Hi all!
Awhile ago I posted a question asking what other libraries are doing in
regards to the Regional Reporters. The following is a summary of my
responses.
> I received some interesting responses to my inquiry of what other firms
> are doing regarding donating, discarding, recycling the Regional
> Reporters, and tentatively the Feds.
>
> The following is the relevant information other librarians provide:
>
> 1. Regional Reporters: In speaking with other librarians across the
> country, I found no one who experienced problems eliminating these
> reporters, except the reporter which covers the geographic area wherein
> their firms were located. .... While there is no way to measure how much
> our elimination of the regional reporters may increase our online usage,
> there is printing considerations (how much it will increase). Another way
> to save space would be to discard the first 599 volumes of Federal
> Reporter, 2d and Federal Supplement.... eliminating all federal digests,
> the Georgia Digest, and our second copy of the Georgia Digest 2nd ...
> elimination of American Law Reports.
>
> We have ceased purchase of the regionals, except for Southeastern (which
> includes Georgia), but have not been told to reduce the library size yet.
> When we do the regionals will go. Not one peep from anyone on the
> cancellations. I think we could get away with ceasing the federals as
> well, and we suggested it, but have not been given the go ahead. I also
> stopped buying the advance sheets on FRD with nary a complaint. I am
> thinking of doing the same for the federals. Good luck with your
> reductions, and subsequent contract negotiations.
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2. The firm decided that because other offices have all the reporters, etc.
this office would not need them. Cases could be requested and faxed to this
office or get them Online. Well, that has not worked. We now have the
reporters (F.2d, F.3d, F.Supp., F. Supp.2d, S.E., S.E.2d, Fed. Practice
Digest, 2d, 3d, 4th, full S. Ct., USCA) and I have just paid BIG BUCKS to
update everything. The attorneys want to be able to peruse books and have
hard copies for comparing. (from a branch office Librarian of a large firm)
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3. We went through this downsizing several years ago when we entered into
our first flat-rate contract which was with Westlaw. We now have flat rates
with both Lexis and Westlaw. As a result of the first contract, we stopped
subscriptions to all regional reporters except
> Northeastern where Indiana cases are reported. We kept, and still have,
> full on-going subscriptions to the federal material; FRD,
> F.Supp, Fed.Rep., and Sct Rpt.
>
> The flat rate contract was the deciding factor to cancel regionals, but it
> was also a matter of space. We were literally just one or two
> volumes away in some reporters from putting books on the floor. We went
> through the "political" channels to get approval from the
> litigation directors for canceling these volumes. However, the associates
> were left out of the loop on this decision, and they were
> quite upset when it was announced. This makes sense when you think about
> who is really doing the research.
>
> This happened for us in 1994 when online research was not widely used
> here. We put a great effort into training and marketing use of
> Westlaw so that people would be comfortable relying on and using an online
> source. It was bumpy at first, but now, several years later, it's
> accepted practice. It's possible you won't encounter some of these issues
> if your attorneys are comfortable with online searching. (Indianapolis,
> IN)
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4. When I proposed doing away with a portion of our regionals at my previous
firm, there was a great hue and cry. The attorneys felt there was a great
value to the headnotes that they couldn't get through the online versions
(the firm tended toward Lexis and didn't have a flat rate with WL). (DC)
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5. At our firm of approximately 135 attorneys & 3 locations we have only
maintained the Southeastern Reporters of the Regionals. However, our
situation is very unique in that we are located directly across the street
from a 4th Circuit library and just a 5 minute walk to our state supreme
court law library which both have the regionals. It was decided long before
I joined the firm (16 years ago) that in order to save on space, we wouldn't
purchase the other regionals since we had such close access. This has
worked out great over the years and there has been little or no complaints
from the attorneys. In recent years, with more emphasis on using WEXIS and
> purchasing CDs (only w/ 4th Circuit materials) this has really bridged the
> gap in having access to these reporters. I might add that we do have the
> Fed. Reporters & Fed. Supps. and don't anticipate giving these up (except
> maybe some of the older ones at some point) any time soon. (Richmond, VA)
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> The consensus seems to be that donating the Regionals does not seem like a
> bad idea.
>
Thanks for all of your suggestions and help. This was a great help in
deciding what to do with our collection.
Mary M. Maguire
Ross, Dixon & Bell LLP
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
North Building
Washington, DC 20004
mmaguire@rdblaw.com
(202)662-2979
(202)662-2190
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