On Tuesday, July 1, the Lake County Law Library, located at 888 Duncan Drive in Tavares, will close
and many of the legal services provided by this facility will expand to the 13 libraries
of the Lake County Library System.
New legal services at the libraries of the Lake County Library System include the
addition of Westlaw, a comprehensive online database that is available at any
public computer in the libraries. In addition, employees at the libraries have
been trained to help patrons search the database, and Westlaw training
opportunities for the public will be scheduled in the future. All libraries
will also carry a core collection of self-help legal materials.
Cooper Memorial Library, located at 821 W. Minneola Ave. in Clermont, will be the lead
library for providing legal research. While legal printed materials will be
reduced, as much of the information is available online, a collection of
essential legal-related books will be housed at Cooper Memorial Library.
"With the anticipated opening in fall 2009 of the new Cooper Memorial Library at
Lake-Sumter Community College's South Lake Campus, the legal section of printed
materials will drastically increase," said Tom Merchant, Lake County's
Assistant Library Services Director. "Sandra Lara, one of the experienced
members of the law library staff, is moving her office to Cooper, not only
overseeing legal research there, but also training Library System employees and
supporting the effort countywide on an ongoing basis."
In the past, the Lake County Law Library has sold packets of forms to people who
want to represent themselves in legal matters, usually relating to family law. These
preprinted packets will now be available free on the Lake County Clerk of
Courts' Web site at www.lakecountyclerk.org or the Lake County Library System
Web site at www.mylakelibrary.org.
The forms may be printed out from any computer with Internet access, including public computers at any
County library. When downloaded and printed at a County library, the patron will be
charged for the cost of printing.
The packets may also be purchased from the Clerk's Office at the Lake County
Judicial Center, located at 550 W. Main St. in Tavares, or from the Clerk's
branch offices in Clermont at 1206 Bowman St. and The Villages at 902 Avenida
Central.
Press Release 6/18/2008.
