[Prodev] Virtual Libraries: Relearning the lessons of the Blair and Maron study

[MICHAEL GINSBORG]

I hardly wish to detract from the focus on the future of virtual law =
libraries, but, if you will pardon what might seem like a curious =
digression, the subject does invite misgivings of the kind that (I seem to =
recall) Bob Berring raised in "Full Text Databases and Legal Research: =
Backing into the Future," 1 High Technology Law Journal 27 (1986). If I =
recall rightly, Bob referenced the 1985 Blair and Maron study of a legal =
document retrieval system - a study showing that users of the system found =
less than 20% of the all relevant documents. One may question the =
usefulness of "precision" and "recall" as measures of relevancy, but to =
the extent that they are useful, the inverse relationship between =
precision and recall (arguably) limits the effectiveness of virtual =
libraries. As far as I know, no online legal research system has yet to =
overcome the inverse relationship between precision and recall, though =
alternatives to traditional Boolean searches, employing artificial =
intelligence and theories of linguistics, may hold some promise.=20

Have any studies compared the effectiveness of book-based and online means =
of legal research to answer questions that either means can answer? The =
results might give pause to unqualified support of virtual libraries as =
replacements for, rather than supplements to, "real" libraries. If =
"virtual libraries" are understood to contain online legal research =
databases as exclusive or at least primary components, then the  (present) =
inherent limitations of CALR suggest that proponents of virtual libraries =
- or rather the "replacement" partisans - risk abetting a larger dymanic =
that has arguably dumbed down legal research, even as it has enriched =
shareholders in legal publishing monopolies.=20

(These views are mine, not those of my employer.)

Michael Ginsborg
Research Analyst
Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, PC
Three Embarcadero Center
San Francisco, CA  94111
Main: 415.434.1600 or Direct 415.765.4675
Fax: 415.217.5910=20
mginsborg@HRICE.com
http://www.hrice.com




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