The Death of the Digest and the Pitfalls of Electronic Research: What is the Modern Legal Researcher to Do?

Abstract:     
Professor Peoples reports the results of a study finding that the opinions and performance of modern legal researchers do not support the traditional notion that print digests are the tool of choice for researching legal rules while electronic databases are best suited for finding cases discussing unique factual situations. Tomorrow's lawyers are unaware of some common shortcomings of electronic research and do not possess the strategies to compensate for them. Law librarians must become more involved in electronic database instruction, integrate legal information literacy education into the curriculum, and advocate for improvements to electronic databases to improve the situation.

Keywords: west digest, west key number, keysearch, legal research, electronic legal research, usability study, computer assisted legal research

JEL Classifications: K00, K10, K40

Accepted Paper Series