Mission Statement

Within the legal community of the Eighth Judicial District, the Supreme Court Library at Buffalo:

  • meets the legal reference needs of the district judiciary.
  • is a free, public library, pursuant to state statute, for area residents, particularly for members of the local bar and their employees and,
  • serves self-represented litigants, students and private citizens researching the law and legal issues.

For the benefit of all these groups, the library maintains:

  • A core collection consisting of:
    • the primary laws (statutes, codes and administrative materials) of the State of New York.
    • the official and unofficial reported cases of the New York State trial and appellate courts.
    • the primary laws of the United States.
    • major legal digests and legal encyclopedias, American Law Reports, including American Jurisprudence.
    • New York practice materials such as New York Jurisprudence and Carmody-Wait, 2d.
  • Significant secondary materials for all important areas of law including periodicals, texts, looseleaf services, law reviews, and selected specialized reporters.
  • Microform (microfilm and microfiche) archives.
  • The municipal codes and charters of most Erie and Niagara County cities, towns and villages.
  • General legal and reference works.
  • Public access to Lexis and Westlaw for on-line law related research.