Digital Practice of Law

Paper vs Digital Research

(6-21-04) In A Wired Age, Library Stacks Get Dustier. "Katarina Maxianova, who received her bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Columbia University in May, took a seminar last year in which the professor assigned two magazine articles from New Left Review. She found one immediately through Google; for the other, she had to trek to the library stacks. "Everyone in class tried to get those articles online, she said, . .and some people didn't even bother to go to the stacks when they couldn't Google them.'' . . . We can't pretend people will go back to walking into a library and talking to a reference librarian,'' said Kate Wittenberg, director of the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia University. In the Columbia survey, 90 percent of the faculty members who responded said they used electronic resources in their research several times a week or more. Nearly all said it was a valuable resource."

Research Federal Government Information.

(5-14-04) How to Effectively Locate Federal Government Information on the World Wide Web. Provides research steps and analysis on how to effectively locate federal information on the web,

Excellent Guide to US Supreme Court Cases

Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research. Includes links to opinions, case summaries, briefs, oral arguments, etc.

Google Adds More Search Features

Google continues its dominent ways with the addition of the the following search areas:

"Parcel tracking IDs, patents and other specialized numbers can be entered into Google's search box for quick access to information about them. For example, typing a FedEx tracking number will return the latest information on your package. Other special search by number types include :

• UPS tracking numbers example search: "1Z9999W999999999"
• FedEx tracking numbers example search: "999999999999"
• USPS tracking numbers example search: "9999 9999 9999 9999 9999 99"
• Vehicle ID (VIN) numbers example search: "AAAAA999A9AA99999"
• UPC codes example search: "073333531084"
• Telephone area codes example search: "650"
• Patent numbers example search: "patent 5123123"
Remember to put the word "patent" before your patent number.
• FAA airplane
registration numbers example search: "n199ua"
An airplane's FAA registration number is typically printed on its tail.
• FCC equipment IDs example search: "fcc B4Z-34009-PIR"
Remember to put the word "fcc" before the equipment ID."

Comment: Broadens your search capability for various litigation support and factual research projects.

Comprehensive Article for Obtaining U.S. Supreme Court material.

Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research By Gail Partin