With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the National Center for State Courts, the Center-hosted Self-Represented Litigation Network, in cooperation with the Legal Services Corporation, is presenting a two-day conference entitled A Training on Public Libraries and Access to Justice that addresses how public libraries can improve access to online legal information at libraries. The conference will be held January 11-12, 2010 in Austin, Texas.

The conference will be a unique opportunity for participants to meet with public librarians and with legal and court experts to discuss strategies for integrating access to legal information into their programs, including how to the best locate content and tools, how to talk about the content with library patrons, how to work with content partners to make sure that needed content is developed, how to share what they have learned statewide, and how to use successful programs to advocate for the importance of public libraries as gateways to government institutions.

The conference organizers plan to select between 10 and 15 teams of two to three people from across the country to attend the conference. These teams will learn about a broad range of currently available print and online, customer-friendly legal tools developed by courts, bar associations, law libraries, and legal aid programs that support people without access to legal aid or counsel. The participants will learn how to access this information, facilitate sharing among libraries and legal agencies and participate in the enhancement and customization of these tools.

Preference will generally be given to teams that include a person who plays a statewide library staff educational or organizational role; a local librarian with a strong interest in expanding the use of public libraries for access to justice; and one of the following: a legal aid staff member; or a court online information expert or member of a self help center currently not using online tools to provide services. Applicant teams are encouraged to put together a group that will be the most effective in their area of service to spread the word in their states. The decision of the selection group will be final.

Conference participants will receive travel and hotel costs (subject to certain caps described in the application). Participants will also be eligible to apply for post-conference funding to implement some of the tools learned at the conference. Such grants, which will range from $750 to $1,000, might be used for travel to conferences at which training would be shared, development of marketing materials, and so on.

The deadline to apply is Friday, December 11, 2009.

For additional immediate information, contact Richard Zorza, richard@zorza.net.  

Application materials can be found:

• On SelfHelpSupport: http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/libraries
• On WebJunction: http://www.webjunction.org/legal-information/-/articles/content/86970844.