Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Abstract
Wayne County is Michigan’s most populous county with 1.775 million residents and its county seat in Detroit. Unlike many other counties throughout the state, Wayne county does not provide a government-supported law library to serve its residents. The Arthur Neef Law Library which serves the Wayne State University Law School has a long-standing tradition of opening its doors to provide legal research services and resources to members of the community.
A fundamental mission of the Law Library, as well as the entire University, is “…meaningful engagement in its urban community”. Legal professionals, students and faculty from other educational institutions, and community residents who need legal information are referred to, and depend on, the Arthur Neef Law Library collections and librarian expertise. Community patrons typically account for approximately seventy percent of reference desk patrons. Librarians provide traditional reference and research services, as well as instruction in basic legal research and the use of database, government information, open access and free web resources, legal self-help materials and print publications to community patrons.
The diverse experience levels of community patrons, including literacy and technical skills, familiarity with legal materials, and communication abilities, provide unique challenges. One of the most compelling is the need for librarians to balance patron expectations with the best use of the library's resources. Collaboration with, and connections to, other librarians and libraries (law and non-law), as well as knowledge of their collections plays a significant role in facilitating access to justice for community patrons.
Disciplines
Law | Library and Information Science
Recommended Citation
Applebaum, B., Bissett, J. B., LaLonde, M. M., Samson, M., & Thomas, V. C. (2016, June). Bringing Law to the Community: Facilitating Access to Justice in Metropolitan Detroit. Paper presented at IFLA World Library and Information Congress 82nd IFLA General Conference and Assembly, Columbus, OH.
Comments
Copyright © 2016 by Beth Applebaum, Jan B. Bissett, Michelle M. LaLonde, Michael Samson, Virginia C. Thomas. This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0