Here is a general summary of responses my very unscientific survey. Basically, I did a lot of interpretation and I really only asked two questions (see original email below after signature). There were 40 responses from firm, county and court libraries. Here is a summary of what libraries mentioned in their emails.
Had previously cut digests--18 or 45%
Considering cutting--9 or 22%
Considering cutting or previously cut digests--25 or 62.5%
Not considering cutting--11 or 27.5%
Subscribe to more than applicable jurisdictions--5 or 12.5%
Subscribe only to applicable jurisdictions (federal, regional and state)--18 or 45%
Subscribe to state (and/or regional only)--16 or 40%
Subscribe to none--1 or 2.5%
Digests receive heavy use--15 or 37.5%
. . . Moderate use--9 or 22.5%
. . . Light or no use--11 or 27.5%
There is a generation gap in use--11 or 27.5
No generation gap in use--3 or 7.5%
Many expressed concerned that they were being "priced out of the market" by West(even if they desired to keep the digests). My own conclusion is that we are in a transition and that print digests are being significantly decreased but not entirely eliminated. The future of print digests is uncertain (but I'm guessing they will become cost prohibitive for most libraries). The effect of the generation gap isn't clear--which suggests to me (rather optimistically) that there still is some effective instruction going on out there.
For our library the issue isn't whether to totally eliminate digests (at least for the present). The question is where to draw the line. Certainly law school graduates should be taught how to use digests in both print and electronic environments (if for no other reason than uncertainty facing digests in firm, court and county library libraries).
Here are some other comments from the email responses:
"Although I still keep them on the shelves, they [Federal Practice and Bankruptcy Digest] haven't been touched in over a year."
"We're a small county court public law library, and I cancelled all print digests except for state and regional a couple of years ago. Nobody used them except for paralegal students, and nobody has complained or asked about them (except the students)."
"I just cancelled West's Federal Practice Digest 4th. I plan to skip a year and then buy a new set if necessary. Yes, 1 out of 64 [attorney's still uses digest]."
"We cancelled our Colorado Digest and just cancelled the Federal Practice Digest (those Civil Rights volumes put us over the edge) for the main office library (I am still purchasing it for three other offices!!). We are still keeping Pacific Digest (purchasing 5 copies for 5 different offices) for right now. I think they are going to price themselves right out of everyone's budget."
"I recently tossed West's Federal Practice Digest - it was not current and took far too much room. In five years, I don't recall anyone using it, other than for the Table of Cases (which I actually kept, as it does come in handy). No lawyer has mentioned its passing, and I derived immense pleasure in getting rid of the monster. That set grew faster than the Killer Tomato and demolished budgetary planning. I do find West's Connecticut Digest useful, and plan to keep it current."
"We canceled everything but the TN Digest. All else, if needed is in our contract with Wexis."
"They still seem to be more useful for new users in print, rather than online. We'll cancel our reporter sets before we'll cancel the digests... (And, in fact, we *have* canceled the South East and South West reporters...)"
"Not only do I have lawyers and students who use them, but I have judges who use them. Saw one this very day, in his chambers, use three volumes of the digest before my very eyes. It's about the scope notes, and the array of cases on the page, and the value of seeing something faster and quicker than sitting in front of a screen and choosing the right words or the right key number. I've been unsuccessful in getting them to let go of the hard copy chambers volumes, as we have BOTH Lexis and Westlaw. I have given up regionals and regional digests. I do not forsee eliminating state digests in this court/county law library."
"The books are used, though noticeably less than five years ago. It goes in spurts for us."
I suspect many of the younger attorneys do use Westlaw for digesting, but we still have several attorneys who prefer the print. I myself often find it is easier to use the print, but then it is only a few feet away from my desk, so I don't have to go far to use it.
I have often heard law librarians with more experience than I (7 years), indicate they would never get rid of the print digests, it would be one of the last print sources to go just before the print statutes, but I am not 100% sure why. Is it still true that Westlaw does not digest all cases as far back as the print versions. I know it used to be, but I have not kept up. That was always the reasoning behind keeping the 1st, 2d and 3d editions of the Federal Digest."
"Unfortunately our attorneys still use our local state (Illinois) digest and Federal Practice Digest. However, if they didn't, they probably would be spending much greater time online and rakcing up bills that way."
"We did finally cancel West's Federal Practice Digest...this last "renumbering" venture was the end. I'll repurchase every 2-3 years if I find people are clamboring..."
"We still subscribe to the Pacific Digest and West Federal Practice Digest, but due to the recent price hikes for WFPD, we will be cancelling and repurchasing every other year. Our attorneys still make great use of both sets, but there is a marked generational split for our users The younger attorneys generally start and end with Westlaw."
"In light of my budgetary and space limitations, I have made the argument 2 years running that we should cancel them. Perhaps 80% of the attorneys have no problem with that. It's the remaining 20%, all of them in the >45 age range who object. So far we still have them. They are used perhaps once or twice a year."
"We cancelled West's Federal Practice Digest a few months back, but kept the South Eastern Digest. The people who wanted to keep the FPD aren't the people doing most of the research, and the one's doing the research would rather do it online."
" The are all used occasionally. And everyone hates getting rid of West's Federal Digest 4th. Still get moans about that and it is hard to get any active judge that still has it to give it up. It is no longer on their list of items for chambers so most of the chambers that do have it are the older judges. The Senior judges have canceled because of cost. Since these materials are used as Reference rather than circulate, it is hard to tell. However, they still end up on the tables. "
"We are a law firm and still have partners that use the Digests. I have recommended cancellation of the digests, since we can get the same information off of WESTLAW, in an easier to use format."
" My attorneys definately use them, even the ones who are proficient with electronic research. We canceled the Federal Practice Digest due to cost and space limitations but we keep our state digest current for them to use."
"We don't have a lot who still use the digests in print, but there are some attorneys who refuse to let them go."
"We get complaints about canceling the digests, especially from the young associates. We tell them they can search by key number, topic, etc. on Westlaw, but they don't like it. They want the print."
"I'm in a firm of ~25 attys and we still have Federal Practice Digest 4th and both West's Wisconsin Key Number Digest and Callaghan's Wisconsin Digest. I won't be canceling any of them anytime soon. Actually, I wouldn't mind getting rid of the FPD4th because it keeps expanding in size but I have several attorneys who like to use the print digests, and I do use them myself sometimes if I'm having trouble formulating a Lexis search. We do get more mileage out of the Wisconsin Digests and we still have both sets because some people prefer Callghan's and some prefer the Key Number Digest, and some like to check both."
"We're a small and moderately quiet county law library but our attorneys still use Pacific Digest and the Oregon Digest so we're keeping them for now. Fed Prac Dig is my big headache. We do have Westlaw, but it's not the same, especially for our long-time attorneys. The new law school grads wouldn't know what to do with the print but the rest do. I can't get rid of WFPD yet, but will have to eventually. We do get a 25% discount on them with our current Westlaw contracts, but it doesn' really make a big difference in cost."
"Yes, they're used all the time. We're keeping duplicate copies of both Missouri and Kansas in our new library. I had an email from one of our attorneys this morning, actually, who wanted to make sure we were not getting rid of them. Personally, I hate the thought of new associates depending on Lexis/Westlaw and not researching with the digests. I encourage their use during orientation programs."
"We maintain the Digests in two of our six offices. We do have attorneys who still like them, but they are "old school" and definitely in the minority. None of our younger people use them.... to my knowledge."
"Unfortunately, it seems that the publisher continues to drive subscribers "over the cliff" with major re-writes and add-ons. If it were not for these publishing practices it may be a lot easier to stick with the print Digestsets. Our library has recently cancelled upkeep on individual out-of-state digest sets not currently covered by Regional Digests. We continue to subsrcibe to the Decennials, Regionals, U.S. S.Ct. and Federal Digests, as well as our State jurisdictional Digest and contiguous states. Use of these research aids is definitely dwindling and rarley do we see an appellate court law clerk with Digest in hand. As we currently use Westlaw as our online research service, most of court use of the digests is of the electronic variety. We do have a small, but faithful contingent of staff attorneys and judges who insist that we retain a core collection of these publications. Also, because we are a public law library, and many of our customers are non-lawyers, and until we can offer inexpensive online access to the entirety of published caselaw, we will most likely "stick with the program"and provide digests for in-person customers."
"My users have voted against canceling the Federal Practice Digest twice in the last 4 years. Don't forget that this is one set that is less expensive to buy brand new (or get free for the cost of postage ;-) ) every 3rd or 4th year than to maintain annually, if that's an option for you and your budget process allows for it."
"We have cancelled Federal Practice Digest 4th, the larger factor which ruled out over the great expense is that there is that we simply have no space to keep putting all the volumes they keep adding to it. Our attorneys do use it, but not a lot."
_____
PAUL D. CALLISTER, JD, MSLIS
Library Director & Associate Professor of Law
LEON E. BLOCH LAW LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY SCHOOL OF LAW
"Librarianship remains the last refuge of idealists." -- Bob Berring, Thinkable Thoughts, Law Librarians 3 (Sept. - Oct. 2003).
"My guess is, you know, about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference library in doing search. But we've--we can make slow and steady progress and maybe one day we'll get there." Sunday Morning: The Little Engine that Could; Google Grows from Garage to Giant (CBS television broadcast, March 28, 2004) (Charles Osgood reporting interview with Craig Silverstein, Google Director of Technology).
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of Callister, Paul D.
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 1:24 PM
To: Law-Lib (E-mail)
Subject: Law Digests--Are they used at firms?
In light of West price hikes, we're having an interesting discussion at my school about law digests and whether they have future in print form. If you are a firm or court library, I'd like to know if you have cancelled your subscription to any case digests (in print) , and if you still have attorneys who use them.
Thanks.
PAUL D. CALLISTER, JD, MSLIS
Library Director & Associate Professor of Law
LEON E. BLOCH LAW LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY SCHOOL OF LAW
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