Conference: Public Libraries and Access to Justice Conference (SRLN 2010)

Teams from 15 states participated in a train-the-trainer conference for public librarians and their court and legal paid partners in Austin, Texas on how public libraries can improve access to online information at libraries. These teams were selected from 43 applying groups from 30 states. Funding from the Gates Foundation made it possible for NCSC to make mini-grants to participants in ten of the states to help them implement ideas developed at the conference. The conference was organized by SRLN in cooperation with LSC. 

PowerPoint presentations and customizable versions of templates and tools can be accessed here.

Conference materials are available on a public-library-oriented website, Webjunction.org, here: 

Highlights from the introduction are reprinted below:

“We hope that you will find the Conference energizing and helpful. Above all, we hope that it will cement your commitment to the use of public libraries for access to justice, and that it will help you build the partnerships and give you the tools to be effective in this work.

Public libraries are critical access points to government institutions. As times get tougher, it becomes more and more important that people have libraries where they can find out how to protect their rights and navigate the complexities of our society. It also becomes more and more important that libraries can show how important and effective they are at meeting this need.”