John Joergensen, Pioneer in Increasing Free Access to Legal Information, Appointed Director of the Rutgers–Newark Law Library

NEWARK, NJ – John P. Joergensen, who has received national recognition for expanding free online access to government records and court decisions, has been appointed Director of the Law Library at Rutgers School of Law–Newark. Joergensen, who also has been named Professor of Law, will succeed Carol Roehrenbeck who has retired after 17 years in the position. The appointment is effective July 1.

In announcing the appointment, Dean John J. Farmer, Jr. said: “John Joergensen’s work in making primary legal source material available free in digital format has become a boon to scholars, practitioners and members of the public. We are delighted that he will continue that mission as he joins us at Rutgers–Newark Law School.”

As a librarian at the Law Library at Rutgers–Camden Law School, Joergensen spearheaded the New Jersey Courtweb Project, which provides free Internet access to the full text of the decisions of the New Jersey Supreme Court and appellate courts, Tax Court, administrative law decisions, U.S. District Court of the District of New Jersey decisions, and the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Ethics Committee opinions. His work also has included digitizing U.S. congressional documents, the deliberations of state Constitutional Conventions, and other historical records.

In 2011 Joergensen was named to the Fastcase 50, a listing by the legal research services firm of “the nation’s most interesting and provocative leaders in the combined fields of law, scholarship and technology.” He received the Public Access to Government Information Award from the American Association of Law Libraries in 2007.

Joergensen received a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from Fordham University, an M.S. in library and information science from Drexel University, and a J.D. from Temple University Law School, where he was symposium editor of the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. He spent five years in private law practice, where he focused on criminal defense and state and federal appellate criminal cases, before joining the Rutgers–Camden Law Library in 1996.