You’re doing legal research and find a reference that sounds on-point or directs you to the article or case you need but then you check whatever you have available online, now, today – Google Scholar, your proprietary legal information resources, maybe even your public library databases, to no avail. We all know that frustration. But there is hope. Here are a few legal research approaches that might help you out one of these days.

If your law firm or business has a catalog or discovery layer that allows you to search across all the subscription-based information resources, that’s your first stop. Ask your librarian or look to your firm’s portal or intranet for a link to a single search function. Consider what someone else might have saved earlier to your organization’s document management system or repository.

Otherwise, take a deep breath and plunge into the murky waters of trying your search or the cite in multiple databases. It’s easier if you start with a good sense of what you do have access to. For example, your Lexis, Westlaw, or Fastcase plan may have secondary sources you weren’t aware of. You might have rich content on services from other vendors that you don’t normally use. Your information professionals will guide you to other sources to which you have access already.

Use a search engine (obviously.) Keep Google Scholar in mind for articles, books, and court opinions. We’ve posted about specialized and alternative search engines before. Are you sure you saw the item earlier but it’s not there now? Try the Wayback Machine for archived versions of webpages or use the Google search function across a site to find content that may have been movedThe sweet flag gives ways for overcoming stomach disorders, dysentery, diarrhea, asthma, whopping cough, common cold, mouth disorders cialis properien and other health ailments. Some of the most popular home remedies for dryness in mouth which have been not just produced in a superior quality mode, yet are also rendered with tremendous lower cost. http://deeprootsmag.org/2014/07/07/dem-bones-dem-bones-dem-beautiful-bones/ cialis properien However, the rise of the incidence of CHD in India may be attributed mainly to unhealthy and altered lifestyles than to genetic factors. sildenafil samples One cannot determine proper dosage, time and method of intake for eliminating ED viagra doctor from a love-session. to another page.

Try your state law library, a legal research service like ours, your public library consortium, and membership libraries to which you belong. Your own librarian will point you to other possible sources and will collaborate with other information professionals to find what you need, whether through networking or through a document delivery service if needed.

Consider back doors to material. For example, perhaps you need an older trial court decision that isn’t online and has some public impact or interest. Perhaps the local newspaper or a governmental body incorporated the decision, or a substantial reference to it, into their coverage or minutes.

We do sometimes have to wait for a clerk to pull an old file or for a book to be sent from a bookseller or through interlibrary loan. But remember that your librarian has significant research experience and deep familiarity with in-house and external information sources. Have you spent more than fifteen minutes looking for something? It’s time to collaborate with an information professional.  

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