Kent
I work in the law firm world. My comments are based on experiences in
several AM law firms.
I take the time to comment because the situation you describe is
emblematic of the frustration we all feel when working with summer and
incoming associates in the library.
It is not a personal comment directed toward you or your colleagues.
The problem is that that your student was using a keyword approach for a
legal concept. The fact that she added the keyword NY to the search
probably means she was in the wrong database and she probably hadn't
though much about jurisdiction before she started either. At least she
could have used the segment for NY.
Law students are coming to us without a good handle on generalized
sources in which to begin research nor an overall sense of jurisdiction
and controlling authorities.
Jeff Cohan
my opinion and not that of my employer
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
Behalf Of Kent Olson
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 5:31 PM
To: AALL Academic Law Libraries SIS; law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: [LAW-LIB:59297] In search of bad online searches
Yesterday I was reviewing a law student's Westlaw research. She was
looking for cases and articles about conservators' power of attorney in
New York. When her initial search:
"power of attorney" "conservator"
turned up a few hundred thousand documents, she modified it:
"power of attorney" "conservator" "new york"
and instead got almost three million documents.
This particular instance is an example of the Googlization of search --
adding more words narrows a Google search but does the opposite in
Westlaw. It's probably a familiar problem for many of us. But it got me
thinking about using really unsuccessful searches as a teaching tool. We
show our students how to construct good Lexis and Westlaw searches, but
it could also be a good classroom exercise or assignment to give them a
series of bad searches and ask "What's wrong with these searches? What
would you do to fix them?"
Legal writing instructors sometimes hand out lists of error-riddled
citations for students to correct, but I don't recall seeing anything
similar with bad online searches. And so I'm soliciting your help. If
you have a record of any memorable searches, please send them my way.
I'll compile a "Kids Write the Darndest Searches" list (without
identifying contributors, unless you ask for attribution) and share the
results with the group.
thank! appreciat! /s "very much"
- Kent
Kent Olson
University of Virginia Law Library
kolson@virginia.edu
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