| Advisory Opinion request by Sara Virginia Pic, an employee of the La. Supreme Court Law Library, regarding her receipt of an honorarium from OCLC. |
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Sara Pic is currently employed as the Head of Public Services by the Law Library of Louisiana within the Louisiana Supreme Court. In her position, she conducts classes to Louisiana public libraries on legal reference and legal information resources.
OCLC is a global library cooperative that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large. The Law Library is a member of OCLC and is used as a vendor for bibliographic utility, which involves downloading bibliographic records to add to the library's online catalog for items added to the collection.
OCLC, in conjunction with Legal Services Corporation, a non-profit corporation established by the U.S. Congress, and several other sponsors, has developed a webinar training titled "Improving Access to Civil Legal Justice through Public Libraries" to help library staff identify when civil legal issues are at play and to direct library users to relevant, helpful knowledge to narrow the justice gap in their communities. Ms. Pic has been invited by OCLC to be an instructor for the webinar. She has been asked to create a 45-minute session dedicated to improving access to civil legal justice on a national level. In exchange for her time, Ms. Pic will receive a $1,500 honorarium from OCLC.
Ms. Pic stated that she does not participate in access to justice classes in her position with the Law Library that involve national issues.
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La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) provides that no public servant shall receive anything of economic value for, or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person who has, or is seeking to obtain, a contractual, business, or financial relationship with the public servant's agency.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
David Bordelon |
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