CALL%202004

1

• CALL 2004
• Academic SIG
• Great Expectations Are we delivering what they
  need?
• Presentation Notes
• 
  Laurie Amiruddin, B.A., M.L.I.S.
  Robin Dewe
• 
  Manager, Customer Learning Support
  Vice President, Customer Service
• 
  Carswell
  LexisNexis Canada Inc.
•  
• 
  One Corporate Plaza
  275 Sparks Street, Suite 901
• 
  2075 Kennedy Road
  Ottawa, Ontario, K2J 1L1
• 
  Toronto, ON M1T 3V4
•  
• 
  laurie.amiruddin_at_thomson.com
  robin.dewe_at_lexisnexis.ca
• 
  1-800-342-6288 x 5034 or 416-298-5034
  [phone]

2
Great Expectations Are We Delivering What They
Need?

• Attracting Students To Training Sessions. What
  Is Working
• Mandatory attendance
• Course work or assignment directly related to
  online research. Pre-training assignments have
  been helpful.
• Having the professor in attendance.
• Improved attendance when faculty or librarian
  assists in promoting sessions. Promotion via
  Listservs had resulted in better attendance from
  upper year students.
• Having an online signup process operated by the
  school has improved attendance (however only a
  few schools do this).
• What Is Possibly Helping
• Online provider website announcements
• Online provider system messages
• Incentives such as giveaways

3

• Challenges Regarding Attendance
• Reaching second and third year students. There
  is often no course directly related to online
  research as part of the curriculum. Therefore
  there is no incentive for students to hone their
  research skills. Third year classes and Advanced
  Legal Research classes are better but often only
  reach committed students. 
• Students arent aware that cost-effective online
  research skills are required in the real world.
  First year classes have little awareness of the
  need for research skills and most students learn
  by necessity when they need to know. Therefore
  it is hard to motivate students to learn if it is
  not relevant at that point in time.
• Limited faculty participation. Attending the
  session themselves (even a few minutes at the
  beginning to advise students of the relevance of
  the session to the course and the students legal
  career). Creating course assignments that
  require use of online services.
• Personal time constraints for students
• Belief that the web has all the information they
  need and it is reliable

4

• 2. Challenges to effective training (once we
  have them attending!)
• Time constraints. Often sessions must be demo
  format rather than hands on.
• Information overload training on at least four
  major systems and perhaps CD ROM and paper
  products within a short span of time.
• Timing. Occasionally, we train students before
  they have acquired a basic understanding of legal
  research in general.
• When printed versions of online reference
  materials exist, it is helpful for students to
  learn how to use the print materials before
  learning them online. Otherwise, they fail to
  grasp the structure and function of the materials
  and treat the service like an online search
  engine, merely searching for keywords. We want to
  help them understand the structure of legal
  information in general and how one piece relates
  to another. By examining the print products, the
  students understand the importance of the
  classification schemes and can better incorporate
  them into their online searching.
• Keeping students interest. Students don't take
  training seriously unless it is related to their
  assignments. Also, students don't realize how
  important their online research skills will be
  until they get into a firm. 
• Online companies are not allowed to train in some
  schools.

5

• Challenges To Effective Training (Once We Have
  Them Attending!)
• What Is Working
• Pre-training assignments. We have had success
  particularly with first-year students in
  situations where the Legal Research Writing
  Instructor provides the student with pre-work
  assignments before the actual training
  session(s). Students retain what they learn more
  readily if their research training is integrated
  into their classroom work, rather than a one-time
  event.
• Relevant or humorous search examples.
• Pre-training surveys. Having faculty or
  librarian complete a needs survey has assisted
  us in tailoring training sessions.
• Assigning online tutorials as pre-work.
• Online certification testing as post-work.
  Students find this beneficial as they may add it
  to their resumes.

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• 3. Wish List
• Having faculty more involved with explaining the
  importance of online research skills services in
  the students legal career
• Professors remain in session (even for a few
  minutes) so students pay attention, this would
  also show students value of session
• More time to train students. We need at least
  two hours to cover one online service. Trying to
  combine CD and online training into the same
  small window of time leaves students confused and
  unable to use either product effectively.
  Ideally, we would like to provide basic level
  training, and then follow up at a later date with
  a more advanced course.
• Provide an assignment to students shortly
  following training.
• More tying in of student assignments to the use
  of the online services.
• Mandatory pre-articling training for 2nd and
  3rd year students including a cost-effective
  skills assignment
• Allow online vendors to do training and to
  conduct train-the-trainer sessions for academic
  staff or anyone else who conduct training.
• Assist in promoting training sessions to
  students. For example, sending emails, posting
  and Listservs. Better, more consistent
  advertising of sessions.

7

• 4. What Can We As Information Providers Do To
  Better Deliver What They Need?
• In a training session, we prefer to focus on how
  to use the service, but realistically speaking,
  we also need to provide students with an
  understanding of how costs will be recovered once
  students are working in firms. Students get used
  to having all of their research tools provided
  for free, and there is a concern that once they
  enter firms, they may not be cost-effective
  researchers. We need to know how much, and at
  what point, law schools and firms want us to
  focus on the cost recovery of research.
• Question. Would it be more effective to have
  separate sessions to cover this, so as not to
  take away from the regular training on the use of
  the service?
• Work with faculty and librarians to develop
  Cost-effective skills assignment(s). However,
  how do we get students to see the relevance?
• We would like to have information sessions and/or
  provide training sessions for teaching faculty so
  that they may see the application of online
  research to their courses.
• Developing formal student certification
  program/courses in conjunction with law school
  librarians and law firms.
• School and firm librarians would help us by
  directing students to our online tutorials and
  integrating this program into their course
  assignments in preparation for sessions.
• Two-part sessions (a few weeks apart)

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• 5. Difference in training 1st year students and
  summer students/articling students
• Articling students
• Take their training more seriously (attendance is
  usually mandatory)
• Ask more questions and have a grasp of what legal
  research is about
• Ask questions related to specific research topics
• Ask questions about client billing and cost
  recovery
• Summer Students
• Same as articling students except they are a bit
  less secure
• Anxious to learn and do a good job in the hopes
  of being rehired as an articling student.