| How Do I Search the Documents? |
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The LTDL provides three different search pages to help you look for and retrieve specific tobacco documents from our collections:
Basic Search provides a Google-like interface which allows you to search for a few terms in a few specific fields or in the entire record (the full-text and the index record combined).
Advanced Search helps you to construct a search query combining Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) with up to six terms or phrases in a limited number of fields or in the entire record.
Expert Search allows for the construction of complex search queries using multiple search terms, Boolean operators, specific
field codes, wildcards, dates and proximity operators. A field code matrix is available on the Expert Search page to assist you in conducting fielded searches.
Please access our Search Help pages for more information or assistance.
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| What is the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)? |
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The Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 was a multibillion-dollar settlement of dozens of lawsuits in a majority of the States against the tobacco
industry. Among its many requirements, the settlement mandated that the tobacco companies release their internal company documents to the
public by depositing them into a repository in Minnesota as well as creating and maintaining websites containing searchable
electronic versions of the documents. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library preserves and maintains electronic versions of
these released documents, making them widely available to researchers and the general public.
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The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library does not make any references or recommendations for attorneys
but the Tobacco Control Resource Center 
provides a free online referral service.
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Staff working with the LTDL utilize "spidering" applications that comb the major industry document websites for newly posted documents.
The dynamic collections are updated as documents are added to their respective industry sites.
LTDL holdings updated as of
Thursday, January 19, 2012.
It contains
79,591,719
pages in
13,763,649
documents.
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Yes, please see the Tobacco Documents Citation Format page for information on how to cite resources from LTDL as well as other document sites.
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| What is the difference between metadata and full text? |
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Metadata is comparable to a traditional library catalog card. A metadata record contains the document's important descriptive information
such as the title, author(s), dates, and a variety of subject terms. The full-text of a document refers to the complete electronic text of a
source. This text is made searchable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
All of the tobacco documents on this site can be searched by their metadata as well as their OCR'd text except for privileged documents, which only have metadata.
In some cases, such as when the document was of poor quality and the OCR is not reliable,
the metadata will yield better results.
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There can be several different dates associated with each tobacco document. Document date indicates when a document was
created. Date Added Industry notes when a document was published on a tobacco company site. Date Added UCSF
indicates when a document first appeared on this site. Information about date searching can be found
on the Search Help page.
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As you search LTDL, you will find document records you would like to save for future use.
The search results screen allows you to save these document records, along with any notes, to a place called "Bookbag."
Records can be saved one-by-one or an entire page of results can be sent to Bookbag all at once. From your Bookbag tab, you may then download or email these
saved records to yourself or a colleague.
See "Bookbag" on the Search Results Help page for more information.
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The bookbag function does not persist once a session is closed. A session ends when you leave the site or after 4 hours of
inactivity. Before you close out your session, remember to download or email the contents of your bookbag.
See "Bookbag" on the Search Results Help page for more information.
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Save document records to your Bookbag. In Bookbag, choose either EndNote or RefWorks and click on the "Download" button at the top of the screen.
You will be prompted to save the file to your computer. From your Citation Management application, import the file
you just saved. Please note: EndNote or RefWorks must be configured to format tobacco documents correctly.
For complete instructions on formatting EndNote for tobacco documents, access EndNote Help.
For RefWorks instructions, access RefWorks Help.
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Yes, you are able to download the actual PDF version of the tobacco document to your computer. From the search results screen,
open the document as a PDF by clicking on the title link, then click "Save a Copy" on the Acrobat Reader toolbar. From the search
results screen, you may also right-click on the title link and choose "Save Target As".
This will prompt you to name and save the PDF file to your computer.
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In many of our collections, the bulk of the documents were turned over by tobacco companies in lawsuits - the usual terminology is that documents are "produced" in "discovery."
There are two principal grounds for a defendant to refuse to produce documents that are relevant:
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The documents would reveal communications with attorneys for the purpose of seeking legal advice, generally known as "privileged" materials; or
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The documents would reveal economically valuable information, generally known as "confidential" information, such as marketing plans and (future) research budgets.
Seven (7) collections in LTDL - American Tobacco, B&W, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, BAT and Multimedia - include records of documents withheld due to claims of privilege or confidentiality.
Often LTDL does not have the actual document image if it is considered privileged or confidential, but in the case of a privileged document, we do have descriptive information which includes a privilege
code specifiying the reason(s) each document was withheld from production. In some cases we do have a copy of the actual privileged or confidential document, just under a different record ID which can be found in the "Related" field in the metadata.
Read more about Documents Designated as Privileged or Confidential
See About Privileged Document Codes for more information on privilege codes.
For assistance in searching for privileged and confidential documents, see Search Tips & Tricks.
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