Florida Supreme Court Exp和s Tour Program, Offers Virtual Programming
Justice Muñiz participates in a Zoom education program with third graders from Ward-Highl和s Elementary School in Ocala.
随着资金来源的枯竭, 还有法官, 律师, 法律学者, self-represented当事人, 和 others increasingly turning to digitized sources 进行 legal research, law libraries across the nation have been reconsidering the best ways to serve their users 和 to 充分利用他们的空间. Chief Justice Canady is among those who have been wrestling with these questions, 和, 2020年初, 他批准, 并聘请了 国家法院中心 进行, a two-part study of the Florida Supreme Court Law Library that includes exploring the idea of developing an educational learning center. 研究的第一阶段, 2021年1月竣工, was an assessment of library operations 和 resources (the chief justice sought recommendations for maximizing service opportunities 和 optimizing budget efficiencies). The court is in the process of hiring a new librarian, 和, 一旦那个职位有人了, phase two will proceed: building on the findings of phase one, the National Center will develop recommendations regarding the library collection 和 space planning, including the possibility of creating an educational learning center within the library space. The report from that final study will go to the full Court for a decision, 有了图书管理员的意见.
与此同时, 由于大流行, which forced the closure of the building to visitors, the supreme court’s Public Information Office 和 its Library have been working together to develop a rich repository of educational programming for virtual tours—material that can become part of a virtual learning center, 如果得到法院的批准. For many years, the supreme court website has hosted a bounty of 教育资源 以及关于 教育司法部门. 这些, 添加虚拟导览, 和 it’s clear that a virtual learning center would already have a strong foundation in place.
Justice Labarga conducted a virtual supreme court building tour for Florida Association for Women Lawyers in March 2021.
在一个典型的年份, 10个以上,000人，包括学校团体, 民间组织, 和 leadership groups—visit the supreme court to take tours 和 participate in education programs. But when COVID-19 forced the court to close to visitors in March 2020, 艾米丽·里托女士, the supreme court’s education 和 information administrator, began inviting these groups to take virtual tours of the building. 在这些虚拟旅行中, Ms Rietow introduces visitors to the public areas of the building—including the courtroom, 律师休息室, 圆形大厅, 和 the library—和 she also teaches them about Florida’s judicial branch, 佛罗里达州不同级别的法院, 以及最高法院如何运作. 通常情况下，最高法院的档案保管员. Erik Robinson, joins the tours to highlight the treasures in the rare book room. And, often, a justice is available to join the tour virtually 和 answer questions.
During the Seminole State Community College Law Club’s virtual supreme court building tour in November 2020, Justice Grosshans joined in to talk about her journey in the legal field 和 to answer visitors’ questions.
These virtual tours have been remarkably successful. Rietow女士说, they seem to lead to higher levels of engagement than in-person tours: participants seem more comfortable with the process, 多问问题, 并表现出更多的兴趣和活力. And she noted that shy people 和 people with disabilities or learning disabilities seem particularly at home with the virtual tours 和 especially appreciate the chat feature, which enables them to ask their questions unselfconsciously 和 at their own pace. Another benefit is that virtual tours can reach multiple classrooms at once—和 up to 300 people can be present on a given tour. 最后, virtual tours enable anyone with internet access to visit the court, even those who are never likely to find themselves in Tallahassee. 出于这些原因, the supreme court is seriously considering continuing the virtual tour program even after it becomes safe to open the building to visitors again. (这个链接指向更多关于 tours 和 education programs at the supreme court.)
The virtual tours 和 the variety of other educational materials 和 resources on the Florida Supreme Court website are available to all Floridians 和 to visitors from around the world who want to learn more about the Florida courts system 和 significant cases 和 issues in Florida’s legal history. This initiative is part of the Florida judiciary’s effort to build 和 maintain public trust 和 confidence in the courts 和 implement effective communications with the public.