Why Numbers on Paragraphs Appear to Matter in Building a Digital Legal Library

For those of you following along with the building of the Library at LexBlog, I learned something new this week.

You need to include numbers for each paragraph in a published work that is digitally native. Otherwise, the judge and the opposing side cannot see, in particular, what you referenced in a pleading, brief, memorandum or another document.

What this appears to mean is that publishers, including LexBlog, as we build the Library at LexBlog to preserve and structure publishing for citation, will want to build the paragraph numbers into each published work in addition to other structural features of a library. Otherwise, no one could cite the published works you’ve preserved.

I was scratching my head over this for a week plus. What’s the unique citation that draws someone into what they are looking for? Something was missing between author records and the citations I used as a lawyer.

When I practiced law, I cited insight and commentary in the case of law reviews, treatises, and whatnot, by the particular author, the name of the publication, the law review, etc. And I cited, among other things, the page number so that the judge or the opposing side could go to the source, open the particular page to see what I cited. In some cases, I “photocopied” a published work and highlighted the relevant citations for the judge and the other side.

There are no page numbers in the case of a digital copy, and you’re certainly not highlighting anything, so that’s why there are actual numbers for the paragraphs. Certain courts and jurisdictions increasingly rely on paragraph numbering for citation to digital materials.

So it’s an interesting process as we go, as we learn in building the Library at Lexblog. And as I’ve said, we’re certainly going to need help from people out there who know more than I and other team members know do about library science.

For those following along when you are building something new, you’re kind of out on the frontier discovering what you need to know and what you need to add to the building process as you go. The key is a belief that what you are doing is important and that you’ll clear the hurdles by remembering that.