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Saturday, November 28, 2009
Ind. Courts - "Clerk unplugging computers: Staff cut ending free public access"
Supplementing yesterday's ILB entry on the demise of courthouse libraries is this story today in the Evansville Courier & Press, reported by Thomas B. Langhorne. Some quotes:
In about a month, a work force reduction will compel the Vanderburgh County Clerk's Office to close its library of six free public-access computers used for looking up case information.It's one slice in local government services to the public — a loss, although not a crippling loss. But it might be just a hint of what's to come.
"The library's busy all day long," County Clerk Susan Kirk said.
"People come up because they can't remember their case numbers, or they want to look up (civil and criminal, excluding juvenile) cases, and it's heavily used by abstracters who work for title companies."
Kirk says she is forced to close the library to move the employee who supervises it over to replace a small-claims clerk who left her 54-person staff in October. That open position, she said, has proved indispensable.
"The library is something we've done for the public and the abstracters, and we're not going to be able to do it anymore," she said.
After the library closes, individuals seeking the data it offered will have to make requests in writing and, by state law, wait as long as seven days to receive the requested information.
Kirk hopes to move two of her computers into another courts system office, but it's not yet clear whether that will be technologically feasible.
The library closing is necessary, she says, because the County Council declined to authorize her to fill the vacant small-claims clerk position under the county's hiring freeze when she asked for permission in October.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 28, 2009 11:33 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts