March 24, 2010
February 9, 2010
Tech Tip: Using Google Syntax for Better Results
When searching via Google, you can get better results by restricting results to a type of site or a type of document. For example, if you know that the results you want would be found on a government site, include the Google syntax with the government website extension – site:gov. If you want the result to be a particular file format like Excel, include the Google syntax filetype: with the extension for Excel – xls. Thus, filetype:xls would be what you would add to the search string.
Knowing where to look is more than half the battle. One place to find good research guides is on the Law Library of Congress website. The URL always has loc.gov in it. If I want to find a research guide on labor law in Vietnam, I would make this search query Vietnam labor law research guide site:loc.gov -veteran. The -veteran excludes results about Vietnam era veterans. The terms go from left to right in order of importance. I believe Google will return results for both labor and labour, but you should be aware of the two spellings and make sure it does return both results with just one of these words.
Another type of site that has good research guides are law school libraries. Such sites have the extension edu and the search query should include the word law in it. Thus, one could use the same query as above but substitute edu for loc.gov.
January 27, 2010
Google Pushes Westlaw to WestlawNext
On February 1, Westlaw plans to roll out a Googlesque interface called WestlawNext. According to reports in the ABA Journal and the New York Times, the new GUI (pronounced “gooey,” meaning graphical user interface) is expected to revolutionize legal research, again. Evidently LexisNexis plans a similar revamp but the release date is not yet known.
WestlawNext is supposed to be a better-looking interface serving up more relevant search results and new tools for document-sharing and other collaboration. The Times reports that the interfaces for both Westlaw and LexisNexis were beginning to look dated and had served an older generation of lawyers who learned how to research in books before the online databases were available.
Just to muddy the waters with more online legal publishing competition, Bloomberg Law plans to launch its online product later this year.
Does the entry of Google Scholar and Bloomberg into legal publishing makes things easier for the legal researcher? Perhaps it makes legal research deceptively easy. More than ever students and practitioners will need the help of legal knowledge management professionals (A.K.A. law librarians) to show them the way.
November 17, 2009
Google Law? Try It!
Google has had the uncanny ability to effect change merely by rethinking the usual way of doing things and offering it to the world for free. Now, Google turns its gaze at legal research and is making full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts available to the world using Google Scholar. It doesn’t seem to be much of a threat to Westlaw or Lexis . . . yet.
The search is fast and the results include a link to “How Cited,” which gives quotes and citing references as well as links to related documents. It’s interesting to say the least and I do believe it changes the paradigm of legal research.
Read more on Google’s blog: Google Scholar’s Legal Opinions and Journals.
October 26, 2009
Power Searching on Google
Google has its own syntax that can greatly improve search results. Just try adding “filetype:pdf” to a search (without the quotes) to find results only in Adobe Acrobat format. More information is found on Google.
