Antecedents of the use of Electronic Information Resources by Lawyers in selected law firms in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of gender, age, ICT competence and awareness of Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) on the use of EIRs in legal research by lawyers in Lagos State, Nigeria. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 226 lawyers from a population of 377. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data was analysed with frequency and percentage distribution, correlation and multiple regression. Findings showed that the majority (>70%) were aware of most of the listed legal EIRs and also utilized them. However, not all could rate themselves highly competent at using ICTs for some of the listed tasks. Awareness and use of information resources had a significant, positive relationship (r = .82, p < .05). ICT competence (β = .63, t = 6.51, p < .05) and age (β = -6.01, t = -3.28, p < .05) significantly influenced the use of EIRs while gender did not (β = -6.78, t = -3.72, p > .05). The study recommends that the law firms should ensure continuous training in the use of ICTs and law librarians should find innovative ways of keeping lawyers abreast of new EIRs.

Keywords: Electronic Information Resources (EIRs), Lawyers, Awareness of EIRs, ICT competence.