A Blue Book Bites The Dust

There are all kinds of “blue books” out there.  There are the Uniform System of Citations, the various reports from the Joint Committee on Taxation, and the venerable booklets in which law students write their exams.  And, if it matters, there’s the one for car valuation.  These are all safe, so far. 

I understand that Thomson Reuters is discontinuing the National Reporter Blue Book because of “insufficient market interest.”  I mentioned this to another librarian who remarked “What does it do again?”  I think that may have been the overriding result of any market research TR may have conducted on the decision to cancel the title.  For the record, it converts citations from official state reports to citations in the National Reporter System.  I don’t believe I’ve used the set in at least 25 years or more.  Parallel cites are easily available in every online legal research system and through just about every search engine out there.  The need for the National Reporter Blue Book as a print publication is nil.  I’m surprised it lasted this long.  [MG]