86% of Franklin Law Library Shredded for 2¢/lb

On Feb. 6th, 7th, 14th, 2017, three truck loads of books comprising 86% of the 200 year old law book collection of Franklin County Law Library, were delivered to North Star Pulp and Paper in Springfield, MA and shredded, for two cents a pound. These books are the property of the People of Massachusetts. Hundreds of books worth thousands of dollars were destroyed. This has already happened to other county law libraries.

Please sign this petition. Tell your Legislators, the Governor, and the Trial Courts that not one more single book should be destroyed by those entrusted with the duty of protecting the law books of the Citizens of Massachusetts. Also, please go the extra mile and personally contact the governor, your state representative, and state senator in person and say that no more of our books should be destroyed, or removed from public access. (Contacts below).

Our Mass. Constitutional Right:
Public county law libraries are a Constitutional Right for all Massachusetts Citizens. Article 11, of Part 1 of the Massachusetts Constitution's "Declaration of Rights", states that "Every subject of the Commonwealth ought to find a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, property, or character. He ought to obtain right and justice freely, and without being obligated to purchase it; completely, and without delay; conformably to the laws." The county law libraries are the means of keeping that promise, that no citizen be required to purchase legal advice. Did you know that any citizen has the right to use a county law library, and that a law librarian is always there to help them look up the law pertaining to any case or legal matter. Although a law librarian can not offer legal advice, they can help any citizen to do their own research, and educate themselves about the legal issue that concerns them.

Franklin Law Library is the 4th oldest county law library in Massachusetts, founded in 1816. These books represent 200 years of the thought and experience of our most learned practitioners of the law, people who devoted their lives to the wise interpretation and defense of our Constitutional Rights, some of whom lived at the time our US and Massachusetts Constitutions were written. Many of these books were over 100 years old. Some sets of books were worth anywhere from $2000 to $7000. Many books were worth $550 and more. They are irreplaceable. These books are the living memory of how our constitution was interpreted a century ago, before our constitutional rights had become so eroded that they are now no longer being properly enforced. If We the People are to rescue our Constitutional Rights, it is essential to preserve the memory of the correct interpretation of our Constitution, which is accurately recorded in these books.

I am simply a citizen, but the former Franklin Law Library was a place I loved. It was, to me, the most beautiful historical architectural space of all the local county law libraries; a perfect, magical "Harry Potter" library, with rows upon rows of 20 foot tall book shelves, a 200 year old collection or books. There were marble floors, and big oak panel doors, with solid old oak tables, and a wonderful law librarian, who was delighted to see a citizen come to the library to use the books. It felt like walking back 100 years in time, to a time and place where it was still treated as an honor to be a citizen.

With the court renovation, it was promised that the library would be housed in two floors of the new modern wing of the courthouse. It was not revealed until the courthouse reopened, on February 6th of this year, that the library was kicked out of the bottom floor, and moved into a tiny upstairs space whose floor was not constructed to support the weight of books. The book shelves in the new space can only be three feet high. The law library has gone from its original treasure of 4000 linear feet of books to 700 linear feet, and from an incredibly beautiful space, to a mundane modern office space.

Franklin Law Library is not the first library to have its books destroyed. Last year, New Bedford, and Fitchburg's law libraries were eliminated. Lawrence has lost 25% of its collection. We are still assessing how many thousands of law books have been destroyed across the state. We have heard that there is an intention to continue future shreddings of books in the rest of the county law libraries, if this is not stopped.

If armed gunmen had entered the Franklin Law Library, and destroyed 86% of the books, it would have been on the cover of every newspaper in the country. But when the trial court administration - the legal custodians whose responsibility it is to protect our precious historic law books, violate the public trust by destroying our books, barely a whisper is heard.

We have been told that these books are now available online. But they are not. The vast majority of books that have been pulped, were NOT dig...