Ten LexisNexis Features Worthy of a Librarian's Love
By Matt Wagner
In honor of February, I’m paying homage to the most notorious “hallmark holiday” of all … Valentine’s Day! This year I’m dedicating my heart to the LexisNexis services.
Now I openly admit to taking a “tongue-in-cheek” approach, but I’m in earnest when I share the Top 10 features I love about www.lexis.com. Take a look. Maybe we share the same loves. Or perhaps these 10 are unfamiliar to you. If so, as February fades into March, I hope you find some time to check out my favorite features and content … and fall in love too.
Here, in no particular order:
- Command Searching—For all of you still pining away for your first online legal research love, LexisNexis research software, this is the next best thing. Select the COMMAND SEARCHING tab at the top of the main lexis.com menu screen, type in library and file names, as well your initial search, separated by semicolons.
- Get & Print—This is a huge timesaver! This convenient tool allows you to print multiple cases, statutes and law reviews all at once. You can even Shepardize® these documents too. What’s not to love? Find Get & Print by selecting the GET A DOCUMENT tab.
- Research Tasks Pages—These are what I call our “one-stop shopping” research solutions. From these pages, you can find the most relevant information for a specific area of law or jurisdiction (several offered) collected in a single place. Moreover, each page includes search templates for quick and precise searching. Move right from search box to answer set. And combine resources for thorough analysis through one search. Just click the RESEARCH TASKS tab to select a page.
- Mealey’s Reports & Conferences—Not only do the reports give in-depth information on all the latest legal disputes and litigation trends, you can also obtain full-text court documents. And get materials presented at the renowned Mealey’s conferences. Find Mealey’s resources at this path: Legal tab > Secondary Legal > Mealey’s Reports & Conferences
- Recently Used Sources—As you research, the LexisNexis services at www.lexis.com automatically saves a list of the last 20 sources you have used. Click the Edit Sources link in the Recently Used Sources box, and you can actually select up to 20 sources you want to save permanently. You get “Favorites” functionality similar to most Internet browsers.
- Baseline In Production Credits—This one is simply for fun for me—and truly a favorite—but librarians in firms practicing entertainment law find it valuable. This nifty resource contains the status of films, TV movies, specials, pilots, series, and miniseries that are either announced, in preproduction, production, post-production, or awaiting release. Limit your search to the CAST segment if you want to search for your favorite actor or actress. Find Baseline In Production Credits at: News & Business tab > Market & Industry > By Industry & Topic > Entertainment & Arts
- Shepardize a Headnote—With this feature, you can use relevant LexisNexis® Headnotes to identify citing cases that discuss specific issues of interest. Simply Shepardize a case then link directly to those citing references that share that same topic classification. Alternatively you use this feature when viewing case law results. View the LexisNexis Headnotes contained in the case law summary, then simply click the Shepardize: Restrict by Headnote link that follows a LexisNexis headnote of interest.
- Historical Quotes—This is one of my brand new favorites! It contains more than 25 years worth of stock quotes, bonds, currencies, commodities, unit trust and more. It offers easy-to-use search templates as well as interactive charts. If you haven’t taken time to look at Historical Quotes yet, I guarantee it will be love at first sight! (Check out the lead article in January’s LexisNexis Information Professional Update for more information.)
- Explore Button—Say “goodbye” to the scroll bar, and say “hello” to the new love of your online research life! This feature, which appears at the bottom left of most documents, enables you to quickly link to various segments of the document you are viewing—with one click of the mouse.
- Book Browse—This feature is the love that never dies. You can use Book Browse with statutes and treatises. The Book Browse button appears at the top of any document from these content types. Click, then use the Next or Previous arrows to view preceding and succeeding sections without running a new search request. For those of you working in commercial organizations, that means no charges beyond the first initial search or link. Who doesn’t love cost-effective research?!
There are many more unique features and content available at www.lexis.com Contact your LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant and let them share with you what they love most. Even better, you tell us what you love.
