The Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library plans to display its
home page at the AALL public relations market place in Anaheim, July 12-
July 14. In addition to the home page display, we will be handing out
book marks and flyers describing our library services. The first one
thousand visitors to our table will receive single packets of Mother's
Cookies, a sweet Oakland tradition. Please drop by to see how our
library has successfully collaborated with Alameda County agencies.
The Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library joined the World Wide
Web on April 2, 1998. Located at
http://www.co.alameda.ca.us/law/index.htm, on-line library patrons can
now place orders for document deliveries on a secure line, review
library policy statements, and link to useful legal sites.
The Law Library was fortunate in being able to rely upon the Alameda
County Information Technology Department's (ITD) expertise for HTML
coding and technical support. The ITD, directed by Dave Macdonald, has
assigned three staff members to support web page development for county
agencies. This division of labor allows county agencies to concentrate
upon the development of editorial content while ITD staff develop
uniform standards for page presentation and hardware requirements.
Alameda County's Internet service provider is BAE-Network, the Bay Area
Education Network
(http://www.alameda-coe.k12.ca.us/acoe/bae-net/about.html), a consortium
of Northern California county offices of education providing Internet
services to Northern California local governments, schools and community
colleges. The speed of Alameda's Internet link is 1.17 mbps SMDS. HP
Netserver is the hardware for the Internet server. The operating system
is NT4.0 and the server software is Netscape SuiteSpot. Alameda County
outbound user authentication control procedures is handled by
configuring the products between the Netscape Directory (LDAP)/Proxy
server systems and the Cisco PIX firewall system.
>From the Alameda County home page (http://www.co.alameda.ca.us), users
can link to local court rules and jury awards posted under the court
divisions. Frequently Asked Questions on the pages for the District
Attorney, Public Defender and County Counsel Offices cover questions
often asked at the law library's reference desk. ITD plans to develop a
web page for the Probate Court, and provide court indexes and schedules
for the court web pages.
The Law Library's commitment to public service is reinforced by its
presence on the county's home page. Web site users (potential library
patrons) can survey the entire range of activities supported by the
county government and see that the law library is not an isolated
entity. The Law Library appreciates the support provided by the ITD and
looks forward to maintaining a web site that will highlight the county's
commitment to on-line public information.
While developing the library's home page, staff librarians Jacqueline
Cantwell and Greg Fite edited previously issued library policies in
light of the many changes since the library moved to its new location in
1995. On-line library patrons can now acquaint themselves with the
library's borrowing policies and collection strengths. The "Additional
Legal Resources" page provides links to California legal resources that
aid the library's major user groups, solo practitioners and citizens.
The staff members did not duplicate links available through the
excellent law school pages, but rather worked with the county to provide
unique local legal information. As Alameda County local municipalities
and courts develop web sites, the Law Library looks forward to providing
direction and access in the electronic age.
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