Target Audience: Directors, reference librarians, and IT librarians serving self-represented litigants and other members of the public
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess the development of new national objectives and proposals for serving self-represented litigants.
2. Participants will be able to explain new federal requirements regarding language access and interpreter services to their libraries and parent organizations.
In the last few years, there have been dynamic changes in how government institutions serve self-represented litigants. First, the effects of the 2008 change in federal administration are now reaching the courts and ancillary agencies, including libraries that serve self-represented litigants. For example, the Department of Justice is now mandating significant increases in interpreter services and the use of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plans. Second, the Legal Services Corporation has adopted innovative new technologies to reach under-served self-represented litigants. Third, state courts are focusing their attention on the financially driven re-engineering of court services by including streamlined and improved services for the public. Two nationally known innovators in these fields will review these significant changes and explain how participants can best prepare for them.