Searching Smarter: Finding Legal Resources on the Invisible Web

• Publication year: 2005
• Pages: 37
• Citation: Vol. 34 No. 2 Pg. 37

34 Colo.Law. 37 Colorado Bar Journal 2005.

2005, February, Pg. 37. Searching Smarter: Finding Legal Resources on the Invisible Web

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37

Vol. 34, No. 2, Pg. 37

The Colorado Lawyer
February 2005
Vol. 34, No. 2 [Page 37]

Departments
The Legal Research Corner
Searching Smarter: Finding Legal Resources on the Invisible Web
by Bonnie Sucha

This department, published quarterly, is sponsored by the Colorado Association of Law Librarians ("CoALL") to assist attorneys with common problems in legal research Readers interested in submitting research questions may send them to: CoALL, The Legal Research Corner, at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/coall; or to: "The Legal Research Corner," c/o Arlene Abady, Managing Editor, The Colorado Lawyer, 1900 Grant St., Suite 900, Denver, CCO 80203-4336 or e-mail: aabady@cobar.org

Members of CoALL will attempt to answer as many questions as possible, either individually or as part of this department The information provided in this space is for educational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No endorsement or recommendation is made of any product named in this department. Department contributors are CoALL members and include Andrea Hamilton, Wanda McDavid, Mariann Storck, and Patty Wellinger. For more information about CoALL, see http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/coall.

Bonnie Shucha is the reference and electronic services librarian at the University of Wisconsin Law Library - bjshucha@wisc.edu. She is past president of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin. Excluding Colorado material, which was added by CoAll, this article first appeared at 77 Wisconsin Lawyer (Sept. 2004). Reprinted with permission.

By now, most attorneys have discovered that the Internet can be a powerful tool for legal research. Increasingly, Web search engines like Google have moved up in the ranks of computer-assisted legal research tools alongside more expensive resources such as LexisNexis and Westlaw®. Even some judges are using the Web to check facts and statistics presented by attorneys and reporting their findings in written opinions.1

As the Web makes its way into the courtroom, it is important that legal practitioners know how to search it effectively. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. A new study reveals that while professionals are spending increasingly larger amounts of time doing computer-based searching, most are dissatisfied with their search experience.2

It is estimated that most searchers locate only 0.03 percent - or 1 in 3,000 - of the Web pages available to them.3 Although such results may be due, in part, to a poorly constructed search, a large portion of the blame also falls upon the search engine itself. Even the most experienced searcher, using the largest search engines, can access only about 16 percent of all Web content. Why? Because 84 percent of the information available on the Internet is found only on the "invisible Web," also known as the "deep Web," and is not searchable using a general search engine such as Google.4

By recognizing how the invisible Web differs from other Web content, you will understand how to alter your search strategies to find this information in a time-efficient manner. This article investigates the nature of the invisible Web and offers strategies for locating invisible Web content.

What is the Invisible Web?

In order to understand the concept of the "invisible Web," it may be helpful to first explore the nature of the "visible Web." A visible Web page is one that exists in "static" or unchanging form until its creator alters it. In this way, it is similar to a document that you might create in a word processor. Both types "physically" exist as files...