Key Numbers and the Digital Generation

A student recently gave me a bemused and confused reaction when I suggested scanning headnotes within several key numbers in the West Digests for a overview of the case law within those areas.  After some trashing and gnashing, we established that he/she knew what a West key number was, but had no clue what a digest was.  So we walked up to the library and I pulled one out.

Am I a troglodyte?  (Don’t answer that.)  I am told this is not a reflection on our legal writing program, but a mark of the success Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw have had in placing research on our desk.