This was the response I received from West in response to my query to
West concerning a cite an attorney retrieved via KeyCite. This is dated
07/22/2004 -- and yes I asked them if this was a change from the past
when everyone told everyone that ALR always kept the annotations current
through updating the pocket part or redoing the annotation and that
between pocket parts you could telephone and they would tell you of any
additional case law. The three people I spoke with had no idea. Below
is the response I received when I insisted someone look into this
further. I have not forwarded the person's name with the message.
Dear Ms Hirt,
We have determined the following reason for the non-publication of 2000
ALR 5th 15.
The section of the ALR we were looking at is an Electronic Annotation,
or E-Annos. It is an advanced publication loaded to Westlaw prior to the
annotation being officially published. The disclaimer we discussed is
carried on all E-Annos and puts the reader on notice that the content
may not be in its final form, may not yet be published, or may never be
published. The purpose of the E-Annos is to allow the editors to load
yet-to-be published ALR annotations on Westlaw. In rare cases, the
advanced or unpublished ALR annotation may never be published, which
appears to be the case in this instance. Other reasons for not
publishing an E-Annos could be contractual, author's decision or
otherwise. Unfortunately, we do not know the exact reason for not
publishing an annotation. I apologize for any confusion this may have
caused. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any further
questions. Thank you.
Sincerely,
West Reference Attorney
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu
[mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of
kschwant@courts.state.in.us
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:11 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: ALR oddity
We discovered an oddity with the ALRs. A patron retrieved the
cite 2003 ALR 5th 3 from the print index to the ALRs. We ended up going
to Westlaw since the citation didn't make sense. The corresponding ALR
entry has the following note: "This annotation has not been released for
publication in ALR and is subject to revision or withdrawal."
There would be no way for our patron to retrieve this article
without access to Westlaw. Why is it in the print index if it's not in
the print set? There are already unpublished court decisions, but now
there are apparently unpublished ALR essays.
Just thought I'd share with the group what we learned this
afternoon.
Kim
Kim L. Schwant
Reference Librarian
Indiana Supreme Court Library
200 W. Washington St., Rm. 316
Indianapolis, IN 46204
kschwant@courts.state.in.us
(317) 232-2571
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:45:58 PST