Finding a Common Method of Presenting Electronic Journals on Academic Law Library Web Sites: Or, I’d Rather Be Herding Cats

by Mize, Robin

This study examines the manner in which e-journals are made accessible to users on 75 academic law library web sites. Information recorded included the utilization of MARC tags, the types of search functions provided, and the accessibility of links to both the database, GPO Access and the e-journal Issues in Legal Scholarship. The resulting data was then used to evaluate how effective library web sites were in presenting electronic periodicals to users. Conclusions drawn from these observations were used in conjunction with research regarding the information retrieval skills of library users conducted by other authors in order to formulate a suggested set of best practices for law library web site design.