Massachusetts Courthouse, including Trial Court Law Libraries and Court Service Centers, as well as the Social Law Library, are closed to the public due to COVID-19.
MBLC has partnered with the Social Law Library, the Massachusetts Trial Courts, including the Trial Court Law Libraries and Court Service Centers, to provide legal reference continuing education to librarians. This partnership has also drawn on help from the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
Our goal is to provide public librarians with the tools they need to help patrons find legal assistance, prepare themselves for court appearances, including completing court forms, locate legal reference materials in print and online, and understand the availability of lawyer referral services..
If you need to find out your password, please contact answers@mblc.state.ma.us and provide your name, position and library affiliation.
IMPORTANT: The Handling Patron's Domestic Violence Related Legal Questions webinar, originally scheduled for May 13, has been postponed for a few weeks. We will post a new date and time as soon as it becomes available.
Domestic violence remains a major area of concern in Massachusetts. This program will begin with an overview of key legal-help websites that all public librarians should have familiarity with when assisting patrons with questions about how to get legal help with domestic violence issues. These include Mass Legal Help, the Massachusetts Legal Resource Finder, CLAVC (Civil Legal Aid for Victims of Crime), MassAccess (a guided interview that helps survivors prepare paperwork for a 209A restraining order) and Mass Legal Answers Online as well as the Massachusetts Trial Court’s and the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance web resources.
Following this orientation, the program will then explore common situations to demonstrate how the sites could be used to provide patrons the help or information they need. Situations will include:
and more...
Do you have questions you’d like the presenters address? Please submit them here: legalquestions@socialaw.com. They will also respond to live questions at the webinar.
(Updated 04/15/21)
In addition to the Massachusetts webinars, you also have access to a parallel set of trainings through WebJunction. WebJunction has partnered with the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation with a series of trainings and webinars. A May 27 post in OCLC's research blog Hanging Together extensively documents some of the lessons learned to date.
Presenters: Executive Office of the Massachusetts Trial Court
Even with the myriad challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis, both the statewide Law Libraries and the Court Service Centers of the Massachusetts Trial Courts are busy providing assistance to local attorneys, self-represented litigants and the courts serving your community. The same services are also available to both public librarians and members of the public throughout the Commonwealth—even in the midst of the pandemic.
Do these patron questions and comments sound familiar?
Kathy Ludwig and Mary Klaes and their colleagues throughout the state provide help and assistance with these types of legal issues every day.
Recorded 02.10.21
Attorneys Rochelle Hahn, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, provides an overview of key legal-help websites when assisting patrons presenting landlord-tenant problems. Attorney Gordon Shaw, Community Legal Aid, then walks through specific scenarios, such as eviction notices, bad housing conditions, and rent increases, showing how these web resource can guide patrons to the specific information and legal help resources based on geography, income levels and other factors.
Recorded 12.02.20
This website, and other programs of the MBLC, is funded in part with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership, and a lifetime of learning.