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Greg R. Notess
Reference Librarian
Montana State University

ON THE NET

Findlaw: Metasite Extraordinaire

DATABASE, February 1998
Copyright © Online Inc.





The combination of actual content, online communities, directories, and search engines are what make FindLaw such a compelling role model for other subject-specific metasites.
Long before Lycos and WebCrawler brought keyword searching to the Web and prior to Yahoo! organizing a directory, Internet users had been compiling lists of useful Internet information resources. When the Net first started offering connections to substantive resources, searchers quickly realized that some kind of guide was needed to provide access to the growing collection of information resources. Thus, the first Internet Resource Guide was born. Not a very sophisticated or well-organized directory, the Internet Resource Guide offered a basic listing of resources available on the Internet in the days before the World Wide Web.

In those early days, just a short decade ago, the Net was primarily populated by computer scientists and a few academics. Library catalogs and genetics databases were among the few solid information resources. With the small number of resources, a single guide sufficed quite well. But as the Net grew in information content, a single guide could no longer cope. In the days of gopher, veronica provided keyword searching of document titles and listings of gophers by subject offered topical directories. There were separate lists for telnet resources and email lists. With the current explosion of substantive information resources, ranging from daily news to full-text technical reports to satellite imagery to handbooks to data sets, there is no single guide to it all.

Yahoo! and other similar directories are good starting points for any general Internet search, but they suffer from the limitations of any directory that tries to cover all subjects. They lack depth and more precise classification in certain subject areas. To fill that gap, subject-specific guides have been developed. Some are quite well-organized, with detailed classifications and annotations for each entry. FindLaw, a guide to Internet legal resources, is one of the best implementations of the subject-specific finding aid.

WHAT TO CALL THEM

The terminology for these tools varies. The descriptive label of "subject-oriented Internet resource guides" was used for a time by the Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides, but it is rather unwieldy. Yahoo! calls them "indices." Other sites refer to "guides" or "directories," but usage is far from consistent. More recently, the term "metasite" has begun to be accepted as a way to identify guides that link to other sites. While a metasite can be subject-oriented, the term can also refer to general directories like Yahoo!.

FINDLAW

FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com) is by far one of the best examples of a subject-specific metasite. FindLaw evolved from a simple list of Internet resources prepared for a workshop of the Northern California Law Librarians. From these simple beginnings, the site has grown to be a sterling example of what a metasite should be.

More than just an extremely well-organized directory of selected Internet law resources, FindLaw also offers a search tool for legal Web pages, the largest free database of full-text Supreme Court cases, a search engine and directory of online law reviews, a collection of state codes, interactive continuing education courses, and legal online discussions. This combination of actual content, online communities, directories, and search engines are what make FindLaw such a compelling role model for other subject-specific metasites.

The portion of FindLaw which functions as a categorized directory is the FindLaw Guide. By itself, the Guide is an impressive directory. It links to the other sections of FindLaw as well as to the following categories:

Each of these sections includes important links, but the Legal Subject Index is the meat of the Guide.

The Legal Subject Index includes 36 general legal topics. Under each of these subjects, the following standard six subheadings are available: Primary Materials, Publications, Mailing Lists and Usenet Groups, Government Agencies, Outlines, and Software. After the subheadings, FindLaw presents an alphabetical list of Web sites related to the legal topic. Note that when no relevant software is available, that link is not active. In addition FindLaw added a special section for sites related to the Microsoft antitrust case.

IN-DEPTH CATEGORIZATION OF LEGAL TOPICS

The design of this section of FindLaw is quite similar to Yahoo!. However, by limiting the scope to legal materials, FindLaw provides a much more in-depth categorization of materials than Yahoo! and includes more informative descriptions. Throughout FindLaw, links to other metasites, directories, and finding aids abound. These make it easy to move beyond the Legal Subject Index if an appropriate site cannot be found there.

FindLaw offers a search box which can search just the FindLaw Guide section of the site. This search box works similarly to Yahoo!'s, but it only retrieves links to sections of the Guide and not to individual entries. The Options link following the search button retrieves a listing of other available FindLaw searches. It does not offer additional search syntax options, like the comparable Yahoo! link. All search results also have another search box at the bottom of the page pointing to a search in the larger LawCrawler index.

LAWCRAWLER

Powered by the AltaVista search engine, LawCrawler (http://www.lawcrawler.com) is a front end to the AltaVista database. It accepts the search commands of AltaVista advanced search mode. In other words, use the operators AND, OR, AND NOT, and NEAR rather than the + - system. Note that the default "world wide" search option is basically a wide-open AltaVista search, with no specific legal focus for the resulting hits. It does add an Order Results with General Legal Focus check box that attempts to force the AltaVista relevancy ranking to push legal material near the top. Since this is checked by default, legal materials may show up near the top, but it is dependent on the search terms used.

To request that LawCrawler narrow its scope, choose one of the other options from the drop-down menu. These options include World Wide Sites with Legal Information, U.S. Sites with Legal Information, U.S. Government Sites, and State Sites. Each of these appears to use AltaVista's capabilities of domain searching to limit the search. The choices available in the drop-down list change depending on what LawCrawler page is used.

As another alternative to limiting LawCrawler searching, there are links to separate pages labeled LawCrawler International, USA, California, and Other U.S. States. All except LawCrawler International simply link to a page that has chosen the proper item from the drop-down list. But the drop-down lists on these pages have additional options.

For some unknown reason, LawCrawler International has a different layout and uses search syntax defined with a drop-down menu. Thus, LawCrawler International will not work with the AltaVista advanced search syntax. The drop-down choices include All the Words, Any of the Words, the Phrase, the Picture, and the URL. Use those and not the Boolean operators.

While these many search options can be effective in locating relevant legal Web pages, it is disturbing that LawCrawler does not explain the specifics of how to narrow the AltaVista search. Based on the coding in their LawCrawler Search HTML page, the geographic limitations are all based on domain names. That, however, does not explain how the legal focus search is structured nor what terms are used to order results with a general legal focus. Due to the lack of explanation, as well as the incomplete results from a domain limited search, these specific LawCrawler options should not be considered comprehensive searches.

CASES AND CODES

Either the FindLaw Guide or LawCrawler could easily define FindLaw as a typical metasite. What sets it apart from so many others is the addition of original and significant information content. The Cases and Codes section and the Law Review project both demonstrate this added content. The Cases and Codes area provides access to the full text of U.S. Supreme Court opinions from 1893 (volume 150 of the United States Reports) to the present. ASCII and HTML versions of Supreme Court cases have been available on the Net for years, but none of the other free versions span a similar number of years.

The Supreme Court opinions can be easily browsed by date. This FindLaw version can be searched by U.S. Reports citation, party name, and full-text keyword. While the full-text searching is nowhere near as sophisticated as that available on WESTLAW or LEXIS, for free access to the cases, it can be quite effective. The cases themselves are displayed in HTML, with hypertext links from citations to other Supreme Court cases and to any footnotes. The links to other cases even go to the specific page number cited and not just to the top of the case. While the HTML formatting does not include italics or underlining, it does include indentation and designated page numbering and breaks.

In addition to the Supreme Court cases, FindLaw has started adding recent opinions from the Federal Circuit Courts. Most only include cases from the past year or so, but FindLaw links to other sources providing Circuit Court cases that often go back further than FindLaw's collection. In addition, FindLaw has direct links to any keyword search capabilities available from the separate archives of Circuit Court cases.

The Codes portion of the Cases and Codes section is not nearly as developed as the Cases side. At this time, it only links to a couple copies of the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. It also provides search forms for searching these two codes, but the content is housed on other servers and not FindLaw.

This section does contain the complete text of the 1992 Constitution of the United States-the edition of the Constitution prepared by the Congressional Research Service that includes analysis, interpretation, and the annotations of cases. While the ASCII text version and a PDF version of this publication are available from GPO Access, FindLaw has added value by converting it to HTML and adding hypertext links to the Supreme Court cases.

LAW REVIEWS

In addition to the substantial case resources available, FindLaw is a major sponsor of the University Law Review Project. Available on FindLaw and on their own site (http://www.lawreview.org), the University Law Review Project offers links to information on law journals including some in full text. Law journals are arranged by topic and are also accessible by law school. Some are merely links to information about the journal. Others have abstracts available on the Web and are so designated on the FindLaw list. Yet others offer the full text of their articles online.

For those available in full text, FindLaw and the University Law Review Project offer full-text search capabilities. This search is available on the main FindLaw Law Reviews page and on the University Law Review Project page, but not on all of the subsidiary pages. Instead, there is a similar looking box which searches the FindLaw Guide only. Be sure the search button says "Search Law Reviews" and not "Search FindLaw."

One other significant law review resource is the free abstract email service. This lets individuals sign up to receive abstracts of new law review articles by email. Simply provide an email address and choose from a list of 32 legal topics. You cannot choose by journal title. Once again, there is a lack of documentation as to how abstracts are categorized into the various legal areas. There is an archive of previous abstracts sent which can be used to get a sense of the kinds of articles and abstracts sent out for each area.

LEGALMINDS

The commercial services still offer a great deal more for the professional searcher and lawyers. Commercial indexes to law reviews are still far more powerful and comprehensive.
As if all of the other FindLaw offerings were not just quite enough, FindLaw also offers sections to promote and archive communication within the legal community. One of these community sections is entitled LegalMinds, which is an archive of legal email lists, including a section for law librarians. The archive is searchable and can be browsed by date, thread, and author. LegalMinds also offers subscription information for each of the archived lists.

Also under LegalMinds on the main FindLaw page (although at the time of this writing, it was not accessible on the LegalMinds page itself) is the new FindLaw Chat section. A plug-in, Active X control, and a Java version of the chat client are all available. Users must sign up and concur with a Chat User's Agreement to participate. But there is no archive of the previous chat sessions.

FindLaw is an amazing resource and the epitome of what a metasite can be. It functions very well as the primary starting point for finding legal information and community space on the Internet. It offers important original information content and adds value to resources available on other sites. It is a subject directory with a well-thought-out classification. It is a search engine that can find pages far beyond the scope of its directory. But it is no replacement for WESTLAW and LEXIS.

The commercial services still offer a great deal more for the professional searcher and lawyers. Commercial indexes to law reviews are still far more powerful and comprehensive. However, for the law student, lawyer, and librarian on a tight budget, and the general public, FindLaw presents a level of access to legal materials that might not otherwise be readily available.

WHERE TO FIND MORE

And what about those other metasites? Where can you find the likes of FindLaw for other disciplines? Unfortunately, FindLaw is more the exception than the norm. After exploring FindLaw, other metasites can easily prove disappointing. Still, they may be the best approach available to finding useful subject-specific sites. The Argus Clearinghouse (http://www.clearinghouse.net) is a metasite of metasites. This is the same Clearinghouse formerly known as the Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides. Another common approach is to use Yahoo! and look within categories for sites designated as an index or those listed within an indices subcategory.

Both of these sources list many metasites. Unfortunately, both also list many very dated sources. Check closely for a "last updated" notation or check Netscape's document information display to see when the file was last updated. Anything over a year old should not be considered a reliable listing of current information resources in that topic area. Even with those metasites that display a recent update, there is no guarantee that the entire guide has been updated. Due to the human effort required in maintaining these metasites, numerous links can become dead ends. Even FindLaw has a few. When you find errors, omissions, or dead links, do your part to help maintain good metasites by informing the creator. Most metasites have a link on the bottom of each page for just that purpose.

We should see other metasites mature to the level of FindLaw in the next few years. The best of them will probably have some librarian input, so search out the gems among the metasites and support them through use and feedback.


Communications to the author should be addressed to Greg R. Notess, Montana State University Libraries, Bozeman, MT 59717-0332; 406/994-6563; greg@notess.com ; http://www.notess.com.

Copyright © 1998, Online Inc. All rights reserved.