[8354] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Government Purchase of WESTLAW and LEXIS/NEXIS
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James Love)
Mon Nov 15 23:06:00 1993
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 23:07:56 -0500 (EST)
From: James Love <love@essential.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: law librarians <law-lib@ucdavis.edu>,
How much does the federal government spend on online legal
research?
The federal government does not keep systematic track of agency
expenditures on commercial database vendors. However, there are
data from the Library of Congress FEDLINK program, which is a
centralized procurement program that negotiates a government wide
price that agencies can "ride." In fiscal year 1991, FEDLINK
expenditures were $49.5 million. The largest vendor under
FEDLINK was Mead's (LEXIS/NEXIS) service, and the third largest
was West Publishing's WESTLAW.
Fiscal Year 1991 FEDLINK purchases
Mead Data (LEXIS/NEXIS) $15.866 million
West Services (WESTLAW) 6.316 million
total: $22.182 million
These are not all federal expenditures on LEXIS/NEXIS, since
agencies often purchase the services outside the FEDLINK
contract. For example, in fy 1991, the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts reported expenditures of $1.6 million on LEXIS on
$1.4 million on WESTLAW. Counting only the FEDLINK contracts and
the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, public expenditures
on LEXIS/NEXIS and WESTLAW were more than $25 million in fy 1991.
Both LEXIS/NEXIS and WESTLAW provide access to federal government
legal information and other items, including privately
copyrighted information, such as West headnotes, or the NEXIS
access to items such as the New York Times. LEXIS and WESTLAW
also provide access to many other types of government
information, including state court cases and laws, and patent
information, among other items.
jamie love
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James Love, Taxpayer Assets Project; internet: love@essential.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176
12 Church Road, Ardmore, PA 19003; v. 215/658-0880; f. 215/649-4066
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