The Usage of Government Law Libraries in South Africa

Abstract

Government law libraries have an important role to play in the development of the judicial system in South Africa by providing information resources to legal practitioners, so that they can perform their judicial duties effectively. The better the information services provided by government libraries in South Africa, the more likely it is that legal practitioners will use them and produce quality judgments, thus strengthening the judicial system. The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate the accessibility and relevancy of the services offered by government law libraries in South Africa, and 2) to identify the factors that hinder this contribution to the legal practitioner’s information needs. Law librarians and library clerks were sampled to participate in this study. The findings suggest that government law resources are accessed both physically and electronically. The physical use of government law libraries to access law books, law journals, loose-leafs and law reports was found to be limited, because the printed legal information resources are outdated. However, government law libraries are used extensively to conduct legal research electronically using Sabinet, Juta Online Publications, LexisNexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline and SAFLII. The electronic resources were found to be accurate and up to date. As a result, the government law libraries services are relevant to both judicial officers and legal practitioners.