[Prodev] Question 3- Biggest obstacles

[Laurel Wendt]

One big problem is the expectation that law is just a matter of signing
some papers, and that it all takes care of itself after that.  The
expectation that the legal system will fix the matter for them, without
any further action on their part.  Women who want the abuse to stop but
won't press charges; the man who thought that writing to the state's
attorney general was all he needed to do to start his suit against the
state; 


Our system is complex, with overlapping federal, state, and local laws. 
Simplifying all this for the SRL is time-consuming, especially since many
of their perceptions are based on movies and TV shows.  It is especially
confusing for those from other countries with a more monolithic legal
system:  what is the law on murder in the U.S.?  Where is the tax case
that says that the IRS shouldn't make the joint filing refund check out
to just one of the (now) exes who cashed it and kept the money
him/herself.


Perceptions of what a law library or a law school is and what it does are
also inaccurate in most cases.  Isn't there a professor there who can
tell me what to do?  (You don't have to be admitted to practice in most
states to teach in a law school, since that is not practicing law.)  Why
can't a law student help me fill out my papers?  Are you a lawyer or a
librarian, because I'm suing a judge and I want to be sure I don't get
lied to.


Their anger with the system, justified or not, and their pre-conceived
solutions also cloud their judgment about what the legal system can do,
and how to go about it if that result is not precisely what they want. 
They want <italic>their</italic> answer, now.<italic> </italic> 


As for training our new reference librarians, we as a school have to
balance teaching research with doing research.  We teach our law students
how to do it, rather than providing results for them.  Determining
whether to teach an SRL how to do it requires some assessment of whether
this is a one-time only question or something that is rather involved,
like appealing their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which case
teaching them how is best, since it gives them a great deal of
independence.


Scheduling:  as a law school, SRLs are lower priority for us.  Our law
students and faculty have 24-hour PIN number access to the library, and
the students get trained in case, statutory, and administrative law
research at both the state and federal levels.  We don't provide
reference assistance on weekends, and to phone callers, we stress that on
weekends the library is a reading room only.  We do try to refer patrons
to the state's and federal websites, and to FindLaw, as appropriate.


Laurel Wendt

Southern Illinois University

   School of Law Library



At 08:33 AM 2/4/2003 -0800, you wrote:

>Amy

>--

>__________________________________

>Amy Hale-Janeke, J.D., M.L.S.

>Reference Librarian/Media Coordinator

>San Diego County Public Law Library

>1105 Front Street

>San Diego, CA 92101-3904

>(619) 531-4437

>ahale@sdcll.org

>http://www.sdcll.org

>

>

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