Law Students Hate Books ...

The Library at Stanford Law School has compiled some revealing survey material about the research habits of students there and the title of the study just about says it all: "Book Lovers Beware: A Survey of Online Research Habits of Stanford Law Students".

From the conclusion:

"An amusing anecdote sheds some light on today's student and his/her research mind-set. Last year, early in the Legal Research & Writing course, the librarians divided each class into groups of four and each group was given the same task: find the statute of limitations for fraud in California. "

"The law school classrooms are equipped with wireless connectivity and students are required to come to class with a laptop and WiFi card. To complete the assignment, one group was asked to use LEXIS; another group was told to use WESTLAW; the third group was told to use free Internet resources, and the fourth group was sent to the library."

"The librarians assumed that the fourth group would use the print edition of the California codes or a paper treatise; instead, the fourth group made a beeline for the library computers, and 'Googled' their way to the answer."