UWs George W. Hopper Law Library Honored for Statewide Outreach

The George W. Hopper Law Library in the University of Wyoming’s College of Law has been recognized with the American Association of Law Libraries’ (AALL) Excellence in Community Engagement Award for a program to provide legal research training to librarians around the state.

The initiative, “Access to Justice: Legal Research on the Road,” was developed and administered by Tawnya Plumb, a law librarian and head of collections at the George W. Hopper Law Library.

The Excellence in Community Engagement Award honors outstanding achievement in public relations activities by AALL members, chapters and libraries focusing on law library outreach to their communities.

The goal of the project was to visit each county in Wyoming to work with public librarians, community college librarians, tribal librarians and community groups for the purpose of providing legal research training. Training librarians then allows them to assist the members of their communities who may need to research legal problems.

An important aspect of this program is the resulting networking between UW’s law library and the various libraries in the state as they encounter issues with access to legal resources and information. Plumb says many individuals find legal research intimidating, and librarians often field requests from low-income Wyoming citizens with legal issues.

Plumb received support from UW’s Office of Engagement and Outreach and Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research as a recipient of a 2019 Faculty Engagement Fellowship award.