The Macon County Law Library located on the 3rd floor of the Macon County Circuit Court serves the legal information needs of the legal profession, judiciary, self represented litigants and the public. The library offers an extensive library of practical legal resources in print as well as legal databases provided.
A NOTE FROM THE MACON COUNTY LAW LIBRARIAN AND SELF-HELP NAVIGATOR
The Macon County Law Library and Self-Help Center is partnered with PILI (Public Law Interest Initiative), the IL. Bar Association and the Decatur Bar Association. We are concerned with all of the closures and limitations on service for the most vulnerable among us.
Since courthouse interactions with the public are being severely curtailed, the PILI organization will not be able to man our help-desk in the Self-Help Center until further notice. However, they did design a flyer in lieu of our help-desks which are manned by the bar association pro bono attorney's.
Litigants in need of assistance can visit the website listed on the attached flyer to ask questions of volenteer lawyers. Its like a virtual help desk for civil legal issues and it is free for those who qualify. They offer resources for those who don't qualify. Below are the instructions.
Take care and stay well! Illinois Free Legal Answers
WESTLAW ACCESS In a continued effort to support equal access to justice, the Macon County Law Library and Thomson Reuters are sharing a great resource for our patrons. Our Law Library offers critical services to the public, including access to online legal research through Westlaw. With that said, we want to make this transition to our "new normal" easier. Thomson Reuters is offering our patrons utilization of Westlaw, while they are safely sheltering in place, by registering online with their own unique credentials. Temporary access provides patrons with 20 hours of legal research time in 14 days. Patrons will have access to resources from our primary, secondary and litigation collections on Westlaw Edge. Patrons can register here: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/c/remote-patron-access
Westlaw Registration for Library Patrons
1. Access Westlaw trial page and enter your email address
2. Enter your contact information. In the Organization Type field, select Government-State or Local
3. Skip the "Add Colleagues" page
4. Click "I agree to Terms & Conditions" and click Create Profile
5&6 Create OnePass profile and complete security fields (2 pages)
7. Confirm your OnePass profile
8. Click "Get Started" and start searching on Westlaw!
IMPORTANT:
Do not select Pro Se or Law Student in the Organization Type field
Users must select Government-State or Local in the Organization Type field
The email used by users cannot be known to the Thomson Reuters system