March 11, 1997 

Appellate Court and Circuit Administrative Division 
Attention: ABA Citation Resolution 
Suite 4-512 
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts 
Washington, DC 20544 
 
Via FAX 202-273-1555 
 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
     I am writing to you on behalf of the Monroe County (PA) Bar 
Association and its Law Library Committee which administers the only 
public law library within a 40 mile radius. 
 
     Two years ago we opened the nation's first on-line law library, 
with research materials accessible to members of our Bar Association 
from their home or office computer. In the course of that project, we 
encountered total non-cooperation from West Publishing Company. West 
holds a monopoly on publication of Pennsylvania's statutes and its 
refusal to let us use their CD's on our new system was almost fatal. 
 
     That experience convinced us to support the new ABA endorsed 
citation format. I'm familiar with the good work West does on the 
editorial end of publishing court decisions; but we don't believe 
that service comes close to outweighing the potential benefits of 
having decisions that are in the public domain the day they are 
issued. 
 
     In Monroe County we are engaged in an ambitious campaign to help 
lawyers become more efficient through the use of computers; and to 
allow them to keep their costs (and fees) at affordable levels. 
Computerized legal research is a major component of our program, and 
the ABA-endorsed citation system will be an important step forward, 
if adopted by the U.S. Judicial Conference. 
 
                                   Very truly yours, 
 
                                   George Royle 

cc: Law Library Committee