Articles Tagged with Public law libraries

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Imagine this: A patron comes into the law library at 4:40 and says “I’m being sued, and I need to file a response before 5:00 today. Do you have the form for that? Oh, and I need help filling it out.” We would really like to help this person, but realistically this may not be possible. Unfortunately, patrons usually do not know what services we provide. Read on for information on what law libraries can and can’t do and how to get the most from your visit.

Don’t leave your research until the last minute. Leave enough time to handle any problems that might arise. In our example, the patron assumes that there is a fill-in-the-blank form that they can use, and that law library personnel can help them fill it out. Oregon does not have many fill-in-the-blank forms and law library employees cannot help patrons fill out forms. We would direct the patron to possible sources of templates that they can use to create their own document, and to resources that might help them to fill out the form. They probably wouldn’t have time to do all that in less than 20 minutes and get it to the court before they close.

Along those same lines, make sure you can devote time to research your questions. Law library personnel can’t do research for you. We can point you to resources that might be useful and show you how to do the research yourself.

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Recommended reading for anyone who thinks more tech, online forms, and better legal design will substitute for professional legal services, i.e. People Need Lawyers (and lawyers in public service need more support):

“They Had Access, But They Didn’t Get Justice: Why Prevailing Access To Justice Initiatives Fail Rural Americans,” by Michele Statz, Hon. Robert Friday, and Jon Bredeson, published in:

Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, Volume XXVIII, Number 3, Spring 2021, 321

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Most organizations and corporations have mission statements in one form or another. (A good business plan will always include one.)

Mission statements are often aspirational but also restrictive, by which I mean they can save the organization from the dreaded “mission creep.” (For a funny “Portlandia” (the TV show) based example of averted mission creep, see below.*)

First, here is a list of 50 county (or public) law library mission statements, courtesy of the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

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Guest post, from Lee Van Duzer, Washington County Law Librarian, Hillsboro, Oregon:

As we socially distance ourselves and physical spaces are increasingly closed, it is important to revisit online legal research options. The following are free general legal research tools to help you work from home.

Case Law & Statutes

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New public law librarians (MLS & MLS/JD) and new public law library employees usually have to tackle questions of Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) and the dreaded “Forms” questions very early in their employment (or careers, if they are in it for the long haul*).

(Non-Oregon new public law library employees reading this blog post can locate similar resources within their own state’s public law librarian world.)

FIRST AND FOREMOST:

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A2J = Access to Justice: Words and Names Matter

The Law Librarians at the State Of Wisconsin Law Library know that the difference between a Legal Resource Center or a Legal Information Center and a Law Library matters to Law Library patrons, whether they are lawyers or self-represented litigants. Read this article from their WSLL Newsletter, February 2016 issue:

Wisconsin State Law Library Year in Review – Julie Tessmer, State Law Librarian:

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“Thinking About Designing Courthouses for Access to Justice,” posted on January 17, 2016

by Richard Zorza.

Courthouse construction is on the minds of all Oregonians. As long as the project managers, judges, courthouse employees, and other courthouse occupants and visitors don’t let the architects go all “let’s get an architecture prize!” on them, then taxpayers, judges, lawyers, and litigants may have a chance at getting the courthouses we need and want.

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The State of Oregon Law Library (SOLL) is providing statewide access to 2 valuable legal research databases, previously unavailable for remote access to non-attorney Oregonians. (No legal research database is cheap, but pooling resources and making Really Good Value legal research databases available to everyone supports “access to justice” goals: to educate students, voters, and anyone else with an abiding lifelong intellectual curiosity about law, lawmaking, judicial process, legal rights, government, and politics.)

Link to EBSCO and Fastcase, from the SOLL Legal Resources webpage:

“1) EBSCO Legal Information Reference Center

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Law Library Hires New Public Services Attorney (from the press release):

“.The Public Law Library of King County is pleased to announce that Marc Lampson has joined the Public Law Library to serve as the library’s first Public Services Attorney. The newly created position is an innovative response to the ever growing phenomenon of people representing themselves in legal proceedings. Recent statistics from the King County Superior Court show that in 63% of general civil cases at least one party was not represented by a lawyer. In domestic or family law cases, the percentage climbed to 80%. In 91% of the landlord/tenant or eviction cases, only the landlord was represented by a lawyer. In 50% of family law cases, neither side was represented. This trend is typical throughout the United States, and law librarians have found that these unrepresented litigants frequently come to the law library for help.

As a result, a few law libraries in other states have developed self-help centers to provide their patrons with not only research assistance, but legal assistance as well…. [Mark’s] work will eventually entail establishing a self-help center in the library to provide direct legal assistance for patrons and to coordinate further legal assistance through referrals, clinics, workshops, and innovative online methods for the delivery of legal services.

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