Greg Lambert:My boss has been prepping for an ITLA presentation on "Reducing Costs of Legal Research: Best Practices Onshore and Offshore" where she's discussing the pros and cons of online vs. print legal research. This is not a new issue, in fact, it has been discussed seriously since about 1994, and I had the privilege of being on the AALL Committee on the Future of Law Libraries in the Digital Age in 2000-2001 where we discussed this very topic. Generally, the discussion has tended to lean toward the idea that online research will trump print research due to the convenience of the format and how the upcoming generation will prefer online over print media.
Then along comes a recession and all of a sudden it becomes apparent that online research is "expensive" and for some forms of research - specifically treatise research - online research doesn't work very well. Take a poll at one of the practice group meetings you attend and ask the attorneys point blank: "When researching in treatises, do you find you are more efficient using the print version of a treatise, or the online version of a treatise?" I'd almost give you 2 to 1 odds that the print version will be the preferred method.
Speaking of treatises, I could probably write a treatise on why we've eliminated print subscriptions over the past 15 years. Issues ranging from duplication, ease of use, user preference, space concerns, and cost of updating have all been reasons used to reduce print and increase online. The implied pledge behind this move has been that once we go from print to online, the firm is committed to the online version. But, I think there are some that are suddenly realizing that the decision to go online only for some types of research tools, such as treatises, was not the best decision in the long run. On top of this, I'm also wondering if there is an ethical line that we've crossed along the way by charging the client back for the online version of the treatise when we would not charge for researching the print version..."
Full text and active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, 13 July 2009
