C-V and I-V measurements combined with pulse application were employed to study the electrical characteristics of lithium niobate thin film samples. Though the C-V measurements showed some classical features, a lithium drifted n-i-p junction model was postulated to explain the low nominal dielectric constant in C-V characteristics. The I-V characteristics were analyzed and the field dependence was determined to be Frenkel-Poole emission at low field and possibly Fowler-Nordheim at high field. A four-pulse dual-polarity pulse train was then used to study the switching kinetics of these thin films. The resulting transient current was captured and unstable switching was found in some samples. The polarization reversal was found to be dominated by forward domain growth with virtually no sideways motion. Finally, some important time constants such as nucleation time and domain wall growth time were determined and analyzed.