Users of the academic law library

This chapter describes and identifies the user categories that are found in academic law libraries. It is important to identify the types of users that use the library; this will help the library plan its services and resources to meet their needs. It discusses their needs and expectations cognizant of developments in the digital era. Examples of how services are being provided and designed for these users are highlighted.

Keywords

Users; faculty; adjunct; graduate; undergraduate; students; distance education; alumni; members of the public; researchers; disabilities; mooting teams; international students

Understanding the types of users who use the academic law library promotes efficiency in the management and administration of the unit. It is very important to have a knowledge of user categories. The law librarian should be able to identify the different categories of users who are using the collection and the library space. The following constitute the groups of users who patronize an academic law library:

1. Faculty/Professors (Full-time & Adjunct)

2. Graduate students (LL.M & PhD)

3. Undergraduate students (JD/LL.B)

4. Distance education students

5. Researchers

6. Visiting fellows

7. Users with disabilities

8. Mooting teams

9. Law Journal editors

10. Alumni

11. Members of the public

Faculty/Professors (Full-time & Adjunct)

Full-time faculty members are the major consumers of library services and resources; they use and consult library materials for their teaching and research. Many of them maintain a good rapport with librarians and library staff and some often know their way around the space. You will often find them coming to browse the new periodicals or retrieving books from the library by themselves. They are also interested in knowing about the newly acquired publications and resources that have been added to the library's collection periodically.

Adjunct faculty members teach on a part-time basis. They are usually legal practitioners who are supporting and helping to enhance the experiential skills of students; or they may even be teaching in other law schools.

Faculty members at all levels rely on library resources for preparing their research and teaching materials so it is important that the library provide them with current materials as and when necessary. Some of them will ask for a librarian's assistance to create and maintain their course websites by checking for the latest editions of course readings, updates on topical legal issues, legislation and case law. Lewis (2002) observed that there is a varying culture among law school professors' interest and use of library services and librarians. Lewis (2002) identified the following:

1. Those who work independently and rarely use the library services

2. Those who use the library frequently working with librarians and their research assistants

3. Those who use a combination of the two.

A three-tiered approach involving information, gathering, facilitating current awareness services and a librarian's proactive approach to support faculty member's needs make up Lewis' recommendations for the delivery of library services for faculty members.

Technology has further drawn faculty members away from library services so librarians have to work harder at engaging and collaborating with them. They are able to access electronic databases from anywhere, either at home or in their offices, and since many libraries have leaned towards electronic journals, they may no longer need the services of a librarian unless they are unable to find something. With this in mind, Lewis' three-tiered approach becomes highly relevant to academic law librarians.

The practice in many leading law school libraries is the liaison librarian services where a librarian is assigned to work with faculty members by assisting them with their library and information service needs. At the Osgoode Hall Law School Library the liaison librarian services was introduced in September 2006 and a librarian is assigned to a faculty member to assist them with their library research and information needs. This service was further extended to adjunct faculty in September 2009.

Graduate students (LL.M & Ph.D.)

This category of users engages in a considerable amount of research and so the library must provide adequate support to them especially since there is a timeline to their activities in the program. It is a common practice to find international students from around the world travelling to law schools in destinations like Canada, United Kingdom and the United States for post-graduate studies. One of the reasons for choosing the institutions is that there is a guarantee that they will have access to adequate library resources to support their research that may be lacking in their home countries. Similar to the liaison librarian service for faculty at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library, this service was also made available to graduate students in the full-time and research stream. Upon arrival, usually at the beginning of the academic year, liaison librarians meet on a one-on-one basis with graduate students to discuss their research areas and identify where they will need library support. Before the arrival of the students, with the support of the Graduate Programs Office, the library receives summaries of students' research proposals which are then distributed to librarians to review. Having access to these proposals gives librarians an insight into the research needs of the students and provides an opportunity for the library to plan what to add to its collection and learn what will be requested via interlibrary loans.

It is worthy mentioning that the following two subcategories exist among graduate students:

1. International graduate students whose first language is not English.

2. Graduate students who don't have a background in law. In other words, they don't have a first degree in law.

3. Graduate students coming from a different legal system. For example, some may be coming from civil legal systems to a common law system.

Librarians working in the law library may want to keep this important fact in mind when dealing with this subcategory. Those who fall into the second group will need a lot of help in understanding legal terminologies in the course of their work. It will be helpful if librarians can create research guides that will help this group of students. As for those coming from different legal systems, creating useful guides to help them understand the new environment will be extremely helpful.

Over the years this service has improved the profile of librarians in the Law School and as a result law librarians have been invited by graduate students to attend oral theses and dissertation presentations.

Undergraduate students (JD/LL.B)

The undergraduates/JD students are the main and active users of the library, especially the study space and the group study rooms where applicable. They spend most of their free time in-between classes in the library and use it as both a social and study space.

Distance education students

Distance learning students are usually enrolled in the undergraduate or graduate program for either a Masters or PhD. Some distance learning students are also enrolled in the part-time courses and some may be practitioners who are combining work with studies. These students may be enrolled in programmes where teaching takes place on satellite campuses or they may be located outside the city where the Law School is located. In these two instances there will be no librarian available to them, unlike other full-time students. The composition of the students in the distance learning stream is diverse and can be very challenging. Studies have shown that some of these students are mature students, some of whom are returning to school after a long break and are trying to adapt to a number of changes and developments in research, especially technology (Holloway, 2011). The library has an obligation to ensure that the necessary resources are made available to these students to support their research in order for them to complete the program. In a study of the research on library services for distance learning by academic libraries, Slade (2008) found that the emphasis has shifted from access to physical libraries and print materials to electronic libraries and electronic resources. Just like students in the full-time stream they will need to access readings to complete assignments and projects as well as write their research projects and dissertations. Before the advent of the Internet, services for distance education students were done mostly by sending materials to them in the mail or by fax. But the digital era has made things very easy and more reliable; they can access most of the materials at their convenience in their homes or other libraries closer to them. Many institutions have reciprocal borrowing agreements with other academic law libraries; part of this agreement may include conditions allowing distance learning students to borrow and use library materials from libraries closer to where they reside. Slade further noted that the growing number of remote users means that libraries need to develop services to support people accessing electronic...