Research support from academic law libraries in the Western Cape in the scholarly legal research lifecycle
type: CreativeWork
description: This study used an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative research approach to investigate the legal research lifecycle process used by legal academics at three institutions within the Western Cape, South Africa in order to ascertain academic law library research support services that would be able to support legal scholars using such a process. In order to do so, the researcher used four critical questions to guide the study which investigated the research lifecycle process used by legal scholars; existing and possible law library research support services discussed in the literature; current law library research support services in the Western Cape being offered to support legal scholars; and, the knowledge and skills required by law librarians to support legal research processes. A multiple case study method was used, with Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape as research sites. Purposive sampling of legal scholars and law librarians at three institutions was adopted. Data was gathered mainly through the administration of semistructured interviews with both the legal scholars and the law librarians, as well as via the literature for some aspects of the study. A conceptual framework, which used two conceptual models, namely, the research process lifecycle model and the Reference and User Services framework for LIS services, guided the theoretical aspect of the study. The researcher found that legal scholars favour the doctrinal approach to research, which still consists of the same stages involved in the research process model, but does not distinguish as clearly between the stages. A novel aspect of this study was the exploration of what constitutes legal data and it was found that it consists of literature, including cases and legislation. Law libraries should therefore be able to adapt their ‘data services' to this concept of legal data in order to better support legal scholars. A broad range of research su…
abstract: This study used an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative research approach to investigate the legal research lifecycle process used by legal academics at three institutions within the Western Cape, South Africa in order to ascertain academic law library research support services that would be able to support legal scholars using such a process. In order to do so, the researcher used four critical questions to guide the study which investigated the research lifecycle process used by legal scholars; existing and possible law library research support services discussed in the literature; current law library research support services in the Western Cape being offered to support legal scholars; and, the knowledge and skills required by law librarians to support legal research processes. A multiple case study method was used, with Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape as research sites. Purposive sampling of legal scholars and law librarians at three institutions was adopted. Data was gathered mainly through the administration of semistructured interviews with both the legal scholars and the law librarians, as well as via the literature for some aspects of the study. A conceptual framework, which used two conceptual models, namely, the research process lifecycle model and the Reference and User Services framework for LIS services, guided the theoretical aspect of the study. The researcher found that legal scholars favour the doctrinal approach to research, which still consists of the same stages involved in the research process model, but does not distinguish as clearly between the stages. A novel aspect of this study was the exploration of what constitutes legal data and it was found that it consists of literature, including cases and legislation. Law libraries should therefore be able to adapt their ‘data services' to this concept of legal data in order to better support legal scholars. A broad range of research su…
author: Moll, Elizabeth Margaret
keywords: Library and Information Science
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:41Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC)

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36888