This is a summation for this list of my question: Where to you go to locate
alternative sources for documents when your own library does not have that
document. I believe Cindy Chick will use this information to write a more
formal document when should appear in the Law Library Exchange or other
sources. I did not receive as many replies as I wanted, but this is still a
long list. If you do not see your answer, please feel free to post to list,
as I think many will want to keep this list as a future reference. MANY MANY
THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLIED.
__________________________________________________________________
>From the UK standpoint:
I use the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library (you must be a
member). They provide fax, mail or courier service.
Also I use the Legal Information Resources Ltd. When you subscribe to
their CD-ROM or Internet Index to Legal Journals (UK), you can request
anything in their index. Again, they give fax, mail or courier service.
Post 1985 only.
_____________________
If I follow the drift of your message (its still early a.m.!), you might
want to try http://www.fastsearch.com/law/
It is a really good site that brings together many URLs linking to cases,
codes, etc.
______________________
Without fail we check our County Law Library (Jackie Jurkins is always
helpful). That failing we try other locals, Lewis & Clark Law School,
Multnomah County Public, and Portland State University. If not available
locally we e-mail the other branches in our own system(i.e., Ninth Circuit
HQ in San Francisco & about 20 other branches around the West). Also check
OCLC, although, like you, we do not find formal ILL to be of much use. Big
libraries with the formal systems just take too long to respond. So we use
OCLC more to identify a location and then try to work it out in person if
possible.
We do also use Westlaw & the Internet for these purposes.
__________________________
for TX SOS documents, UCC searches etc., I use Accusearch. They
are inexpensive and quick. Their number is 800 833-5778. For smaller
TX counties not covered by Accusearch and other states information,
especially for County and District Court information, I use Avalon,
phone # is 800 460-3060. I also use the Public Library and all other
libraries in the area. I also use The Internet for all sorts of things,
mostly legislative, but I'm constantly amazed at what's out there. Hope
this helps.
________________________
1. I work for a library service and so my first suggestion would be
to find a service in your area, or in a larger city nearby and work
with them to help you locate materials. Our service has over 25
employees who work in almost 200 law firms. Plus, since we are
spread across a wide geographic area, we have access to many public
and university libraries. A group like this in Texas could be a very
valuable resource. It helps to find a service with one or more staff
members who are students at a large university. They can
interlibrary loan items more easily than you can.
2. One of the places we look to for articles that we cannot find
elsewhere is Docusource, through Dialog.
3. Many county law libraries (as I'm sure you know already!) will
fax materials out for a fee. If I'm stuck, I always contact the
local county law librarian for assistance!
4. I'm amazed at what you can find on the web. Especially if you
need something about or by someone connected with a university.
5. Law-Lib, Law-lib-ref and other librarian's mail lists! This list
is an incredible resource!
________________________________
You would probably find "Law on the Net" useful.
________________________________
Other than the obvious LEXIS, and OCLC, I often use Legi-Slate, GPO Access
or Thomas to locate legislation from the 104th Cong. (Never did get
caught up with it after the furloughs in late 1995/early 1996, and I've
got so much of it stacked on the floor that the Deputy General Counsel has
told me to clean up my office, but that's another story).
I use info posted on fedeal agency homepages (e.g. GAO, SSA, etc.) to
locate federal information.
Most often, we use the Yellow Books to figure out who to call so we can
obtain a copy of whatever we need. We subscribe to Congressional, Federal,
State and Federal Regional. We cancelled our subscription to Judical this
year and have gone back to the Judicial Staff Directory.
_________________________________________
Up until six months ago I was a law firm librarian at a firm of about
50-55 attorneys. We had a collection of approximately 5-6000 volumes. Our
interlibrary loan system consisted of asking other firm librarians if we
could borrow something - usually it was the other firm in the building! So,
we did rely on a few commercial services and the public library. When we had
a document to get, I often used BNA Plus which was sometimes pricey, but was
usually worth the cost in time savings. They can find virtually any
document, especially those that they've cited in any of BNA's publications.
Just recently they located a trial court decision from our home state even
before we could.
For books, it was the public library or the university or law school. We
relied on students working for us to use their borrowing privileges at these
last two institutions. Other times we just had to order a book on review,
let the attorney look at it and send it back. That was only in the case of a
real emergency, though, because it's always hard to take things back after
they've been given!
Of course the greatest, cheapest, fastest way of getting things was posting
to this list. For some pesky, hard-to-find items that would be way to
expensive to buy, the librarians on Law-lib came through almost every time.
But I guess that's rather obvious from all the postings and thank-yous.
I hope this helps you somewhat. Now that I'm in the academic environment
with no acqusistion or vendor relations duties, I'm kind of out of the loop
now, but I do remember when...
___________________________________
One of the best sources is the state law librarians of the various states.
So far I have had really good luck calling them with questions about
recent legislation etc.
__________________________________
Right off, I can only think of the
House Document Room 202-225-3456, and the Senate Document Room 202-224-7860
_____________________
We're a small/mid-size firm (20 attorneys) with a decent collection, but
when I need an article, my favorite place to get it is:
UMI Info. Store
1-800-248-0360
for copies of House and Senate Reports and hearings.
Also, the Federal Judicial Center's Information Center 202-273-4153.
_______________________________________
JILL FINLEY HENDERSON
TAYLOR COUNTY LAW LIBRARY
300 Oak St. Abilene, Tx. 79602
(T) 915-674-1395 (F) 915-674-1365
jillohen@aol.com
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* There are two kinds of people who don't say much-- *
* Those who are quiet - and those who talk a lot. *
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