To address the growing public need for legal information, the Law Society’s Legal Resources department and several other legal information providers launched a project to improve access to legal information for Saskatchewan residents through the public library system: the Saskatchewan Access to Legal Information Project (SALI). The SALI partners include CREATE Justice; the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan; the Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan (PLEA); the Public Libraries of Saskatchewan; and the University of Saskatchewan Library.
Public libraries act as trusted intermediaries and credible information providers. Public library space and locations will also aid in increasing the delivery of legal information to the public. The space is accessible to all residents and provides free Wi-Fi access to utilize online resources. Public library branches are also present in most communities throughout the province, even smaller and more remote centres, and act as the main community hub in many locations.
Our role in the SALI project is to provide public library staff with the skills needed to deploy their expertise in the context of legal information, making them a powerful resource for members of the public seeking information related to their own legal problems. A training webinar and resource entitled “Detecting Legal Problems and Legal Information Sources” was developed and distributed to public library staff in 2018.
A public campaign based on this webinar and resource also launched in October 2018 to coincide with Saskatchewan Access to Justice Week. This campaign includes posters, brochures and short videos on detecting specific legal problems. Please see the videos for the campaign below.
