Jean Holcomb King County Law Library Phone: 206.296.0930 E-mail: [email protected]
SEATTLE -- The King County Law Library will host an open house at its new Legal Research and Training Center on Tuesday, Oct. 8th beginning at 4:30 p.m. The new LRTC will increase the public’s access to justice related information and was funded in part by a $36,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Community Access to Technology (CAT) Program.
“We hope the Center will expand the options available to King County residents,” said King County Law Library Board President Judge Terry Lukens. “Our goal is to offer meaningful access to Internet-based justice information for those of low to moderate means.”
The LRTC has easy-to-use research tools the general public can access, including six computer terminals with dedicated connections to a variety of legal research databases, topics such as:
Bankruptcy
Estate planning
Family law
Landlord/tenant law
Name changes
Probate issues
Traffic infractions
Vacating/expunging conviction records
Washington State legislative history
The open house ceremony follows a two-month testing period, at which time training was adjusted to best benefit the needs of the public.
Following the Open House, reservations for up to two hours of computer time per day can be made by contacting the King County Law Library at 206-696-0940, or by walking in on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The LRTC is located at the Law Library’s Seattle location, housed in the King County Courthouse at 516 Third Avenue, Suite W621. Further information can be found by visiting the King County Law Library online at www.kcll.org.
The Community Access to Technology grant program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is joined by nine community partners in support of the LRTC: Washington’s Administrative Office of the Courts; Columbia Legal Services; University of Washington Information School; King County Bar Association; King County Superior Court’s Ex Parte and Probate Committee; Northwest Justice Project; Access to Justice Board; and the Washington Council on Public Legal Education.
The foundation’s CAT program seeks to help organizations and communities in Washington State utilize digital technologies to make changes to the lives of individuals and their communities. Its goal is to promote 'digital equity' so that low-income and other disadvantaged communities have opportunities to utilize technologies for the betterment of themselves and their communities.
On the Internet: King County Law Library, www.kcll.org