Checking Out the Law

~Today I took a tour of the Katherine R. Everett Law Library at UNC, as part of the Special Libraries Association. Although I'm studying library science, I haven't yet selected an area to specialize in. The tour was part of my investigation of special libraries.

I'll say this about lawyers: they use a lot of books. Like other libraries, law libraries are shifting more and more into the realm of electronic databases. Unlike other libraries, which are merely robbed blind to use databases, law libraries are required to sacrifice several students a year to the dark god Elsevier. All kidding aside, I heard from the head law librarian that a single search in a law database can cost as much as $1000, which makes no sense to me, but that's how they work. Roll that around in your head the next time you type something into Google and hit "Enter".

How, you may be thinking, can law students possibly afford to use these databases? The answer is that the database companies are essentially drug dealers. They offer use of these databases to the university at a massive discount, ensuring that many of the law students will come to rely on being able to run case searches whenever and wherever they want to. Then, when the students graduate, take the bar exam, and become lawyers, they find themselves unable to function without the databases...forcing them to pay arm-and-a-leg prices. If they're hired by a large law firm, the firm *might* cover the costs, but otherwise...

This is why it's so important for law students to learn how to use the library. They need to be taught how to actually search through indexes and books to find what they need, so they aren't dependent on cocaine--I mean, on LexisNexis. And when they do use databases, they need to know how to run effective searches, so they don't need to repeat themselves and rack up massive charges. (Or, worse yet, misspell a word and have to run the search again, costing $1000. How embarrassing that would be.)

As for me, I glanced through a few of the law books, but was unable to comprehend the dense legal terminology and numerical designations in North Carolina case books. I don't think I'll go into law librarianship (I'd need a J.D. anyway), but other special libraries await me.

(Remember, Dan, you don't need LexisNexis. You just need a Lawgiver, and maybe a Lawmaster.)