Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
This study assessed the information seeking behaviour of academic staff in the college of education, Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of this study is 249 (Two hundred and Forty-Nine) full-time academic staff working in the college of education, Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria. A total of 249 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the respondents and 228 (92%) copies were returned and found sufficient enough for the study. The data collected via the questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency count and percentage). The findings revealed that the preferred sources of information by the academics are books, journals, internet sources, electronic resources, colleagues and friends, reference materials, among others. The finding also revealed that academics need information on research, career advancement, teaching, personal self-development, condition of service/ promotion criteria, among others. It was revealed from the findings that the academics demand for the information they require by consulting books, journals, internet/ online webpages, electronic resources, interacting with colleagues and friends, and demand for information using less of associational meetings, index/ abstracts, bibliographies, and government documents/ websites. The respondents indicated that they use information for getting materials for research purposes, materials for teaching purposes, to advance their academic career, to understand the condition of service/ promotion criteria, among others. It was revealed from the findings that the challenges that militate against the access and use of information by the academic staff are too many outdated library materials, issues with ascertaining trustworthiness of information sources, information explosion, erratic power supply, poor information evaluation/ searching skill, no adequate assistance from information professionals, among others. It was recommended that library management should acquire more recent books, journals, and electronic information resources since they remain the preferred information source of the academics, and training should be undertaken for the academics in the college of education to enable them to ascertain with ease if an information source is trustworthy or not.