I am often asked by folks touring through my firm’s library, or in airports, or at various events, if we still buy books. I am always a little surprised by the question. We live in the world of Chapters and Amazon – books are a major player in the retail market – of course we buy books for our law firm library.

We have a rule about books, we buy a title if we are going to use it 3 or more times a year. This seems a reasonable tipping point for pain to borrow vs. pain to buy.

If you are thinking about buying Canadian law books, check out LegalPubs.ca. The site aggregates RSS feeds from Canadian legal publishers to show the latest offerings, and provides links to the source for easy access to purchase.

For older titles, used Canadian law books are available from plenty of online retailers. I have even used eBay to add to our library collection.

Hard copy books are still a great way to share one title among many people for a reasonable, single time only, purchase price.

Today’s tip is a simple reminder…read the screen. When you are doing legal research, the best gift you can give yourself, and your client, is careful attention to detail. For electronic research services, that means paying attention to everything that is going on – content and functionality.

Today’s Tip is for those of you who may be thinking of buying a sports car through eBay and shipping it long distances and cross borders so that your partner has a excellent birthday. Really, it is about the wealth of fantastic databases that exist and may not necessarily be considered legal research, but fill that role.

Take, for instance, the Road Safety Recalls Database provided by Transport Canada. This database, freely available through a government website, makes it very easy to find vehicle recalls for virtually any make and model of cute little sports car that you may choose.

Happy searching.

I posted to Slaw yesterday about the AALL ILTA White Paper project: The New Librarian.

There is an excellent article included in that digital white paper called Generational Divides: Paper and Electronic Resources by Jocelyn Stilwell-Tong of Nossaman LLP. The article talks about research preferences and using print and electronic commentary.

When you are doing legal research today, think about the content and the format it comes in and ask yourself about function and form. I would love to hear stories about what you discover.

Today’s tip is about habits. Actually, cultivating the habit of not relying too heavily on your habits when doing legal research.

Beware of the habit of always using the same sources. Though legal research is best done in a methodical manner (secondary source footnotes to noting up to following the path of case law and legislation to further secondary sources until you keep finding the same results then analysis) it is important to remember that you should not always start with your favourite resource, you should use the best resource for the task at hand.

Try a different textbook, you may like what you find.

Ah policies. These documents that govern how governments, companies, and agencies conduct themselves can be very tricky to find.

The good news: the Internet, that fantastic information gathering facilitator, has made it so easy to publish, that sometimes you will find policies attached to the news releases that annouce they exist. See for instance the new Public Disclosure of Travel and Expenses Policy announced yesterday by the Alberta Government. The text of the policy is attached as a background document to the news release.

The only caveat to finding a policy in this form is that you will not likely be able to identify if the policy has been amended or abandoned, discarded or replaced when you find this 2012 new release in 2020.

Perhaps the Sunlight Foundation will come to Canada.

The Google News service just turned 10. I know, it seems like a baby, and compared to the Globe and Mail, or the Edmonton Journal, or the Guardian, it is. But, as the post on Google’s blog points out “It’s undeniable that the online news landscape has changed immensely. ”

In the last ten years, Google News has grown to 72 editions in 30 languages, and now draws from more than 50,000 news sources. The technology also powers Google’s news search. Together, they connect 1 billion unique users a week to news content.

I use Google News mostly from the search perspective. Search leads to creating an RSS feed to monitor topics, names, organizations, litigation news, and more. I also use Google News to help monitor the firm’s brand. Google news doesn’t find everything, but it does offer good bang (reasonable content) for the buck (free).

Do you use Google News or some other media monitoring tool?

Today’s Tip is about looking at the original source of something. I had two good reminders of why this is important just this week.

1. Lancaster House Online databases are now call First Response

Somehow, in just linking to the database from the various (very well written) publications that we subscribe to, I missed the news that Lancaster House launched a new website and rebranded their online search tool. My fault entirely for not going to the source of the information to see how it was presented.

2. Law21

Jordan Furlong’s excellent Law21 blog has a nwe look and feel. Thankfully, Jordan reminded those of us who look at blogs through RSS or email subscriptions to check out his new site.

So, there you have it. Don’t miss news, or links you have to refresh, by relying on one method for viewing or consuming information. Once in a while, go to the source.

I was reminded to look at public consultations by Gilbert Van Nes, General Counsel and Settlement Officer for the Environmental Appeals Board in Alberta some time ago when we both had an opportunity to present at a Legal Education Society of Alberta seminar. Alberta has a public consultations portal on the government website, which is a handy, and probably under used, research space. The portal includes completed consultations as well – highly useful.

The Government of Canada also offers a Consulting with Canadians portal.

Is there a public consultations portal on your provincial government website?

Today’s Tip is not about noting up cases and legislation found in the footnotes of a text, encyclopedia or journal article, though from the title, it could be. It is about using social tools to find and use the best sources and products that will help with legal work.

The Attorney At Work blog offers an excellent article today on the top iPhone and iPad Apps for Lawyers. This list is a great example of using references to assist in decision making. The post offers 10 apps and there is a longer downloadable list available with an email registration. I find the daily dispatch from Attorney At Work a welcome item in my morning email inbox.

Just in case you think I am stretching by posting this to the Research Tips, the download includes a full page of apps that are useful for legal research and reference. With prices. For example:

Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (Free) – The U.S. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure for your pocket. This app is packaged for lightning-fast browsing and search queries. Leave the heavy book at home.

The list does weigh toward American sources. If you have some great Canadian sources, I invite you to share with a comment.

• Nicholas on Software Tools for Editing
• Jamie on Software Tools for Editing
• Steve Coughlan on ‘I Hope This E-Mail Finds You Well’
• Lyn on Womxn
• Celia Chandler on Gross Negligence

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