Mary Searles at the John W. King New Hampshire Law Library, where she worked for 20 years. (Photo by Tom Jarvis)

Mary Searles, librarian at the John W. King New Hampshire Law Library, has announced that she will retire on August 30.

For 20 years, Searles has provided referencing and research support to lawyers, judges, law clerks, government agencies, librarians, and the public. She has taught numerous law clerks how to create legal histories, mastered the ongoing administration of updating legal resources, expanded legal resources to a network of public libraries, and created an extensive collection of online guides to legal resources.

“It was an incredible job,” says Searles. “They gave me a lot of freedom in building this library.”

She grew up in Hillsborough and spent time with her aunt, who was a librarian at the New Hampshire State Library for 45 years, and her grandmother, who worked at the Conant Public Library in Winchester.

“We would spend summers at my grandparents’ house and play in the library while my grandmother worked,” Searles recalls. “We would hang out in the little alcoves, read books and have a great time. I just loved being in a library.”

Searles initially pursued her passion for music and became a flutist. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in music performance from the University of New Hampshire in 1981, she moved to Illinois to continue her studies.

After nearly a decade in the Prairie State, she returned to New Hampshire and earned a paralegal certificate from the New Hampshire Technical Institute.

In 1992, she began working as a pro bono paralegal at the New Hampshire Bar Association. When the Legal Advice and Referral Center was established, she became coordinator of the DOVE Project and later the Lawyer Referral Service.

In 2000, she decided to pursue a degree in librarianship.

“I was starting to burn out, but the information part was still interesting to me,” Searles says. “I joined library associations to get a feel for what it was like to be a librarian, and then decided to get my degree in librarianship. My original plan was to be a music librarian. A lot of people think I became a law librarian because I was interested in law – and it is very interesting – but my profession is librarian. I happen to practice that profession in a law library, but I would be just as happy in a music library, for example. What I study and think about is how I can be a bridge for people between their information needs and the sources that satisfy those needs.”

During her graduate studies at Simmons University in Boston, she worked at the Mary Baker Eddy Library and the New Hampshire Historical Society. After earning her master’s degree in library science in 2004, she became a librarian at the John W. King New Hampshire Law Library.

“When we hired Mary, the library was in poor shape,” says Richard Galway, retired New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice (NHSC). “It needed to be modernized. It wasn’t user-friendly for the lawyers or the judges. She turned all that around and took the law library to a new level, making it a welcoming experience and a really useful tool for the lawyers. She has had a huge impact on the legal community in New Hampshire. Mary is a real gem and I’m glad we hired her.”

One of Searles’ greatest achievements was the creation of the website New Hampshire Law About (courts-state-nh-us.libguides.com), a public portal with 94 legal research guides that is accessed over 10,000 times per month.

According to Searles, “The site was created to teach people how to conduct legal research, introduce them to reliable and accurate sources, and highlight the sources here in the law library.”

Searles says she is also proud of the partnerships she has built with many public libraries across the state.

“Mary is a fountain of information,” says Susan Zago, library director at UNH’s Franklin Pierce School of Law. “She’s a real powerhouse. She and my colleague Kathy Fletcher have a long history of working to educate public librarians on how to answer legal questions without giving legal advice.”

Building on these partnerships, Searles worked to expand the legal resources of public libraries.

“It started with us putting a Westlaw terminal and a small book collection in the Littleton Public Library to help lawyers in the north country,” Searles says, adding that the project – and others like the website – were funded by pro hac vice fees. The original plan was to expand to other libraries, but the COVID-19 pandemic slowed progress until recently.

Eric Stern, a digital initiatives librarian who started at the law library this year, says there are now five public libraries across the state that offer free access to Westlaw and print collections of legal resources such as the New Hampshire Practice SeriesBut by autumn there should be 11.

“I think Eric will accomplish great things,” Searles says. “I think he will take the public library project and the law library itself in entirely new directions.”

NHSC Judge James Bassett, who worked with Searles on a project to digitize Supreme Court cases dating back to 1849, says working with Searles was one of the highlights of his 12 years on the Court.

“Mary is an invaluable walking, talking legal resource and will be greatly missed not only by the members of our court, but by the entire legal community and the citizens of New Hampshire,” said Judge Bassett.

Searles also trains law clerks and others in compiling legislative histories.

“Mary was a fantastic teacher – she provided examples and step-by-step checklists,” says Heather Menezes, who worked as a law clerk in the Superior Court in 2005. “I can’t think of a better person than our state law librarian. I always knew I could turn to Mary as a resource whether I was a law clerk or in private practice. She is such an immense resource for anyone who needs legal research.”

Outside the law library, Searles served on the Access to Justice Commission for ten years.

“She is a true advocate for libraries and their importance in facilitating access to justice,” says Mark Rouvalis, co-chair of the Commission on Access to Justice.

“I can attest to her tireless commitment to improving access to justice,” said Judge Bassett, who co-chairs the committee with Rouvalis. “As an active and energetic member, Mary was instrumental in providing online access to legal resources in libraries across the state.”

Joseph Mitchell, a solo lawyer and frequent visitor to the law library, says he doesn’t know how they will replace Searles.

“I have used the library extensively for over four decades and it has been a wonderful resource,” he says. “She has always been able to direct me to the right place. She is uniquely helpful and compassionate toward those of us who are not as smart as she is.”

When asked about her retirement plans, Searles says she would like to take a year to relax and spend time with family before possibly returning to work part-time at a library.

“I don’t want to travel the world or go bungee jumping or anything like that,” says Searles. “I want to go back to my musical roots, learn the baroque recorder and finally have the opportunity to study art history, but we’ll see what happens.”

As Searles prepares for her retirement, her contributions to the John W. King New Hampshire Law Library will long be remembered. Her colleagues all agree that she has brought great benefits to the legal community and the public.

This article is shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.