The
Digital Law Library: Is it Time to Byte?
By Ted Tjaden
Information Services Coordinator
In recent years we have
seen rapid technological changes in law libraries. Computers are
now ubiquitous in a wide-variety of legal research applications.
They are used to search library catalogues, CD-ROMs, commercial
online databases (such as QUICKLAW, Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis), Web-sites
and other databases found on the Internet.
The advantages provided
by computers, when combined with the cost and space pressures of
maintaining an ever-expanding print collection, raise the issue
whether law libraries should become "digital" by removing print
resources in favour of acquiring only electronic resources. Has
the time come for an academic law library such as the Bora Laskin
Law Library to convert itself into a digital law library? This article
will explore the pros and cons of our becoming a digital law library.
Sources of digital law-related
information:
There are four main sources
of law-related information in digital format:
| Source |
Description |
| Online commercial
databases: |
There are three primary online
commercial databases used by U of T law students: QUICKLAW, Westlaw
and Lexis- Nexis. These three databases combined provide access
to countless court decisions, legislation and full-text law journals. |
| CD-ROMs |
Our library has over 90
CD-ROM titles which provide access to a wide-variety of law-related
information, including legal periodical indexes, legislation and
case law from a variety of jurisdictions and various international
legal materials. |
| World Wide
Web (WWW) |
Government, law schools,
lawyers and other law-related organizations publish a growing
amount of free, good quality legal information on the Internet. |
| Internet
subscriptions |
In order to maintain revenues
and to take advantage of Internet technology, more and more legal
publishers are offering their products through paid Internet subscriptions.
These publishers include Carswell (law.pro) and CCH Canada (CCH
iworks). |
Advantages of electronic
sources of legal information
Electronic sources of law have
a number of advantages over print legal resources:
Less shelf-space is needed:
Electronic materials require little or no space compared to
print materials, which expand as new volumes of law are added to
the book shelves each year. The Law Library will soon face a shortage
of space unless materials are withdrawn or additional space is created.
The cost of new library space to store print materials is likely
much greater than the cost of acquiring and providing access to
electronic resources.
Keyword searching: Computer
technology allows searching full-text information by keyword, something
which cannot be done or cannot be done well using print resources
and print indexes. If you are looking for cases involving ankylosing
spondylosis (an injury or disease of the spine), a computer search
would reveal those cases instantly across whichever jurisdiction
is desired.
Less loose-leaf filing and
reshelving of print material: Many of our print materials are
loose-leaf publications which must be regularly updated, something
which is very labour-intensive and which could be reduced or minimized
if we moved more to electronic resources. Reshelving material is
also time consuming and labour-intensive.
Allows multiple access to
the same article or case: Most electronic resources allow multiple
access to the same article or case (subject to licensing restrictions)
thereby eliminating the frustrating problem of not being able to
find the applicable print volume on the shelf. Barring technological
problems (such as server crashes), users of electronic legal resources
are usually guaranteed access to the materials they need.
Disadvantages of electronic sources
of legal information
Although electronic-based legal
resources have a No. of advantages over print resources, they
also have a No. of disadvantages:
The scope of electronic
resources is limited: Most law-related information in electronic
format emphasizes current material and is geared towards practicing
lawyers who require up-to-date legislation and case law. As an academic
law library, probably less than 10 to 15 % of our collection in
print could be found online. This means that the bulk of our collection
- textbooks, treatises, biographies, essays, historical works, government
reports, and interdisciplinary works - is not available in electronic
format. It is therefore difficult for an academic or research law
library to go completely digital.
Loss of ownership of information:
The Law Library owns its print collection. It does not own most
of its current electronic collection. Vendors (such as QUICKLAW
or Carswell) own or retain rights to the material in their databases.
While it is not necessarily bad if we do not own our collection,
it exposes us to the vagaries of onerous license terms, the risk
of publishers going out of business or unilaterally withdrawing
particular electronic resources at their discretion. CD-ROMs are
programmed to expire and therefore become useless if the subscription
is cancelled.
Difficulty in historical
research: If print materials are removed in favour of electronic
sources of law, there is often a loss of archival or historical
information. Since vendors of online information are by and large
targeting legal practitioners, online materials tend to emphasize
the most recent information. Thus, in the case of legislation, if
the law library were to remove complete sets of statutes in print
in favour of an online source, researchers would be unable to trace
legislative history since legislation in electronic format is regularly
consolidated.
Loss of archival information:
In addition to not being able to easily research historical information
online, there is a risk that much of the historical information
would be lost forever in a digital world. There are several reasons
for this. Unlike some academic researchers, vendors of online information
may lack sufficient financial incentive to heavily invest in the
archiving of historical information. In addition, there is the risk
of software or media obsolescence - unless someone is paying to
continually transfer existing databases of online law-related information
onto the new types of software and online media, the possibility
exists that older forms of law-related digital information may be
inaccessible to future generations.
Users do not like to read
material on the computer screen: Patrons quite obviously prefer
to read case law and journal articles from the printed page where
visual and textual clues make understanding and reading more enjoyable
and meaningful. Journal articles currently on Lexis-Nexis, for example,
contain footnotes in the middle of the text, making it difficult
to read. In addition, it still remains somewhat difficult for researchers
to cite online materials and information online is not always identical
to its print equivalent.
Printing costs are transferred
to the library or to the user: General wisdom has shown that
the advent of computers has not reduced printing - many people still
want a hard copy of what they see or read on the screen. If this
is true, the cost of obtaining "hard copy" is passed onto the end
user or the law library when information from online resources is
printed out.
Not all online interfaces
are user-friendly: There still remains a learning curve for
users to be trained to find material online. Search engines and
interfaces differ from one source to the next and the technical
skills of patrons vary widely, making access to online information
difficult and requiring extensive training and support. Using only
computers for legal research will always be a barrier for some people.
Commercial online databases
are not yet available to the public: Another potential disadvantage
of moving towards law-related information in electronic format is
the lack of access for U of T students and members of the public
who are not covered by any licenses or passwords given solely to
the law school community. To the extent our Law Library is a general
research library for the entire University community (and for the
public), a move towards digital resources would conflict with the
goal of making our collection as widely available as possible. Technical
issues: Developing and maintaining a digital law library raises
several technical issues: (i) the need for additional hardware and
software to provide access, including the need for a more robust
network and upgraded wiring; (ii) increased need for technical support
and training; (iii) the need to consider cataloging all digital
sources of law to ensure that users know what material in digital
format is available and how they can access such material.
Results of study regarding the
Bora Laskin Law Library's journal collection in print
In March 1999, the author re-visited
a study performed in March 1997 at our library regarding the availability
of our print journal collection in electronic format. The purpose
of the original study was to see what percentage of our journals
in print could be found in one or more of QUICKLAW, Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis.
The purpose of the follow-up study was to see if the situation had
changed.
The study in 1997 showed that
384 of 1596 of the library's print titles were available online
(24% of the titles). While this is a fairly high percentage, the
average backrun date for these 384 titles was only to 1993, meaning
that the bulk of our journal titles in print available online could
be searched online from only 1993 onwards and that articles prior
to this date were not available online. Stated differently, 76%
of our journal titles in 1997 were not available in electronic format,
and for those titles that were available, only recent volumes of
those journals were available online.
The follow-up study in 1999
revealed no drastic changes from the 1997 study, except for a slight
increase of the percentage of our print journals in electronic format
in 1997 from 24% to 25% in 1999 (or 410 of 1610 print titles - there
was also a slight increase in the No. of our print titles). More
significant, however, was the finding in 1999 that the back-run
of journals available online did not expand retrospectively, meaning
that the online vendors are not adding older volumes of legal journals
to their databases, keeping the emphasis are current journal articles.
Another finding of this study
was that Canadian law journals are grossly under-represented in
online format. Of our 1610 journal titles currently in print format,
approximately 233 are either published in Canada or related to Canadian
topics. Of these 233 Canadian journal titles, only 18 are available
online (7.7%), well below the ratio of American law journals available
in online format. Removal of print journals in favour of using only
journals online would result in a significant denial of access to
Canadian law journals.
The impact of a digital law library
on space and costs
If we were to physically dispose
of or remove print material that is available online (the United
States Code Annotated, for example), and assuming the disadvantages
of doing so discussed above were acceptable, there would be a definite
saving of space. This may be offset, however, by the need to provide
more workstations and training labs in the library. Since it is
likely in any event that the bulk of our collection would remain
in print, and since the print collection will likely continue to
grow (it currently grows at about 4,500 volumes per year), there
will be conflicting pressures on our space requirements.
There is insufficient data
at this time to make definite conclusions on the cost impact if
we were to move towards becoming more digital. There are several
factors that would affect the issue of costs: Would vendors of online
information increase their prices as more and more people rely on
electronic information? Such price increases are already evident
in the Canadian legal market where vendors are increasing prices
to cover their investment in conversion to digital format. Would
we store potentially redundant print material off-site and how would
the off-site storage and retrieval costs compare to the cost of
keeping material on-site? Would we still be able to provide inter-library
loan (ILL) services and at what cost? These questions need further
investigation.
What role will librarians play
in a digital law library?
Although librarians are sometimes
stereotyped as being old-fashioned "fuddy-duddies", they have in
fact usually taken the leading edge in introducing technological
advances into the library where this helps the patron find relevant
materials. Law librarians do not therefore need to be defensive
about any possible move towards the digitalization of libraries
since librarians would remain to play an important role in a digital
law library, albeit perhaps a slightly different role. Reference
librarians would likely become more like consultants and online
trainers, with an increased demand for Intranet content managers
to organize and provide easy access to information. Thus, any cautionary
notes put forward by librarians about digital libraries are not
necessarily motivated by job preservation but by concerns whether
a digital law library could properly and fully meet the needs of
the patrons of the library.
Since the bulk of our collection
is not available online, it is unlikely the Bora Laskin Law Library
would take the "byte" into becoming a pure digital law library.
At best, we will continue to be a "hybrid" law library combining
the advantages of print and online resources whenever possible with
the challenge of making the use of resources - regardless of whether
they are in print or online - as easy as possible for the end-user.
The library invites your comments on these issues.
