Although there is a proliferation of information available on the Web, and law professors, students, and other users have a variety of channels to locate information and complete their research activities, the law library catalog still remains an important source for offering users access to information that has been evaluated and cataloged by…

The article under review is slanted specifically towards the law library and fails to take into account the needs of general libraries, either public or academic. (Author/NH)

A questionnaire was sent to all librarians on the Council of State Governments' state legislative reference librarians list and the directors of state library agencies in an effort to provide a data base for future studies and the development of standards in specific areas of legislative reference operations. Replies were received from 48 states.…

Online information systems used by congressional legislators for administrative support, correspondence control, information retrieval, and electronc voting are presented. Expansion of these systems to permit public access is discussed. (RAA)

One response to the large and rapidly growing number of legal cases with which nonlawyer researchers must deal is computerized legal data retrieval technology. LEXIS, an example of such technology, improves upon traditional research tools in two ways: it increases the speed with which researchers may discover relevant documents and, through its…

Discusses the availability and uses of online retrieval systems within the environment of a state legislature, identifies relevant databases, and reports the results of a survey of online retrieval system use by state legislatures. Examples of searches relevant to legislative concerns and a 23-item reference list are included. (Author/JL)

The Congressional Research Service, founded in 1914, is staffed by 542 research specialists who provide information services solely to the legislative function of the United States Government. The Congressional Reference Division and seven subject divisions--American Law Division, Economic Division, Education and Public Welfare Division,…

This update of a 1977 training manual is designed for use by student assistants in the government documents section of John Grant Crabbe Library at Eastern Kentucky University. A brief introduction is followed by: (1) floor plans of the library; (2) a description of the documents collection including types of works and classification systems; (3)…

Three case studies of organizations that have implemented Cuadra Associate's STAR system, an integrated multiuser hardware and software information management system, describe and evaluate the use of the system with microcomputers within a database services organization, an academic law library, and an academic health sciences library. (CLB)

Discusses the use of an optical jukebox in a retrieval-intensive application--i.e., for a law firm's litigation support--and examines factors affecting the performance of the jukebox. The imaging system's configuration is explained, document access from workstations is described, and expectations of retrieval times are discussed. (LRW)

Guest columnist Paul D. Healey discusses World Wide Web as an Internet reference tool for librarians in adult reference services. Discussion highlights include an examination of Web uses in retrieving hypertext documents, a review of Web uses in law libraries, an analysis of quality control problems, and challenges faced by users. (JMV)

The five papers in this collection focus on computerized legal databases and their content: (1) "Disk and Dat: Recent Developments in Legal Databases and Emerging Information Technologies in the United States" (Howard Hood, United States); (2) "Online Databanken zum EG-Recht und ihr Angebot (Online Databases for European Community…

This report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the Montana Faxnet Project, which was created to design and demonstrate a statewide document delivery network utilizing telefacsimile equipment that would create equitable access for all Montanans accessing and retrieving information, and reduce the waiting time for requested materials…

This study initiated service request sheets, evaluated reference services provided by the staff of the Cleveland Law Library (Cuyahoga County, Ohio) for the time period April-September, 1995. Five thousand and fifty-two questions were included in the study, of which 2,949 were of the type in which reference service was provided. The other 2,103…

Discusses the challenges confronting law libraries in this age of technology. Highlights include physical storage space; transformation of the library environment; search and retrieval challenges; law library/librarian profile; librarian/publisher partnerships; and the future roles of technology and library services. (AEF)