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11 Legal Reference Services Q. 1 (1991-1992)

handle is hein.journals/lgrefsq11 and id is 1 raw text is: EDITORIAL It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Upon being asked what he thought of this famous passage from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Cliff, the postal worker/sage on Cheers said, well, there's an author who knew how to cover his rear. The passage has been trivialized by over-quotation, but it applies so perfectly to today's information envi- ronment that it's impossible to pass up as a lead-in to this editorial. We are indeed experiencing the best of times, if we measure by the stunning and powerful research tools that are being developed. But we are also faced with the worst of times, if we measure by our ability to purchase and use these fantastic innovations. Our intelligence and foresight tell us that the tantalizing tools being developed could solve a great many of our informa- tion retrieval problems, but our shrinking funds remind us that fewer and fewer of these tools are within our grasp. Academic libraries felt the strain long before the large law firms because there simply was no way to pass on the costs. But the pyrotechnics of Lexiaw and Westix have whetted lawyers' appetites for spectacular machines and we now have to face real- ity: we can't pay for the ever-growing number of systems. The show is getting better, but the ticket prices are making it impossible.for many of us to get in. For many years private sector law libraries seemed immune to the prob- lems faced by academic institutions. Funding flowed steadily. Surcharg- ing the client or billing librarian hours seemed like the ultimate budget Legal Reference Services Quarterly, Vol. 11(1/2) 1991 V 1991 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. I