Information literacy and its impact in dispensation of justice: a case study of the milimani commercial courts library, in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The aim of the research study was to find out the impact of information literacy amongst the library users and its effect in the dispensation of justice. The objectives of the study were: to establish whether there was a policy governing provision of information literacy; to identify the category of clientèle in Milimani Commercial Courts Library; to determine the information seeking behaviour of the clientèle in the library; to find out the impact of information literacy in dispensation of justice and to find out the challenges encountered in the provision of information literacy. A descriptive research design was used where a case study strategy was employed. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the research. The researcher used non-probability sampling method where the purposive sampling technique as well as snow ball sampling method was used and which allowed the researcher to use the library staff to identify the target respondents for the study. The sample size was 89 respondents 81 of whom were legal professionals and 8 drawn from the library staff. Data was collected by the use of questionnaires. The questionnaires were in two categories one for the library clientele selected respondents and the other for the library staff. The data was then analysed and presentations made using tables, pie charts and bar graphs. One very prominent finding of the study was that there was no policy governing provision of information literacy in the library. Major recommendations made were the formulation of a policy on information literacy and introduction of a more suitable method of teaching information literacy. The recommendations of the study were meant to benefit the Judiciary as an institution, as information literacy enhanced faster dispensation of justice and continuous development of the jurisprudence.