Integrating information literacy into an undergraduate law course

Cathie Jackson, Cardiff University

Presentation at UKCLE seminar on teaching and learning for legal skills trainers, 16 February 2005

Information literacy is the ability to recognise when information is needed and locate, evaluate and use it effectively. Cardiff Law School has used the concept as a framework to integrate legal research, IT and other legal skills into a coherent module with a substantive focus on the English legal system. The module illustrates the benefits of partnership between information professionals and academic teaching staff.

Cathie is an Information Specialist for Law and Senior Consultant for Information Literacy in the University Library Service at Cardiff University. She came to Cardiff 12 years ago and has been involved in a number of information skills teaching initiatives for both students and library staff, including the development of the information literacy strategy, an information skills training manual for librarians and computer-based video. In 1998 Cathie was awarded a PGCE (FE/HE). She is a Registered Practioner of the Higher Education Academy.

---

In the late 1980s the issue of the pedagogy of legal research training was debated over the pages of the Law Library Journal (summarised in Callister 2003). Should we concentrate on bibliographic instruction, ensuring students are proficient in using specific research tools, or instruction that is process-oriented, ensuring that students build a framework of how to solve problems through the legal information? In Cardiff Law School, the concept of information literacy has been used as a model for teaching legal skills in the first semester Legal Foundations module. The teaching of legal research has, as a result, moved from a bibliographic orientation towards a greater concentration on the process of finding and using information. This is reflected both in the structure of the module and the teaching method used by the librarians.

Legal Foundations is a 30 credit module for all 230 first year law students. The module introduces students to the main features of the legal system in England and Wales and develops the basic legal skills needed in the study of law. The ACRL information literacy standards (ACRL 2000) were used to remodel the module’s learning outcomes, given in full below. The standards gave a theoretical framework to the skills element of the module and tied the IT and legal research skills, which had previously been ‘bolted-on’, fully into the module’s legal content.

Half way through the semester students are given a hypothetical but topical scenario, which is used as the medium for gaining information literacy skills over the next three to four weeks. Each of the 16 seminar groups is split into two teams of ‘lawyers’, to argue opposing viewpoints. The legal knowledge needed to underpin the scenario is delivered during earlier lectures. The students are also building on the skills that they have developed in the IT, library induction and Westlaw sessions earlier in the module.

The law librarians facilitate one of the weekly two hour seminars for each group, helping students find the information they need for their preparation. In the next tutor-led seminar the teams discuss what they have read from the information found in the previous seminar and the tutor helps them evaluate the sources. The information is then used to argue their case in the seminar and draft a clause of a Bill. The following week the scenario topic is again used, this time in developing essay writing skills. The final two seminars reinforce the process by requiring students to complete new research tasks, first in order to give a short presentation and then for the moot, where they again work as a team. The structure of the course incorporates the QAA law benchmark skills into the information literacy model.

The session led by the law librarians no longer concentrates on how to use specific databases. Instead students are introduced to the range of materials which they need to consider when planning a research strategy. The session takes place in a PC room. Exercises prompt students to find specific types of information, such as named government reports, journal articles on the topic, Bills and discussion in Hansard, but are given only hints on how to locate the information. The law librarians facilitate the learning process through questioning or guiding where needed, and students are clearly engaged in learning as they apply and build on their existing skills in this new context. Students respond very positively to the approach, which is reflected in the feedback on module questionnaires, and comment particularly on the value of practical support in IT training and developing a research strategy.

Information literacy provides a conceptual model which enables us to incorporate our information skills training into the wider context of legal research and legal skills from a law scholars’ perspective; that is, after first finding the information, the need to evaluate it and to use it appropriately to accomplish the task at hand. It is only through a partnership between academic staff, law librarian and computer officer that we have the mix of expertise to achieve such training.

Legal Foundations: module aims and learning outcomes 2003-04

Note: aims and learning outcomes associated with information literacy are bolded.

Aims

1. to introduce students to the main features of the legal system in England and Wales and its operation in contemporary society
2. to develop in students’ basic skills in:
   1. legal analysis of primary materials
   2. legal research
   3. construction of legal arguments
   4. applications of information technology
   5. presentation of the results/productions of the above in written and oral form

Learning outcomes

Subject-specific abilities

At the conclusion of this module, students will be able to:

1. define the functions of law within society and illustrate how law may be used to achieve social goals
2. identify the principal methods by which law is reported and distinguish between official and unofficial reports
3. explain the principal features of the court system in England and Wales
4. outline the sources of law and explain their relative authority
5. describe the roles of the judiciary and magistracy in the legal system and evaluate the effects of arrangements for their selection and training on performance of that role
6. outline the structure of the legal profession in England and Wales and explain its role in the delivery of legal services
7. explain the doctrine of precedent and demonstrate how precedent operates in a common law legal system
8. identify the primary rules of statutory interpretation and recognise how these relate to the role of judges within UK constitutional arrangements
9. identify the principal features of a case report and analyse the judicial reasoning in a case
10. construct legal arguments on behalf of a hypothetical client
11. identify accurately issues that require researching
12. access, evaluate and use effectively information for a research task

Generable transferable intellectual skills

When presented with a proposition or a set of facts raising legal issues, a student will be able to:

1. identify and prioritise the significance of legal issues explicitly or implicitly raised
2. conduct effective research on the primary and secondary issues of law raised, recognising the relative authority of sources
3. evaluate, on the basis of research, the significance of law in its social context
4. identify, through research into primary and secondary sources, the principal arguments for and against a proposition
5. assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments relevant to a proposition
6. use arguments to present a considered conclusion to the issues raised
7. give an independently and individually research presentation on an assigned topic

Key skills

At the end of this module, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate basic skills in oral advocacy
2. present a research topic orally, making accurate and effective use of language
3. present written material in a style appropriate to the task set and to its target audience
4. evaluate and discuss the moral, social and economic implications of current legal issues
5. analyse and discuss primary legal materials in oral and written form
6. make effective use of the Web, e-mail, electronic databases and computer assisted learning packages
7. perform effectively in a group mooting exercise

References

• Association of College and Research Libraries (2000)
  Information literacy competency standards for higher education
• Callister P (2003) ‘Beyond training: law librarianship’s quest for the pedagogy of legal research instruction’ Law Library Journal 95: 7-45

Last Modified: 30 June 2010