Saskatchewan Premium Legal Resources Pilot Launched

By Alan Kilpatrick

On Friday, May 9, 2025, at 12:00 pm, I am co-presenting a session at the 2025 Saskatchewan Libraries Conference with Ken Fox: Saskatchewan Premium Legal Resources Pilot Launched.  

Saskatchewan residents can now register for free online access to premium legal eBooks and databases through the Law Society of Saskatchewan’s new Premium Legal Resources program! These premium resources will help members of the public gain a basic understanding of the law and learn about their legal rights and responsibilities. They may also enable members of the public to identify the range of legal options available within the legal system and potential next steps.

The Law Society of Saskatchewan (via its Legal Resources library) connects members of the public with legal information resources through its physical courthouse libraries and online resources. Our team strives to provide the greatest possible public access to our digital resources in response to the needs demonstrated in the 2021 Legal Needs Assessment for Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, providing public access to online legal resources is challenging, as commercial vendors have restrictive licensing terms, making access difficult. As collection shifts away from print legal resources to commercial online legal resources, public access to online legal resources is increasingly threatened. 

Over the past five years, our team has worked with Canada’s commercial legal information vendors to develop a solution and agree on a framework to provide reasonable public access to their resources in a way that met our need to provide public access to resources and respected the vendors’ needs to sell their products. In 2024, our team finalized this work and launched the Premium Legal Resources program, providing temporary free access to legal eBooks and databases. We hope this project represents an enduring way to connect members of the Saskatchewan public with legal information.

Alongside this project and in tandem, we built a new online portal on the Law Society website called For the Public: Get Legal Information, Resources, and Options for Assistance to help centralize free sources of legal information and assistance sources understandably. Saskatchewan’s many sources of legal information and assistance can be confusing for those unfamiliar with the law and legal sector. This portal helps make it easier for members of the public to learn about the law, research the law, register for the premium legal resources we’ve just presented, find options for legal assistance, and obtain legal information. Attendees will: