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Re: Lexis/Nexis UNIVerse 

pike wrote:

> of Pittsburgh Law School's L/N account representative told me that it did
> not feature the full range of L/N databases and services available in
> either the commercial or law school market, but still contained a high
> percentage of total databases.  He further indicated that it was being
> marketed toward large undergraduate universities.

I found something similar from a L/N rep when I inquired on behalf of our
academic library members about a consortium subscription. There were
several questions about the sources in UNIVerse. I was told that UNIVerse
mirrors L/N Academic Access program. Thus, sources which are excluded in
that program are also excluded in UNIVerse. UNIVerse does not include the
Tax, Environmental, Federal Register or CFR information. They are
scheduled to be added at the end of this year.  The LEGIS materials, which
are now part of CIS Congressional Compass are not scheduled to be added at
all.  From my understanding, they will not be part of the UNIVerse
product. 

The L/N representative I spoke with said that UNIVerse was designed as an
easier search tool, with answers more on topic (not each mention of a word
or topic) and no training required.  The searches that go on behind the
scenes are not full text, cover to cover searches, i.e., if you search in
Major Papers in UNIVerse, the items in topic will search the headline and
lead paragraph only.  The additional terms area does search the full text,
but you must place an item in the topic area as well, as required.  Some
of the functionality of Academic Access is not included either, i.e.,
Lexsee, Lexstat, Autocite, Shepards, link markers. 

This product was designed for students to use as a research tool, but not
for the breadth and depth of the Academic Access program.  For true power
searchers, she said that the Academic Access program is the best option. 
For students or faculty members who need general research and have not
used Academic Access or original software, UNIVerse may be the best
option.

rwd
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