Hello Everyone,
I hope this busy fall season has gotten off to a good start for you, and that despite this year’s awful fire season, you all had a great summer.
I'm home after nearly 2 months away in Australia, and have come back to some big changes for the program that I'm really excited to share...
The first bit of news? LawMatters has a new home base!
We wanted to try something different and see how decentralizing the program might extend our reach and help connect with libraries in more rural and remote areas of the province. Lucky for me, this idea came as I was planning a move to just such a place. This confluence of events has resulted in LawMatters HQ being situated in the beautiful mountain town of Golden BC. I am so happy to be here and have the opportunity to make new connections, strengthen existing ones, and imagine new ways to develop our outreach strategies. And of course, to explore! This photo was taken a short drive away at Wapta Falls.
Decentralizing the program also gives us a chance to involve more Courthouse Libraries BC staff, making the most of our resources and collective expertise. Even though I am working at CLBC’s furthest outpost, I remain connected to colleagues throughout the province in all 28 locations. While still the main point of contact for the program, I expect you will soon be meeting more of my colleagues as we ramp up our training and outreach efforts.
By way of example, some of you will have recently met Megan Vis-Dunbar. One of CLBC’s Liaison Lawyers, she spent much of the summer on the road visiting public libraries and giving training sessions to library staff in far-ranging communities: Alert Bay, Fort St. John, Tumbler Ridge, Kelowna, Dawson Creek, Mackenzie, and Chetwynd to name just a few. We have been delighted to hear all the positive feedback from these visits - thank you Megan!
LawMatters is committed to supporting our library partners wherever they are, and we are so excited to grow the program in a way that helps us reach this goal. This brings me to the second bit of news: the research survey.
We know that public libraries are critical in connecting the public with the legal information they need, and in the 2016 survey we learned that libraries serving rural and remote communities occupy unique service roles. This summer, we began a research project focused specifically on the needs of those libraries to better understand how we can best support them. We reached out to you for your feedback, and have seen a truly tremendous response. We thank you all so much for your continued engagement with the program and the generosity you have shown us with your time, thoughts and valuable insights.
We aim to use what you have told us to design the LawMatters program in a way that is flexible, creative and responsive. We want to be sure that libraries and communities in all geographic contexts have access to the information and support they need. I hope to be able to share the results of this research with you soon, and start working on your recommendations just as quickly. Stay tuned for more info!
Thanks again to all of you, and looking forward to meeting in person - one day soon hopefully.
All the best,
Megan