We subscribe to several e-services on behalf of members of the Law Society of Manitoba, and we want to make sure you use them. Sometimes, all we have to do is tell you about them. Some platforms, however, are not very intuitive, so Allyssa McFadyen has created tutorials on how to use them.
Our dèsLibris subscription gives you access to the Irwin Law “Essentials of Canadian Law” series. The platform can be a little difficult to navigate. Allyssa has put together screen shots showing what we consider the easiest way to use it.
All our guides are available on our Legal Ease page. If there are other resources you need help using, let us know. Allyssa will be happy to put together an instructional tutorial for you. You are also welcome to visit the library for in person assistance in using your resources.
Hansard is the official record of all debates and meetings of the legislature. It is an invaluable resource when researching the intricacies behind particular legislation. Manitoba’s Hansard is online from 1958 to the present, however, using it can be quite challenging, particularly when you’re looking for information prior to 1996.
Legal Information Professional Allyssa McFadyen received some tips from staff at the Legislative Assembly’s Reading Room, and developed this easy-to-follow guide.
If you have further questions or difficulty with finding out what the government was thinking when they designed a particular statute, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Members of the Law Society of Manitoba have access to HeinOnline through the Members’ Portal. Having access to a resource isn’t all that helpful if you don’t know how to use it, however. Lauren Mattiuzzo recently published some research tips to use when searching HeinOnline:
As information professionals, we are specialists in finding answers. But we also love to share our methods with everyone. One way to do this is by creating guides and tutorials on how to do what to us, are simple tasks, but to others, may be a challenge. The first guide we’ve created is on how to know when there are new Manitoba decisions on CanLII.
Manitoba’s courts have been distributing their decisions for free on CanLII since the turn of the century. Currently, we distribute the decisions to the legal publishers the day we receive them. CanLII usually has them available online within 24 hours.
Our guide, created by Allyssa McFadyen, demonstrates how to set up an alert in your calendar program to remind you to check CanLII for new results, or how to set up an RSS feed to be notified when new content has been published. Once these systems are set up, it is a simple matter to stay on top of new caselaw.
We plan to publish additional guides in the future, on such topics as how to search Hansard (Manitoba edition), and how to use our catalogue. If you have suggestions for research methods you would like explained, please let us know. Check our page, Legal Ease, for new content. It happens to be RSS-ready.
The Manitoba Law Library would like to acknowledge with gratitude that we are situated on Treaty One Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree and Dakota peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Printing and Photocopying
If you need to use the library’s printing and photocopying services you will need to create an account. See us at the front desk for assistance.
The Great Library will be closed from December 25, 2024 to January 1, 2025 for the winter holidays. Regular office hours will resume on Thursday, January 2, 2025.