"Just the facts ma'am?": a contextual approach to the legal information use environment

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a qualitative study of information-seeking behavior patterns of students at the Villanova University School of Law Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic. The interactions of law student researchers with legal information systems were observed, as well as the overall context of use of those systems. The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for legal information behavior. A strong conceptual framework can be used by librarians and system designers to develop improved legal information systems, services, and instruction.

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Index Terms

• Information systems

  • Information retrieval