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COPYRIGHT 2005 Alert Publications, Inc.
Is Merlin really a "magical database"? Is Accurint really accurate and current?
After working as a law school librarian for 10 years, I switched careers and became a law firm librarian. One of the biggest changes I encountered was going from a "pure" legal researcher to a "factual" and "investigative" researcher. It came as quite a shock, but I soon found that I liked nothing better than putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat and ferreting out information. The next shock was finding out that there were more than two databases (Westlaw and LexisNexis), and that I was expected to learn how to use them all.
It's been awhile since I last worked full-time as a law firm librarian, yet, I still find myself putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat at times to conduct investigative research. That brings me to Merlin (https://www.merlindata.com/) and Accurint (www.accurint.com), two prime investigative research databases.
I discovered Accurint (recently purchased by LexisNexis) in its infancy while making my way through the exhibits at a California State Bar convention. Who could resist a free background report? I was awestruck by its attempt to create a relational database--linking me to neighbors and relatives whom I hadn't thought about for years ... such as my ex-husband, and his father, and his father's first wife, and his father's second wife, and on and on. (When I learned Accurint's headquarters were just minutes away from my parent's retirement home in Boca Rotan, Dr. Watson and I made a point of visiting its office a few months later.) Similarly, I had heard whispers of Merlin but was told it was primarily a private investigator's database, so being a law librarian I had discounted it. Its database names certainly do reflect P.I. lingo. For instance, there's "Legal Phone Break," "Cross Directory," and the "California Ultimate Weapon" (all of which we'll delve into later).
My Sherlock Holmes persona did finally get the best of me when I spoke at a California Association of Legal Investigators conference and met the wizard behind the magic of Merlin--Mike Dores, a former California private investigator (now living in Montana). I decided it was high time to test Accurint and Merlin head-to-head, which I did by interviewing people at both companies and running searches over the phone with them. I had used Accurint in the past, but not Merlin. I also interviewed librarian users--Lille Koski, a Northern California...
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