Hello All,
I've been away from law-lib for a little while, so I hope that this hasn't been
discussed already, but . . . .
There is an error with the supplementation to Title 42 in the print
version of U.S.C.A. I've informed West, and they told me that they're not sure,
yet, what "fix" they'll use.
The problem is with supplement 3A that was published in October 1998. Issues 3
and 3A were to replace issues 1 and 2 as supplementation to the 1998 pocket
parts (at least the cover says that). 3A includes changes and annotations for
Titles 26 to the end. However, for Title 42 it includes annotations for
sections 1 - 658a and then goes right into Title 43. There is nothing for
the rest of Title 42. The later supplementary pamphlets provide material for
the whole Title, but they don't fill in the gap left by the missing material in
issue 3A (issue 4 takes up there 3A ends). A large part of the material from
the first half of 1998 is missing.
Here's a real example, I found this when I was preparing to teach my first year
law students how to update the U.S.C.A. I was using 42 U.S.C.A. 2000e-2,
because we're using a sex discrimination problem. Well there were two Supreme
Court cases decided last term that relate to sex discrimination. Both of these
cases should have been annotated in issue 3A. They were not. A researcher
can't find Oncale or Faragher in the print version of U.S.C.A.
This raises many issues, but aside from the warning, there were a few that
especially interested me and that I would like to hear what you think about
them.
West told me that I was the person that brought this to their attention, today
(2/8/99). But, we checked in issue 3A on 10/26/98. If they are right and this
is the first that they're hearing about this, I think that this says something
about how our patrons are conducting legal research.
Are they all using electronic resources? Using U.S.C.S.? Not updating? Seeing
the problem and not saying anything? Should those of us who teach first year
law student about legal research stop teaching print tools? Work harder on
teaching updating? Something else?
Thanks,
John
----------------------
John Nann
Educational Technology Specialist /
Legal Reference Librarian
Boston College Law Library
885 Centre Street
Newton Centre, MA 02459
617-552-8612
nannj@bc.edu
http://www2.bc.edu/~nannj
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