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(Editor’s note: This piece originally ran in the June 2, 2011, issue of the Briefly Legal PDX e-newsletter)

Jacque Jurkins is too humble to admit she helped pioneer the establishment of several law libraries in the West. So, not surprisingly, the longtime director of the Multnomah County Law Library was shocked to learn the American Association of Law Libraries had honored her with its national Hall of Fame award.

鈥淚 was totally surprised. I had no idea that my name was submitted or even considered,鈥� says Jurkins, who began working at the library in 1964. 鈥淚鈥檓 so honored by it because it came from my peers, and that means an awful lot to me.鈥�

Jurkins graduated from the University of Wisconsin鈥檚 law school in the late 1950s, long before many women even considered pursuing a law degree. She worked briefly for a small law firm before realizing she was much happier doing research. A female friend who was the librarian at Yale University recommended Jurkins consider the fledgling law library program at the University of Washington.

The only student in the UW鈥檚 one-year, graduate program that year, Jurkins found an invaluable mentor in the program鈥檚 director, Marian Gallagher. Gallagher helped Jurkins craft a thesis on reorganizing the circulation system at the Washington Supreme Court鈥檚 law library. When Jurkins graduated in 1960, the court recruited her to implement the recommendations from her thesis.

About 18 months later, Gallagher asked Jurkins to return to the UW to help create a Pacific Rim Law Library there. (The UW鈥檚 law library has since been named after Gallagher.) When that project was finished, Jurkins moved to Denver to help the Colorado Supreme Court develop its law library. A dispute over funding derailed the project, but Jurkins soon learned that Multnomah County was looking to create a law library.

鈥淚t seemed like a real nice fit. I met the board and I felt real comfortable with them, and they felt comfortable with me. They offered me a two-year contract and I鈥檝e been here ever since,鈥� Jurkins says.

The largest county library in the state, the Multnomah County Law Library is filled with hundreds of thousands of volumes of legal codes and statues from the U.S., Canada and England. Law dating back to Oregon鈥檚 territorial days is housed in the library, which fills the north wing of the courthouse鈥檚 fourth floor and a portion of the third floor.

鈥淭he real value of our library is that we have materials that are not online and probably never will be because of the cost of capturing them for digitization,鈥� Jurkins says.

With a small staff and an even smaller budget, Jurkins helps with research and answers questions for a continuous flow of attorneys, judges, law students, paralegals and public citizens. She says that, even after all these years, the people she encounters each day are the best part of her job.

鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely gratifying working with the people I work with, not only the staff but the attorneys, the judges and many of the other people who come in,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ost people are so appreciative of any direction I can provide.鈥�