Have you ever wondered about the questions public law librarians are asked? Have you ever thought that answers to lawyer and non-lawyer legal questions are “all online?”
Think again!
The Oregon Special Law Library Association (ORSLA) asked the question. Read the answers (and a few samples below). Public law librarians around the country will recognize these:
This position opens on June 2 and closes on June 15, 2012:
Washington County Law Library (apply through the Washington County Human Resources website)
The Washington County Law Library, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, is seeking a part-time (25 hours/week) Law Library Assistant. Under the supervision of the county’s Law Librarian, the Law Library Assistant will have administrative support and financial record keeping duties, document digitization tasks, and provide circulation and basic library reference assistance to library patrons.
Do you have questions about Washington State law? Here are some legal research tips, which will also apply if you need to research other states’ laws (just substitute the other state’s name for Washington’s).
WASHINGTON STATE LAW LIBRARIES, PUBLIC & ACADEMIC:
If you want to know about legal forms, practice books, treatises, free and subscription databases, and other legal research tools, the best place to start is with a law library website or law librarian in Washington State. Some non-Washington state law libraries will have a few of these research resources, but if you aren’t near one of those law libraries, read on ….
InfoDocket links us to, “New Report from ALA Explores Challenges of Equitable Access to Digital Content”
“The American Library Association (ALA) today released a new report examining critical issues underlying equitable access to digital content through our nation’s libraries. In the report, titled “E-content: The Digital Dialogue,” authors explore an unprecedented and splintered landscape in which several major publishers refuse to sell e-books to libraries; proprietary platforms fragment our cultural record; and reader privacy is endangered….” [Link to ALA press release and report.]
The Library History Buff blogs about the new book, “The Laughing Librarian.”
Thank you to Will Manley’s blog, Will Unwound, for the tip.
If you’re not a lawyer, law librarian, or have never researched the law, where do you begin?
No, it’s not enough to find cases and statutes online. It’s also not enough to toss a question into cyberspace and expect someone to answer it with anything more than research tips.
Think about it.
Portland Off-Library Project: 24 non-traditional libraries open to the public but not affiliated with any traditional educational or library institution.
You can read more about the Portland Off-Library Project in an article posted on the Special Library Association (Oregon Chapter) website: “The Portland Off-Library Project”
The website was completed by students in a class on Web design and development at Emporia State University School of Library and Information Science, Portland program.
“Report on Evolving Role of Law Libraries in the 21st Century,” by Richard Zorza
“Law libraries can continue to play an integral role in the courts and justice system in the 21st Century, but only if they change their orientation towards helping the public access the legal system. A new report released by Zorza & Associates today, titled “The Sustainable 21st Century Law Library: Vision, Deployment and Assessment for Access to Justice,” notes the vast changes to the law library landscape over the past twenty years and the potentially critical new role they can play as an access to justice resource for people without lawyers….” [Link to blog post and full text of report.]
The good news out of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon is that overall bankruptcy filings for the district were down in 2011 compared to 2010. There were 17,151 cases filed in 2011, compared with 19,741 in 2010. If you compare the 2011 numbers with the total case filings from 2005 (32,168 total case filings), the 2011 statistics appear promising. However, we still receive many questions about filing for bankruptcy. So, we’ve created a new legal research guide on bankruptcy, available on the Washington County Law Library’s website. As usual, if you can’t find a document on our website, check out our handy, alphabetical document index.
Oregon Legal Research Blog