Thank you so much to all who provided feedback on Shepard's
U.S. and Federal citators on CD-ROM. As promised, here is a
summary of the responses (in no particular order of
significance):
Positive aspects:
Easy to use
Quicker than using print version
Printout is easier to read than the text in the books
Legal analysis is spelled out in full, rather than abbreviated
Negative aspects:
Cannot narrow down the result or restrict retrieval e.g. cannot
search just the negative history, or the headnotes
Confusion when searching the statutes - must be entered in a
different format to the way in which they are cited
With each new disk a new password must be installed - if
networked, this would involve every user set up to access
the disk
Disks arrive late - never certain how current they really are
Disks sent monthly, but paper supplements sent twice a month -
becomes a nuisance and defeats the purpose of the disk
Technical problems with installing the monthly disks
Sold "in chunks" - one per publisher of U.S. Reports, one for
officials, one for Lawyers ed. - each contains the same
statute edition, so if you get all three you have much
duplication
Having not used the products in question, I cannot vouch for
the accuracy of the information given above, and ask you to
draw your own conclusions. I hope this helps all those who
requested this summary.
Good luck!
Alice Milner - Librarian, Chesterfield County Public Law Library
(amilner@leo.vsla.edu)
P.S. I have been having problems with my computer - sorry if
this has been duplicated.
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