Report on Provision of Legal Information in British Columbia Public Libraries

Courthouse Libraries BC has been running an outreach program since 2007 called Law Matters At Your Local Library. It helps public libraries enhance their legal information collections and provides training for public library staff.

Its latest report entitled Talking to Librarians about LawMatters: Promising Practices has just been published on the Clicklaw website.

"Since 2007, the LawMatters program has provided grants, training and support to help the 243 BC public libraries provide legal information to people in every community, and help people know where to look and how to take the first or next step for legal information. LawMatters has been particularly concerned with enhancing public access to legal information in small communities where there tends to be less access to legal services."

"With the program now in its 4th year, the goal of this report is to identify 'promising practices' in public libraries which enhance their ability to provide legal information to the public. We focused a small telephone survey on 20 small and medium size public libraries to inquire further about how LawMatters is working for them and about any special practices they use to enhance legal reference services in their community. We also noted the promising practices of LawMatters identified by these libraries and the several collaborative practices between Courthouse Libraries BC and the public libraries."

Additional details about the LawMatters initiative is available on the Courthouse Libraries BC website.