The Library of Congress Ask A Librarian is a free service that connects you by phone or the Internet to a reference librarian who will answer your general or topic specific questions. One of their new categories is the law.
AskNow links you to reference librarians in real time and is available 24/7 through many local public libraries.
Highlight a word in a document to get instant spelling, antonyms, synonyms, definitions and suggested usage from Answers.com.
[...] The private investigator archives: Free Internet research and librarian assistance By Tamara Thompson Public libraries are a free source of periodicals and proprietary databases, many of which can be searched remotely. In Questions? - Answers from the Internet I included links to a list of public library Web sites and a real-time research librarian service. There are also online reference sites for specific regions. If you have a Connecticut library card you can make use of the 24/7 infoAnyTime, an online chat tool that connects you to a reference librarian. An added benefit of infoAnyTime is real-time Web co-browsing, enabling a researcher to guide you through your Internet search. [...]