Promising Practices: LawMatters’ collaboration with public libraries

New on Clicklaw, The broader context

LawMatters At Your Local Public Library  is a unique outreach program of the Courthouse Libraries BC. Begun as a project in April 2007, and becoming an ongoing Client Services program in 2010, LawMatters helps public libraries enhance their legal information collections and provides training for public library staff. Together, LawMatters and BC’s public libraries aim to ensure that all BC residents have local access to basic legal information.

Their latest report, Talking to Librarians about LawMatters: Promising Practices,  is now on Clicklaw. This 2011 paper summarizes the findings of a phone survey of 20 public libraries across BC and identifies practices that enhance library staff’s ability to provide legal information.

One of the outcomes of the report is that, in moving forward, a key role for LawMatters in sustaining legal reference services is providing opportunities for ongoing training.  According to program coordinator Janet Freeman, LawMatters will be sponsoring two webinars this spring for public librarians on the topic of Residential Tenancy Law. The webinars will be offered through the Libraries and Literacy Program of the BC Ministry of Education.

To read more from LawMatters see their 2010 report LawMatters At Your Local Public Library: A Report for Public Librarians.

Do you have bed bugs? How about mold?

New on Clicklaw

Hopefully your answer to both of these questions is a happy, ‘No, not I’. But both mold and the dreaded bed bug are definite problems in BC.

If you –or someone you know -is dealing with one or both of these problems, and you’re renting your home, Clicklaw has some resources to help.

The Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) , has pages on their website – Bed Bugs and Mold – dedicated to these topics. How can you detect an infestation? Or mold? And, as a tenant, what rights and responsibilities do you have in dealing with these problems?TRAC logo

TRAC can also help you during these winter months if you find yourself  asking, why is it so cold in my home? Can my landlord turn off my heat? Find out how you can take legal action against your landlord if they are restricting services or facilities from you by starting with TRAC’s handy Q&A fact sheet.