Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee: Best Sites

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Good Overall Local Government Site

Updated May 2005.

A comprehensive local government site should provide unhindered and intuitive access to:

the city Charter;

municipal legislative materials (municipal code, proposed ordinances, budgets, legislative meeting calenders, agendas and minutes);

local agencies' regulatory materials (regulatory codes, rules, proposed regulations & rules, decisions, enforcement actions, and agency meeting calenders, agendas and minutes);

local executive's/mayor's materials (proclamations, reports, budgets, speeches);

local court materials (court decisions, rules, register of actions/docketing information), fee schedules, online forms, online filing/payment services, directories, locations, and maps); and

local commissions materials.

Seattle, http://www.seattle.gov/

The "Your Government" button on the home page leads to a page providing ready access to a great majority of local laws and legal materials.

As a result, although the site has a good search engine, users are not forced to rely upon it alone.

In general, users may follow multiple linking paths leading to the same piece of information (including use of the "Site Map" link). For this reason, users with different information-seeking strategies are more likely to succeed in their searches.

This site reaches a fine balance in featuring city services without obscuring the laws and legal documents and materials that are a critically important benefit of this site.

Throughout the site there are ample help resources and information guides.

Web personnel respond quickly and effectively to inquiries.

Disclaimer:
Many links from this site are to sites over which neither AALL nor any of its members asserts any authority or control. AALL assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or veracity of the information that a user may encounter at these sites.

This site has been considered and approved by the American Association of Law Libraries Executive Board.


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About Directory Website Evaluations Best Sites Criteria Submission Form Bibliography Presentations Frequently Asked Questions		Good Overall Local Government Site Updated May 2005. A comprehensive local government site should provide unhindered and intuitive access to: the city Charter; municipal legislative materials (municipal code, proposed ordinances, budgets, legislative meeting calenders, agendas and minutes); local agencies' regulatory materials (regulatory codes, rules, proposed regulations & rules, decisions, enforcement actions, and agency meeting calenders, agendas and minutes); local executive's/mayor's materials (proclamations, reports, budgets, speeches); local court materials (court decisions, rules, register of actions/docketing information), fee schedules, online forms, online filing/payment services, directories, locations, and maps); and local commissions materials. Seattle, http://www.seattle.gov/ The "Your Government" button on the home page leads to a page providing ready access to a great majority of local laws and legal materials. As a result, although the site has a good search engine, users are not forced to rely upon it alone. In general, users may follow multiple linking paths leading to the same piece of information (including use of the "Site Map" link). For this reason, users with different information-seeking strategies are more likely to succeed in their searches. This site reaches a fine balance in featuring city services without obscuring the laws and legal documents and materials that are a critically important benefit of this site. Throughout the site there are ample help resources and information guides. Web personnel respond quickly and effectively to inquiries.
Disclaimer: Many links from this site are to sites over which neither AALL nor any of its members asserts any authority or control. AALL assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or veracity of the information that a user may encounter at these sites. This site has been considered and approved by the American Association of Law Libraries Executive Board.