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Last Updated: November 09, 2023

For MA: Introducing Gale LegalForms

An introduction for putting Gale LegalForms to work in your library.

Duration: 17 Minutes
[00:00:01.560]
Stacey Knibloe: Hello folks thanks for tuning in to our recording of introducing Gale LegalForms for Massachusetts libraries.

[00:00:08.400]
Stacey Knibloe: I’m Stacey Knibloe your Gale trainer for Massachusetts and I’m thrilled to be able to show off our Guild LegalForms resource.

[00:00:16.949]
Stacey Knibloe: We are of course very happy to be continuing on with our relationship in Massachusetts and, of course, you have a bevy of Gale resources to work with, and in this recording we're going to take a look at one of the new ones being offered.

[00:00:30.090]
Stacey Knibloe: Are Gale LegalForms resource is a great fit, certainly in public libraries, but I could see this being used in college libraries as well.

[00:00:39.930]
Stacey Knibloe: Anyone looking for some quick forums, maybe to rent out an apartment to build.

[00:00:47.340]
Stacey Knibloe: Partnership agreements there's lots of great content here for small business owners as well, can really save a lot of time and expense really everyone can time and expense and lawyers fees.

[00:00:58.470]
Stacey Knibloe: And what's great about these as you kind of have unlimited users so users can download as many forms, as they need and customize them to whatever fits their legal needs.

[00:01:09.240]
Stacey Knibloe: But content is also supplemented with lots of things that are still kind of forms but maybe not specifically.

[00:01:17.550]
Stacey Knibloe: A legal documents something more like a sample that you can use or a checklist maybe to go through.

[00:01:23.670]
Stacey Knibloe: there's lots of good stuff you can use to help understand the content that you're working with.

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Stacey Knibloe: The legal world is not easy, sometimes to understand and as lay people we need that extra help so there's lots of great help along the way.

[00:01:38.760]
Stacey Knibloe: I know at the reference desk back when I was there folks often were kind of looking for legal advice and that certainly wasn't something I was qualified to give, but this is something you can then kind of turn them into.

[00:01:50.310]
Stacey Knibloe: To take advantage of all the additional help that comes along with the actual LegalForms that are in this resource so we're going to dive in and take a look, we have.

[00:02:01.230]
Stacey Knibloe: A lot of great stuff to show off here but I’m going to hit kind of the highlights, and this session, and then, when we wrap up I’ll share where you can find more support materials on this resource so.

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Stacey Knibloe: I’m going to make things just a little bigger here so it's bigger on the, on the other end of the webinar.

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Stacey Knibloe: So the homepage is going to like many Gale resources kind of give you the option of searching or diving in and browsing.

[00:02:25.710]
Stacey Knibloe: I always like browse it's one of my favorite features in our databases, but I particularly like it in this database because, especially in the legal world.

[00:02:34.200]
Stacey Knibloe: We don't know what we don't know and with the different browser tools, you really discover a lot more content that maybe you wouldn't have thought to search for so we're definitely going to take advantage of that.

[00:02:45.060]
Stacey Knibloe: However, when we have a search field in front of us that's what most end users tend to do so, I am going to start there.

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Stacey Knibloe: Before I do that, though, let me just mention this is a partner product for us at Gale .

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Stacey Knibloe: We work with us LegalForms to provide this in libraries, there is a consumer tool out there, US LegalForms that folks can go to sign up for a subscription and take advantage.

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Stacey Knibloe: With the library resource, which is what you all have access to it, there is no cost to your end user so they're going to come in here, they can use as many forms, as they like again no cost to them.

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Stacey Knibloe: So let's go ahead and dive in with a search and I really like the search tool here so I’m just going to do a quick search on lease.

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Stacey Knibloe: And what you'll find is we of course have the LegalForms that have their names which can often be and kind of that legally use language.

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Stacey Knibloe: What the folks at US legal firms have also done is create categories for all of the forms that are available and those tend to be more natural language and what's Nice is that the search tool searches both.

[00:03:48.540]
Stacey Knibloe: searches the names of the forms but then the categories that they come from, as well, so you tend to get a very.

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Stacey Knibloe: Robust search result, particularly when I’ve searched on something really simple like least.

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Stacey Knibloe: Another thing to look out for when you've performed a search or even when you come to results list from eyebrows and I’m going to use my annotate tool here to highlight this.

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Stacey Knibloe: The forums all have control numbers and the control number really doesn't mean much if you have a.

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Stacey Knibloe: question about a particular form that's probably useful for us to have but it's really just a way to keep track of the forms in the system.

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Stacey Knibloe: What you do want to note, though, is any of those that start with m a R forms that are for use in Massachusetts you're also going to see forms that start with, and let me move deeper into the results list here start with the US, and those are the more.

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Stacey Knibloe: nationwide form so you've got a blend to your of content that is was built specifically for Massachusetts but then there are ones that are more general and kind of work around the US so.

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Stacey Knibloe: The Massachusetts forms will always float to the top of your results list so when you start.

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Stacey Knibloe: Often, with a search result you're going to see a lot of forms that start with ma and then it'll move into the US form, so all of these forms were built by attorneys.

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Stacey Knibloe: You know, some of these are very standard to intake forms they made us all or sorry not intake forms they make us all the time.

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Stacey Knibloe: And then, some are very specialized so it's a real mix here but that's a good thing to keep an eye out for that that ma and the control number let you know that this is something that was used or is built for use in Massachusetts.

[00:05:23.760]
Stacey Knibloe: Now, looking at our results, we have over 600 forms and it starts by relevance it again brings up our Massachusetts farms first, so I could keep scrolling through these, but you really can get specific, for example, you see, here we have.

[00:05:38.430]
Stacey Knibloe: A brute America lease agreement right, so you can do much more specific searches here so I’m going to throw another search term in there, say we're looking for a condo.

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Stacey Knibloe: and see now we've narrowed down to just seven results, so you can really get specific and they use when you searching, it uses implied truncation so it picked up condominium from our search result, even though I just searched on condo, which is a nice tool.

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Stacey Knibloe: patron may be wondering, well, I see a few different condo leases here which one is the right one for me that's when you want to step in and take a look at the form.

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Stacey Knibloe: These are they're probably to hear that would work equally well it's really going to be up to the end user, but what can also help them decide.

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Stacey Knibloe: Is the description that comes along with it the description is nice, because this is written, for me, as the lay person not a lawyer, once we get into the actual form.

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Stacey Knibloe: You know that's going to be legal language so here at the description it's going to be a little more for me there's a preview tool tools, a preview tool to so you can take a quick look at the form.

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Stacey Knibloe: But of course you can download an open these as much as you like a lot of the forms are available in a couple of different formats, we have word for this one and.

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Stacey Knibloe: and rich text which work in any word processing program we just go ahead and open them up, and it is going to download so if your users are using this from a library computer.

[00:07:04.380]
Stacey Knibloe: They are going to want to download this maybe to a flash drive or maybe move it over into the cloud but.

[00:07:09.360]
Stacey Knibloe: They need to take them with them they're gonna they're gonna have to do that if they're on their own device, of course, they can save it wherever they like, and this is all ready for me to fart start filling out, you know I can just start filling in the data.

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Stacey Knibloe: Forgive my.

[00:07:24.360]
Stacey Knibloe: typing here save it as needed and if I’m not sure, maybe what goes on some of these lines, these areas for me to fill in if I go back a lot of forms will also come along with their own samples, so you can get a look at well, what does it look like when it's completed.

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Stacey Knibloe: Open that up right get an idea if I need help kind of filling in those fields.

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Stacey Knibloe: So lots of these in the resource close out of there and, of course, save the work I’ve done.

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Stacey Knibloe: But, looking at the rest of those results, but you kind of weed through this this other one the lease agreement of kind of many of you probably would work to you know you just jump in and take a look and see what would fit best.

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Stacey Knibloe: So the search is really again pretty flexible again I love, how it brings both back the legal form name and searches the categories which are a little more like natural language.

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Stacey Knibloe: I do want to show you the some of the other tools, though, before you browse there is a more most popular.

[00:08:31.980]
Stacey Knibloe: field here for some of the most popular forms that are searched in the resource so divorce wills and estates real estate and you can, of course, take a look at any of these I’m going to jump into wills and estates.

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Stacey Knibloe: And one of the neat things that happens here at it LegalForms we didn't see it with our condo lease but notice here for the very first hit we have is a last will and testament package.

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Stacey Knibloe: So what it's done is put together forms in a package that you might need so again kind of going back to my example of we don't know what we don't know.

[00:09:03.990]
Stacey Knibloe: A package is maybe going to give me some forms I wouldn't have known to search for that I might need so in this case it actually asked a couple questions, because of course you're willing tenant and test sorry will testament is going to.

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Stacey Knibloe: You know, depend on your situation right, so you can make your different selections here.

[00:09:24.810]
Stacey Knibloe: And then it will give you optional forms that are forms that may be appropriate for your situation and then some optional forums as well, just in case, if you wanted to examine some of those that maybe are outside of your situation.

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Stacey Knibloe: So the package tool is really handy.

[00:09:43.290]
Stacey Knibloe: you'll find those again throughout the resource some of the most popular forms that are available, they put those package together so you'll see him quite a bit with searches like these over on the left.

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Stacey Knibloe: One of those a sample letter, so this is something else I wanted to show I mentioned it before.

[00:09:57.360]
Stacey Knibloe: There are of course LegalForms in this resource, but there's lots of other content to sample letters is brought up here, so you know why recreate the wheel if there's already a letter kind of written for what I need I can just trade out.

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Stacey Knibloe: My specifics, for it, there are employment applications, there are checklist there's a ton of content in this resource.

[00:10:17.730]
Stacey Knibloe: That is not technically illegal forum but either is going to help you with a legal situation or help you fill in your LegalForms so lots of good stuff here.

[00:10:27.450]
Stacey Knibloe: And when we do our live training, I will share the sample letters to the tooth fairy so something kind of fun, if you want to try searching for that, on your own, I am going to jump back home Oh, because I do want to get to that browse that I mentioned so again.

[00:10:42.780]
Stacey Knibloe: you discover a lot of content with the browse tools, I think, and it is a more guided approach to finding content.

[00:10:49.890]
Stacey Knibloe: it's like using subject headings so, for example, if I go into partnerships so say I’m opening a small business I am doing this with a partner, we need a partnership agreement right.

[00:11:01.650]
Stacey Knibloe: going through here, I can see, there are you know partnership agreements available there are other things as well, I mentioned checklists are available.

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Stacey Knibloe: So a checklist for a partnership agreement again may give me ideas for things I need to ask my partner things we need to discuss that I may not have thought of.

[00:11:21.180]
Stacey Knibloe: There we go.

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Stacey Knibloe: So the checklists are really valuable will do this to for.

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Stacey Knibloe: I’ve actually seen this quite a bit under the last will and testament selection as well things to just keep in mind what to doing in the case of a death of a loved one checklist there are plenty of these in the resource they're really handy.

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Stacey Knibloe: The other thing I like is, if we go back here, look at the different types of partnerships is this a limited partnership, do I have silent partners involved as a complex.

[00:11:52.230]
Stacey Knibloe: we're going to take a look at another piece in a minute over here on the left, there are some tools to help you to find those items, but of course we can examine the forums as well.

[00:12:01.680]
Stacey Knibloe: And here we have again another package we've got a couple options for general partnership agreement.

[00:12:07.620]
Stacey Knibloe: A sample always nice to have and again can kind of jump into these take a look see if it fits my needs again another reason I like that preview don't have to download it and get a quick look at it right here in the preview.

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Stacey Knibloe: So lots of great forms here for the average person who may need legal help, but this is also really an excellent resource to let your small business community know about your Chamber of Commerce and the like different.

[00:12:33.930]
Stacey Knibloe: You know organizations within your town.

[00:12:37.170]
Stacey Knibloe: Let them know this tool is available can get a lot of work done, there are some things you do, are going to need you know, maybe a lawyer to sign off on, but if you can save hours and billing that's always a good thing.

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Stacey Knibloe: So when using the forums, you may come across terms or again looking at those you know partnership.

[00:12:54.570]
Stacey Knibloe: options, you know what's the difference between a limited partnership, a complex partnership, a silent partner.

[00:13:01.020]
Stacey Knibloe: may need help for those things the descriptions of the forums may help us but also keep in mind that over here in the upper left hand corner you've got some tools, you can refer to the law.

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Stacey Knibloe: The legal definitions tool.

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Stacey Knibloe: Is kind of like a legal dictionary if we click I’m just going to actually choose something from the list here you'll see from the.

[00:13:25.050]
Stacey Knibloe: list here a lot of terminology, we might find in a.

[00:13:30.480]
Stacey Knibloe: legal form or you know some sort of legal idea, and then, as you jump in mailbox rule let's check this out, you get a definition.

[00:13:40.470]
Stacey Knibloe: So sometimes a little more thorough than maybe what a dictionary would do but gives you a natural you know kind of layman's language.

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Stacey Knibloe: You know what is this tool, you can actually go a step further, if you look to the left again there's a lot digest in this if the legal definitions is a dictionary.

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Stacey Knibloe: The law digest is more like an encyclopedia so it's going to be more in depth, but it also covers a lot of other topics for example it's going to have biographies I’ll go to the m's again.

[00:14:06.180]
Stacey Knibloe: it's got backup biographies of say Supreme Court justices or you know historical you know or famous lawyers it's got overviews of particular cases, it really is more like an encyclopedia stores.

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Stacey Knibloe: And within it, it links to itself, so if I need to jump in and read more about negligence I’ve got that right there.

[00:14:26.850]
Stacey Knibloe: So again, these are the types of tools again that you can turn your users over to when.

[00:14:32.970]
Stacey Knibloe: They are looking for maybe more legal help and you're able to give you can point them in this direction, another great tool, the legal Q amp a.

[00:14:41.880]
Stacey Knibloe: So out in the consumer product by US LegalForms , they offer a Q amp a service, now the service isn't really available within the library product.

[00:14:51.390]
Stacey Knibloe: But what we do get are the questions and the answers from that tool, so if we jump into something here around scripts a motor vehicles.

[00:15:00.270]
Stacey Knibloe: You can see questions that folks have asked and then see their answers now these come from around the country, so it will always identify the state it came from, but it can often lead you down a path if you've got a similar question to getting the answer you need.

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Stacey Knibloe: Also, a good general help or the legal life articles so for a lot of the more popular reasons, to use a tool like us legal first part me Gale LegalForms.

[00:15:24.450]
Stacey Knibloe: You have the legal life articles that speak to these different.

[00:15:30.000]
Stacey Knibloe: You know topics something like a State planning or death, you know we looked at the last will and testament content, but this is kind of an introduction to that idea and the legal issues that can come along with it.

[00:15:41.100]
Stacey Knibloe: So this can often be a good place to get someone started when they're interested in that type of content are those legal life articles.

[00:15:48.270]
Stacey Knibloe: So there's a lot more great content here I would absolutely jump in and have a look around at the resource, but, of course, when questions come up, you can always feel free to reach out to.

[00:16:00.120]
Stacey Knibloe: Support from Gale as well as Massachusetts library system they have a great.

[00:16:05.010]
Stacey Knibloe: Live guide with lots of tools there and we have lots of great on demand help out at our support site for Massachusetts libraries and you can also.

[00:16:12.540]
Stacey Knibloe: find out who your Gale team is and feel free to get in touch so happy to answer questions and, of course, as always take suggestions for these resources, as you start to use them, we want to know what you need from them so feel free to reach out anytime.

[00:16:26.190]
Stacey Knibloe: And with that I’ll say thank you so much for tuning in I hope this session was helpful and you'll put Gale LegalForms to work in your library soon.
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