CA is redistricting! Speak up and let your views be known!

Redistricting Public Meetings in Lake County

A huge prize for Californians-especially rural Counties

The California Council of County Law Librarians has been working with the vendor, EBSCOhost's Legal Research Collection to make a large amount of legal research geared toward self-represented citizens and a legal understanding of a host of issues available to all of the participating counties for an exceedingly affordable price that makes it possible for ALL CITIZENS in that County to have access from any Internet connected computer 24/7. No longer will patrons be restricted to the books available at their public libraries for checking out (Lake County Public Libraries have access to 30 titles), but to all 130 Nolo Press books and forms plus additional forms and publications. Nolo Press is a leader in writing books about legal issues in non-legalese. So, even if it is still too hard for you to represent yourself in Lake County Superior Court, you can educate yourself with VETTED legal explanations. It is so easy to use Google, find unverifiable legal opinions and get yourself into even deeper trouble. In our county, the population is spread all over with big open spaces in between. The County seat is in the North  County, which happens to have a low population, while South County residents where the bulk of the population lives must drive long distances to find legal help, access to the Law Library and/or take care of Superior Court business.

Hallelujah.

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Great speech by Robert Byrd

 History repeating itself

Excerpt

"As we examine the future of the law—and of law libraries—I put it to you we are
faced with an equally momentous choice. Today, we have shirked our duties. The
United States has given up equal protection under the law for the principle of pay to
play, we have made access to justice conditional on access to money, our public
laws have been subdivided into private parcels owned by designated
concessionaires. We have sat by idly while this has happened."

Welcome.

Hey! You found me- Law Librarian for the Lake County Law Library.

I am using this blog to write down information, ideas and links that I do not use at our official website above.

Did you know that in California, public law libraries are written into the CA Code? Access to justice is hard. especially on low income folks in rural areas and those with mental disorders such as a low threshold for stress, anxiety and depression among other issues of a chronic nature. Another is literacy in general, and computer skills as well. 

In this rural Northern CA County, we are roughly 10-15 years behind in technology access and use compared to metropolitan areas. Many are still on dial-up here, so "web 2.0" is out of the question. Part o f my job is to help members of the State Bar and self-represented patrons to get the information they need: whether in print or online or both. I also refer patrons to other agencies when necessary. While I don't give legal advice (that would be illegal!) I CAN point them to the materials they need to read to answer at least some of their questions. Often, patrons are still in the awkward stage of using and manipulating computers and the internet. I help with that, but I cannot fill out forms for them (see above), so please don't ask me to. Please.