Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Any meaningful design of information system for a user group must take into account the need to establish the sources of information and channels/means to access. This paper reports on the study instituted to determine the sources of legal information and means used to access legal information by Lawyers in Uganda and propose strategic interventions. The study used survey research design with structured questionnaire to elicit the required data. The results indicate that sources outside legal literature, acts of parliament, law textbooks and judgments constitute the main sources of legal information. While constitutional, human rights, law reference and gender related needs constitute the difficult legal information to access. Highly used channels/means to access legal information include visiting law libraries, telephones and using research assistants. It concludes that concerted efforts are required by the Government of Uganda and law librarians to address issues of legal information provision to lawyers in Uganda. This is because the growth in law has led to changes in the legal publishing industry. It is recommended that provision of literature from outside law should be integrated into the legal information provision strategies. Law librarians should be proactive and mobile technologies integrated in the legal information service delivery among others.