I would guess that companies providing full-text search services grow weary of librarians constantly asking for topical indexes. Not the kind that are computer generated, simply listing keywords found in the text, but rather indexes with REAL index terms, that are assigned by REAL people. And not just any people, but experts that know a subject inside and out, and use that knowledge to organize information in a way that adds context and connections.
The need for the human touch hasn't gone away with the advent of Google. And you don't have to tell that to the people behind LawyerLinks, a new, subscription web site for corporate lawyers and researchers. LawyerLinks reminds me of a looseleaf service, and easy to use looseleaf service, that is. They've created browseable topical pages that gather together a variety of primary source materials from the web, including laws and regulations, cases, new developments and other related materials. They're so confident that organization by topic is what's needed in the real world, there's actually no search engine. Yep, you heard me right, there's no search engine.
Now I'm all for indexes and topical treatments, but full text search has it's place, too. In a web site such as this, a full text search engine for a specific case or term might get the user to the topic they need. After all, there are over 1,000 topic pages, and that's likely to expand. I guess I'm not the only one of that opinion, as after quite a bit of feedback, the LawyerLinks people are considering adding one.
Sites such as LawyerLinks and Smartrules are particularly interesting because they're indicative of a trend towards niche sites that are useful because of the way they aggregate and organize the information. The data is already out there. These services make it accessible.
For more information see:
DennisKennedy.com - LawyerLinks - A Legal Research Tool That's Simple in the Best Sense of the Word
Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites - Radical or retro? New corporate law research tool is a bit of both
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