr. Stevens sees the law library as the heart of the legal community with particular importance on the self-help program. He takes pride in the law library being a place which both directly and indirectly serves equal access to justice and benefits the entire community, including attorneys, judges, and selfrepresented litigants. Mr. Stevens noted that over his years working at the Law Library, he has seen a shift in the law library being a place primarily for attorneys and judges to being a place for selfrepresented litigants to gain access to the legal information and assistance they need. Mr. Stevens encourages more attorneys in the area, especially new members of the bar, solo practitioners and members of smaller firms, to utilize the law library due to the vast resources that are available. This includes, but is of course not limited to, free access to annotated material, Lexis Nexis and Westlaw subscriptions, and information in niche areas of the law, such as tax law. Mr. Stevens emphasized that the Law Library is an indispensable resource for gaining practical information about any area of the law in which one is unfamiliar.

In his free time, Mr. Stevens enjoys spending time outdoors and cycling. One of his most memorable cycling tours was one from Pittsburg to Cumberland along the Great Allegheny Passage in 2020. Mr. Stevens is from Baltimore, Maryland and currently resides in York, Pennsylvania. In addition to having a love for reading, Mr. Stevens also has an interest in computers and likes to learn computer programming during his free time. The law library in the Baltimore County Circuit Court is located on the second floor of the Courthouse and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for in-person services. Next time you are in the Courthouse, please stop by and introduce yourself to Mr. Stevens if you are interested in learning more about the law library and what it has to offer!