The EUROLEX experience Available to Purchase

Eight characteristics of a lawyer's working environment are described including the need for reliable information, the relevance of older documents, the need for access to textual data and the requirement to cover all relevant material. The nature of legal data is discussed and the consequent effect and problems on such database structures due to the constant changes in national and international law. The article goes on to outline the EUROLEX service which provides online access to case law, legislation and treaties for the UK and Europe. The libraries are put up on an IBM 3033 and an Amdahl 470/V6 at BOC Datasolve. Dial‐up access is available for over 100 users simultaneously, using the STATUS package. Users may search on headnotes, citations, opinions, judgments, etc. Libraries can be searched as a whole or in part or as sub‐sets of parts. A sample search output is provided. Details are given of the EUROLEX libraries available and the years covered. The article ends with a short report on the system usage and intended developments. 5 refs.