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Summary: Recommended for paralegals, law students, and researchers.
Review: The online secrets of top legal researchers are covered in an important guide which uses interviews with experts to focus on legal research topics. From web site listings and commercial services to databases and professional journals, this is packed with practical references to legal research processes.
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Summary: learning from domain experts is fun!
Review: This book should appeal to: 1) software developers and usability testers, to learn from experiences with well-established proprietary and newer web-based interfaces to highly structured databases (billions, literally, of pages in Lexis and WestLaw); 2) content developers, web trainers and educators in all fields who wrestle with quality issues of web content; 3) observers of how professional communities use the web, as organized associations and for bottom-up information sharing; 4) amateur and semi-pro searchers who want to get tips from real pros trained in library and information science, as well as specific legal contents and methods. Warning to workplace cynics: this is a no-Dilbert zone. Example interview topics include: (software/usability) how are browser bookmarks used? are any web utilities widely adopted? (content/training) when is the web a trustworthy source of information? which comes first, in what circumstances: the web or fee-based services? (community organizers) how do websites evolve to so well serve diverse professionals using cooperative and volunteer labor? (amateurs/semi-pros) how do people who search for a living in a rapid turn-around environment organize their work? (cynics) are there really people who still have long-lasting careers and love their work? how do they survive the nutty managers, mindless meetings, and constant change of fads? Expanding the series and theme of "super searcher" books, this set of interviews goes more deeply into the technical aspects of legal research without losing the non-legal reader in either the terms of the field or the names of the content providers. My only complaint was the frequent reference to "stock techniques taught in legal research" which might have been better defined or compared, but I loved the phrase "build a search".
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Summary: Learn From The Best!
Review: This wonderful, timely book consists of interviews with the country's top legal researchers. I can't think of a better way to learn about legal research than from experts like Sabrina Pacifici, Cindy Chick, Diana Botluk, Genie Tyburski, Leigh Webber and the others profiled. If legal research is part of your professional life, do yourself a favor: Buy This Book. Jerry Lawson, Author of The Complete Internet Handbook for Lawyers (ABA 1999).
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