Public libraries provide millions of pages worth of free information on and offline, but some complain that two of the world's largest legal subscription electronic databases - Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw - are far more restricted in public access than they should be.
Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library legal resources specialist Melissa Barr says the two databases' parent companies have been on "buying sprees" that threaten to take almost complete control of the databases for most major legal issues, federal and state court cases, and supplemental legal materials - prospectively cutting off public access to these materials except by way of paid subscription.
Lexis-Nexis says they try to accommodate public libraries with "flexible, discounted plans" for information access. They say their sales representatives tried to discuss various options with Barr, but "none of the plans would allow her to do what she wanted - give unlimited, unmediated access in multiple locations to the Lexis-Nexis legal information service at an unrealistic price."
Despite a wealth of information on legal issues and court cases turning up online in more broadened volume now than a few years ago, Barr says Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw simply don't stretch far enough to allow more broadened public access to material which only those databases might have available.
For a related story, click here.
