Mention the Devil and you see his horns. Just had a Summer Associate ask me
to pull up 2 FSupp cases for him on Lexis. I pointed out that the Fsupps
were located about 6 feet from the table where he was sitting. He said he
wanted a printout so he could mark it up. I pointed out that there was a
photocopier about 4 feet from the table where he was sitting. He said he
wanted to be able to use the Find & Focus features to locate his search
terms in case the cases were long. I got the volumes and brought them to the
table where he was sitting. I pointed out that one case was 6 pages long and
the other was three.
Then I hit him with the books. He's no longer sitting at the table.
Bob Ryan
Hill Farrer Burrill
Los Angeles.
-----Original Message-----
From: Genie Tyburski [mailto:tyburski@virtualchase.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 1999 5:01 AM
To: Law-Lib; PrivateLawLib-L; SLA-LAW
Subject: A Summer Associate Story
The following is a true story.
Sensing a presence I hadn't heard approaching, I looked up
from my desk
to find a shy smiling young (and I do mean young) man
holding an old CCH
transfer binder.
"Excuse me," he says. "I think I need help."
I smile. His aura emanates innocence, inexperience, youth.
He points to a page inside the CCH volume explaining it
reproduces the
SEC release he wants. Despite his amazing feat in finding
this release
in a BOOK, his discovery is not the point of this message.
He asks, "Is there an online source where I can print a
copy?"
Now I'm confused. To make sure I understand his question, I
confirm
that he wants an online source for the same SEC release he
holds in his
hand.
"Yes," he concurs.
I can't help myself. "Why?" I ask.
Flipping the transfer binder around, he shows me how
difficult it would
be to photocopy. The binding is tight.
"No problem," I explain showing him the screws for taking
apart the
binding.
"Yes," he admits to noticing them earlier, "but isn't it
just easier to
get it online?"
Does this incident not illustrate a generation gap? For
this young man,
locating and printing a copy of a document online is easier
than
removing screws from a book in which he has already found
the document!
The computer is a tool, a friend; the book is foreign,
baffling.
The moral for me? Well, for one thing, this weekend I'm
going to make
sure my son knows what to do with a screwdriver, hammer and
nails!
Genie
--
Genie Tyburski, Research Librarian
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
Web Manager: The Virtual Chase at
http://www.virtualchase.com/index.shtml
SLA, Legal Division at
http://www.slalegal.org/
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