Keywords

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

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:

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:

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 resources from locations other than the campus libraries.

What are some of the major factors that the law library has to consider when designing and planning services for distance education students?

Researchers

Most Law Schools have research centres and institutes affiliated to them. It is important for the library identify their needs and ensure that they acquire the necessary materials. The research focus varies so it means that the library will have materials and resources covering these disciplines. But with crunching budgets, this will be an advocacy role for the head of the library achieved by maintaining a good rapport with the heads of these centres. This may likely increase awareness that the library will need their financial support in order to sustain its collection for their needs. Since many of these centres receive external financial support, extending some support to the library collection budget may be considered.

Visiting fellows

These are academics, graduate students and legal practitioners who come to teach or research for a defined period. During their stay in the institution they place a very strong emphasis on accessing the library resources which may not be accessible to them in their home institutions. This group will need an introductory tour or orientation of the library because they are there for a short period. The library will usually plan for them to be given temporary library cards which will provide access to most of its resources for the period. Their privileges to certain services may be limited due to licensing agreements, budgetary or university policies.

Prospective students

Some may wonder why we need to include this category among the users of the law library since they are yet to gain admission to the institution. They are the potential candidates of the law school who need to know about library resources and facilities that will be available to them and which may assist them in making a decision to accept an offer or not. This means that the role of the library to these users is an advocacy and marketing one. Usually, at the Law School’s Open House, the Law Librarian may be invited to make presentations about the library’s resources and facilities for prospective students and their family members. This is an opportunity to showcase all of the valuable resources that will support their learning and research when they make a decision. The library’s information is also usually included in the packages that are mailed out to them and displayed at career fairs. This means that it is highly critical and including prospective students when planning and designing library services and resources should not be overlooked.

Alumni

Members of the alumni often come back to use the law library collection since they already have an insight into the library collection. Upon graduation, most universities provide access to this group of users once they have registered as alumni. But there are restrictions and limited access to certain services and resources, especially electronic databases due to licensing agreements with service providers.

Members of the public

Some law libraries offer their services to members of the public, especially the publicly funded institutions. Self-representing litigants often value the availability and access to the resources and services of academic law libraries. However, with many library resources being available only electronically, this category of users may have limited access and have to rely on free legal websites. In this case, they may not need to come physically, but may seek the assistance of the Reference Librarian over the telephone or by email. Moreover, library spaces are often inadequate to accommodate additional users with the primary users so it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide services to this group of users.

Another group in this category will be law firm libraries requesting to use materials not available in their own collection; usually photocopying from print resources. They often send their staff to make photocopies or they may make a request through interlibrary loans, which is a revenue-generating service for the library.

Community colleges and private institutions around the library location also fall into this category. These institutions offer paralegal library technician, court administration and legal assistants courses but are unable to provide them with materials in a legal collection; the instructors often bring them to the nearest academic law libraries to show them some of the law reports and legislation collection. This has become problematic as many of these materials are now available electronically and it has become unnecessary to pay such visits. Access for these users will depend on each library’s policy.

Users with disabilities

This category is spread across all the users that have been identified and could refer to faculty, students, alumni, visiting fellows or even members of the public. However, many libraries tend to leave the implementation of the policies for these users until the user walks through the door of the library. In defining disabilities, Mulliken and Lear (2013) observed that some disabilities such as physical and sensory ones are identifiable but learning, cognitive and some sensory ones are often not. They noted that there has been a shift from the legal definition of disabilities to the social model where the emphasis is more on the type of changes needed to accommodate disability. These are some of the questions and issues to be considered when planning and reviewing the library’s policies:

These are some of the critical questions that should be considered when preparing or updating the library’s guidelines and policies for this category of users. Disabilities are sometimes usually generalized as physical, but following the institution’s definition will be a starting point. It is important to note that while institutions tend to ask students and faculty to identify their disabilities; there are some individuals who are not comfortable with doing this. Some of them would rather approach the manager in charge to disclose their needs in a confidential manner and request assistance.

Mooting teams

For a clearer understanding of and exposure to the theories and practice of law, many law schools form mooting teams on different subject areas. Teams from different institutions compete amongst themselves and in some schools participating in these teams can be used to earn credits. Members of the mooting teams represent the law school at mooting competitions locally and internationally. They work on different subject areas; this requires rigorous and intensive coaching ahead of the competitions. They will often make requests for library materials that may not necessarily be acquired by the library in which case they still have to be accommodated. Some law libraries also assign study carrels for mooting teams inside the library as well as after-hours access. Special privileges are also created in the library’s circulation policies to accommodate their loans.

Law journal editors

Many law schools, especially in North America, have student-managed publications in addition to faculty-managed ones. These publications are supervised by faculty members. In the case of faculty publications, they use the services of students to review and edit the submissions for publication. These students often require the assistance of the Reference Librarian with citation checks for cases, articles and legislation. They make use of the library extensively all year round.

Conclusion

Having identified some of the user categories that exist in an academic law library setting, how does the library ensure that they are reaching out to these users? Thompson (2012) noted that the challenge for libraries is to promote effective use and full exploitation of electronic resources as well as the physical space and print collections by marketing and proactive measures. Library users are the consumers of the services and products being made available to them, hence the need to make the library visible by branding these resources and building a relationship with these users. Branding the library can be done by displaying and announcing the strengths, unique and successful products and services available in the library. Build a library blog, coordinate who will write and post on a weekly or daily basis. Social media is a great tool for marketing library services but it must be professionally utilized. Create a virtual tour of the library so the prospective student has a visual idea of what the library space looks like. Make this look appealing even if library renovations are being planned.

This chapter has identified the users of the academic law library and their potential needs. It is critical and mandatory that the librarians managing and working in the academic library should understand the types of users they will be dealing with. A proactive approach to understanding the users of the library will help in building and maintaining the library’s relevance in the law school.