If we assume that law libraries, especially public and academic ones, are charged with collecting materials for the benefit of our patrons, and that this includes our future patrons, then we are headed for very difficult times.  As publishers switch from print to electronic dissemination of information, we are placing ourselves squarely at their mercy, and the mercy of the market place – which has no mercy.  We saw this recently when a “technical” difficulty suddenly blocked Lexis users from access to Tax Notes Today.  This was an accident, but not an unusual incident.A few years back, many academic law libraries suddenly lost access to BNA’s US Patent Quarterly.  Why?  After the fact, we learned that BNA was blocking access to USPQ through Lexis to all customers who weren’t also buying the print from BNA.  The point is, just because you have it through Lexis or Westlaw, doesn’t mean that you always will have it through Lexis or Westlaw.  Behind the scenes contracts between publishers affect what is available to us, the customers. So, what happens when a service like Hein Online gets purchased by Westlaw?  I assume that Lexis users are hosed until Lexis gets it’s own system to compete.  Practitioners who are suddenly faced with needing access to materials that aren’t available on whatever service they ordinarily use, probably assume that the nearest academic law library will have what they’re looking for.  Sadly, as law publishers increasingly put the squeeze on us with exorbitant double-digit price increases, academic law libraries are dropping print materials at the same rate as many practitioners.  Eventually, academic law libraries won’t even have access to all the historical materials that lawyers and judges refer to.