You might want to take a look at my article in the November 2002 isssue of
Against the Grain. The title is "Do We Still need Books for Legal Research?
(Why books still matter.)"
--Bryan M. Carson
"Laura E. Ray" wrote:
> Aside from ABA requirements, retention of print materials influences
> teaching. Do law schools still need to teach print research? Does an
> understanding of print materials help one to be a better electronic
> researcher?
> Another issue concerns real practice. How many practitioners do not, or
> will not, have access to computers, and thus need, or will need, to know how
> to do print research? One might say that an attorney without access to
> computers is likely to be in danger of malpractice (eg, because of not
> having access to electronic Shepards). Yet how important are computers for
> the everyday practitioner who deals with nuts-and-bolts wills,
> dissolutions, etc.? Can an attorney survive in real practice -- with
> sufficient billings to make a living -- without access to computers? Are
> electronic research and materials forcing a permanent change in the
> profession?
> Then there is the issue of information access. By eliminating paper,
> would law schools contribute to the potential situation of only those with
> access to computers being capable of practicing law? The 2000 Census tells
> us slightly over half of US households have computers, but that means
> slightly under half of US households do not have computers. [And you guessed
> it. Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans prevail in the numbers of
> households without computers. What impact does this have?] If law-related
> information was only available electronically, how might this contribute to
> the widening gap between those with access to information and those without
> such access? Do law libraries, particularly state law school libraries,
> have a public responsibility to retain print collections?
> Laura
>
>
> "Felice K. Lowell" wrote:
>
>> Actually Cynthia, we are talking about that. If the info is available on
>> Westlaw and all students and faculty have access to it what is the
>> problem? The only paper sacrosanct as far as our reference staff is
>> concerned is codes, etc. The rest is taking up a lot of space, gets less
>> use each semester, costs an arm and a leg, takes endless processing, and
>> decimates a forest daily. As academic institutions, our first priority is
>> our students and faculty (or vice versa!)
>> 1. Can we afford to support users beyond our immediate responsibility.
>> 2. Is there a better way to insure "ownership" of the information than
>> have everyone save the same paper copy?
>> 3. Is elimination of hard copy going to impact library statistics
>> title/volume count? (check all of the government documents which are no
>> longer coming in paper, CD, or microform).
>>
>> To be honest, this memo was sent to spark some conversations on the
>> topic. And we may only be talking about multiple copies, when all is
>> said and done!
>>
>> Felice
>>
>> Cynthia Aninao wrote:
>>
>> > Felice, let us know what you find. You're not talking about reporters
>> > that are "required" by the ABA, such as F3d, etc? How are you going to
>> > deal with that? Cynthia.
>> >
>> > Cynthia Aninao, Acquisitions Librarian
>> > University of Cincinnati Law Library
>> > Clifton and Calhoun Streets
>> > Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0142
>> >
>> > cynthia.aninao@law.uc.edu
>> > 513-556-0156, Fax 513-556-6265
>> >
>> > On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, Felice K. Lowell wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >> Now that there have been several "surveys" on the acquisition of hard
>> >> copy for Shepard's and digests, we'd like to know whether any
>> >> academic
>> >> law libraries have begun to evaluate their reporter subscriptions with
>> >> the thought of relying solely on electronic access. We know there are
>> >> some law firms doing just that. It seems a little radical for us,
>> >> but
>> >> budget issues are forcing us to be more creative than we have been in
>> >> the past!!
>> >>
>> >> Thanx for your input.
>> >>
>> >> Felice Lowell
>> >> Asst. Director for Technical Services
>> >> Cleveland State University Law Library
>> >> 216-523-7388
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
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