Way Beyond Legal Research: Understanding the Research Process of Legal Scholars

Abstract

How do legal scholars seek, find, and manage information in the course of producing a scholarly article or book? While the topic of legal research has been explored in the literature, few studies have been conducted exploring the research process of legal scholars, and the variety of information work that they do when they produce scholarship. This article organizes and addresses the most important research questions for understanding the research process of legal scholars. The article also addresses practical applications of this work for librarians, including the process of assessing faculty service and collection needs. Finally, it suggests a path for exploring these research questions with an empirical study, using qualitative methods.

Keywords: legal scholars, scholarship, research process