LawMatters at Your Local Public Library; A History of BC’s Program for Public Legal Information and Education in Public Libraries
Janet Freeman, Nancy HannumFriday, November 27, 2015
This article, written by Janet Freeman, Courthouse Libraries BC LawMatters Program Coordinator and Nancy Hannum, LawMatters Program Consultant, charts the growing role of public libraries and public librarians as partners in access to justice. It includes a timeline of recommendations for an increase in legal information materials in public libraries and more training for public librarians, that subsequently shaped the current public legal education and information service in BC’s libraries. This history references the 1975 Law Commission Report, the 1974 British Columbia Justice Development Commission Report, the 1975 Legal information Services Program (LISP), the Public Library Program (PLP) and the Legal Resource Centre (LRC). Read about the success of this unique program and how British Columbia became the first jurisdiction in Canada (and possibly the English-speaking world) to develop an ongoing program to help public libraries provide legal information to the public from Janet Freeman’s and Nancy Hannum’s LawMatters article.
LawMatters at Your Local Public Library; A History of BC’s Program for Public Legal Information and Education in Public Libraries was published in November, 2015 by the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice and is accessible on the Forum’s website here: https://stage.cfcj-fcjc.org/clearinghouse/public-legal-education-and-information-plei