Lawyers as Information Seekers: A Study of Information Seeking Behaviour of Lawyers, Madurai District Court, Tamilnadu
Published: 2017
Author(s) Name: Padma P., Ramasamy, K. |
Author(s) Affiliation: Asst. Prof., Dept. of Lib. and Inf. Science, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract
The lawyers are the information seekers because information is lifeblood for legal professionals. The present study aims at analyzing the digital information seeking behavior of lawyers of Madurai District Court Library, Madurai. Questionnaire method was used to collect data from 152 lawyers. The study reveals that: 137 (90.13%) respondents are male lawyers. Majority of the respondents i.e. 71 (46.71%) lawyers belong to above 40 age group. 97 (63.82 %) respondents have three year B.L degrees and 52 respondents (34.21%) have five year B.L degrees. Majority of lawyers i.e. 46.09% (70) of the respondents are specialized in handling Civil Cases and 40.79% (62) of the lawyers are specialized in handling Criminal Cases. 63 (41.45%) respondents are Junior Lawyers and 43 (28.29%) respondents are Senior Lawyers. 19 (12.50%) respondents have 16 to 20 years of experience. 125 (51.02 %) respondents get necessary information for their case references from the Bar Association library. 75 (49.34%) lawyers visit the library daily and 46 (30.26%) lawyers visit the library once a week. 84 (55.26%) respondents fully depend on library services for their professional work. 125 (82.24 %) lawyers visit the library for their Case preparation and 84 (55.26 %) lawyers visit the library for improving their personal knowledge. 135 (88.82 %) respondents seek information to get to know / clarify their doubts on various Legal and judicial procedures. Law Books available in the Bar Association library are adequate for 98 (64.47%) respondents. Tamil is the preferred language for reading legal information sources among 68.42 % (104) of the lawyers. 45 (29.61%) respondents suggest for the availability of more current legal materials. 112 (73.68%) respondents are satisfied with the quantity and quality of print information sources available in the Bar Association library.
Keywords: Information Seeking, Sources of Information, Access Points, Preferred Language, Legal Information Services
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