With the economic crisis forcing many states to tighten their budgets, some states are making short-sighted decisions to eliminate official print legal resources in favor of online-only, or to charge fees to access legal information electronically. In addition, a growing number of court and county law libraries around the country are facing drastic reductions of staff and resources, and even closure. We need
your help more than ever before on these state issues.
As you can see from our
agenda, this year's Advocacy Training, coordinated by the AALL Government Relations Office and Government Relations Committee and available at no cost to our members, will teach you the skills you need to prove to state officials the need to authenticate and preserve online legal information, and make sure they understand the vital role of your state's public law libraries.
We're very pleased to host guest speaker Keith Ann Stiverson, AALL Observer to the NCCUSL Drafting Committee on the
Authentication and Preservation of State Electronic Legal Materials Act, who will give us an update on the draft act.
Following last year's successful
Day on the Hill Advocacy Training in July and follow-up
October Webinar, the Government Relations Office has been seeking volunteers in every state to form working groups to promote equitable, no-fee, permanent public access to authentic online legal information. This year's Advocacy Training will provide the opportunity for our volunteers to come together and share the challenges they face, as well as their success stories.
We will also discuss the state of our public law libraries. In recent years, public law libraries in Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, California, Washington, and other states have faced severe budget cuts, and even closure, that threaten to deny the public with access to legal materials. It is crucial that we work together to protect these at-risk libraries.
To volunteer to participate in your state's working group and/or register for the Advocacy Training, please contact Advocacy Communications Assistant
Emily Feldman by June 1.
