The New York Times runs the article Old Search Engine, The Library, Tries to Fit into a Google World, that discusses how online resources have supplanted the library for information gathering.
Our summer associates just completed their 6-week session with us, and I find that more than ever, law students rely almost exclusively on online research, especially Lexis and Westlaw. I don't recall seeing them in the library very much at all during the 6-week period.
Scott Stolley, a lawyer at Thompson & Knight here in Dallas, has a great article on The Corruption of Legal Research (PDF File; scroll down to Page 39 -- Page 20 of the PDF), which discusses this very issue.
Although you won't find a stronger advocate for online research, I also recognize that this increased reliance on electronic resources may actually produce weaker researchers. Law schools really need to do something about this.
Out of curiousity, what would you have law schools do? I'd love it if the 1L legal research course was a 2-unit course, but that's unlikely to happen. If the grade I gave my students actually counted towards their G.P.A., I'm sure they'd be more motivated, but that's also unlikely to happen.
Students don't really have to do much if any research as undergraduates. What little they need to do can probably be done in Google or some internet database they access through their school, and they take this attitude with them to law school. They don't really bother to learn research as undergraduates and most schools probably don't bother to teach it.
A friend of mine went to a law school where students don't get WeXIS passwords in their first semester (and this was Fall 2002). She honestly believed that she would be at a great competitive disadvantage compared to students who had used Lexis and Westlaw since day 1 when it came time for OCI.
If you want your summer associates to not rely on electronic resources, why not ban them from using Lexis and Westlaw? They're probably not using Lexis or Westlaw efficiently anyway.
Bill, that's a good question. Perhaps the attitudes law schools have about legal research (not making it a 2-unit course, not counting towards GPA), combined with the relentless assault of Westlaw and Lexis lead to this culture.
I agree most people aren't using WeXIS efficiently, but I don't think I would go so far as a total ban. The services definitely have their place in the research arsenal, and I think they may be the most efficient way to KeyCite/Shepardize nowadays.
I agree that most students are averse to using the library. Whenever I've had summer associates, I have urged them to go to the library to take a look, for example, at a treatise on Section 1983, before diving into research - but none have listened, to detrimental effect.
But I think the problem with the way that legal research is taught in law school is that the people hired to teach have never learned to research without LEXIS. Legal research positions are highly competitive (at least in the DC area) and if you look at the credentials of those teaching, all are large firm expatriates, born and bred on an unlimited WEXIS account. I would bet that if law schools hired practitioners who had actually had experience doing real research for real clients on a real budget, students would be far better trained.
I will give a final example as a case in point. Two weeks ago, I had to research an obscure area of regulatory law, using provisions of a statute which had been recodified (but where the agency in question applies the pre-codified version). After trying to figure out how the statute worked with reference to LEXIS and even consulting with agency personnel, I hit the library. I found a simple primer on the issue which in 30 minutes fed me everything I'd spent a couple of hours trying to untangle. I am probably not the greatest researcher in the world, but I never ever consider an assignment on a new matter complete without a trip to the library.
By the way, I'd love to see the article you cited, corruption of legal research - but I think you've got the wrong URL.
Carolyn Elefant