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7 Legal Information Alert 1 (1988)

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What's new in legal publications, databases and research techniques

Volume 7, No. I January 1988

Contents
The Future of
Libraries in a
High Tech
Society 1
Calendar 15

Database
News
For Your
Information

5
4

Index 14

Librarian-at-
Large
New
Publications

5
6

New State
Publications 13
Publishers 15

The Future of Libraries
in a High-Tech Society
Are Law Books (and Librarians) Becoming Obsolete?
By S. BlaIr Kauffman
The wonders of computer technology have brought rapid changes to law
libraries and raise a number of questions about the future of traditional legal
research materials and the role of librarians. Will the ever expanding databases
available through LEXIS, WESTLAW and related online services radically
reduce or eliminate the need for traditional printed legal materials? Will
laserdisc-based systems change the appearance of the traditional law library
of shelves lined with neatly bound books to a room full of computers and
drawers filled with silver platters? How will the bulk of legal research
materials be stored and retrieved 20 years from now, who will have access to
these materials, and what will be the role of librarians? These are questions
likely to be of interest to all legal researchers, but they are of particular interest
to librarians.
The Rise of Online Systems
The traditional legal research tools that have served us so well over the past 75
to 100 years are mostly the creation of the late nineteenth century, while the
application of computer technology to legal research is a relatively recent
phenomenon. Nevertheless, within just the past decade LEXIS and WESTLAW
In the near future, the laserdisc system of choice
for the wide-scale distribution of legal information
will be CD-ROM.                         '
have become standard tools for legal research, and a growing number of other
online services offer additional databases useful to legal researchers. With this
rapidly increasing availability of legal information in electronic format one
may wonder whether online systems will soon do away with the need for
traditional library materials.
The extent to which online services will continue to change libraries and
the legal research process will be governed by the inherent strengths and
weaknesses of this medium. Online systems offer legal researchers instant
access to large bodies of current information and the ability to quickly search

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