Extent of availability and utilization of law reports by law students in the Universities of Uyo and Calabar Law Libraries

Abstract

This study investigates the extent of availability and utilization of law reports by final year lawstudents in the Universities of Uyo and Calabar law libraries. Survey research design was adopted for the study. A total of 450 under graduate final year Law students projects were examined to determine thefrequencyofcitations of law reports. The study was carried out between 2003/2004-2006/2007 academic sessions. The instrument used for collecting data was the observationmethod. Simple percentage and chi-square were used to analyze data. Findings showed that the number of law reports available in the universities of Uyo and Calabar law libraries and the frequency of citations keep increasing in each academic session. Further results showed that there is a relationship between the extent of availability and utilization of law reports by law students in the law libraries surveyed. Recommendations were made, consequent upon findings of the study.

Keywords: Law reports, Utilization. Availability, Law library, Students