ABSTRACT
In this age of ever-faster communication speeds and ever-more-powerful computers on our desks, sometimes we suffer from an embarrassment of riches. We have too many research materials available to us. Filed on compact disks are legal, accounting, and tax libraries that will transfer the researcher immediately to an online library when the disks themselves do not contain the answers. One of my engaging attorneys told me that a lawyer or a CPA who failed to use electronic research materials could be accused of malpractice. I’m not an attorney, but I didn’t agree for the following reason: a looseleaf subscription service can never provide as much information so quickly as an electronic library. And that is precisely one of the many problems with electronic research — too much, too soon. In a loose-leaf service, a researcher gets as much feedback as his brain can safely handle. Sometimes when I request a topic or word search in my electronic library, I can receive from one to 1,000 or more hits. My mind cannot handle more than five to ten hits at a time.
