Teaching Library and Legal Research Skills to First-Year Law Students: The Role of Library Tours and Exercises

This chapter presents a model of library orientation for incoming undergraduate law students, using the Taylor Library at the University of Aberdeen as our example. The School of Law and the Library work together to ensure a smooth transition for students into undergraduate studies. We discuss the role of the library tours, library exercises, and quizzes in legal education focusing on the collaboration between the departments involved, the overall student response, and the contribution of library staff. Our analysis relies on a library survey supplemented with observations, feedback, and interviews and comprises data from the academic year 2015–16. Findings of the study suggest that students benefited from the activities of the orientation period, and our evidence shows that, partly due to the exercise, more students became regular library users.