Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
9-2019
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of information availability and use on the Economic Integration (EI) of small scale business owners, and the roles of libraries. This was achieved with the aid of five research questions and four null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the embedded type of the mixed research design. The quantitative component employed a survey research of the correlational type for research questions one to four and the research hypotheses. This was complemented or supported by a qualitative component that addresses research question five. . The target population for the study comprised of sixty-two (62) small scale business owners in University of Ibadan community. Total enumeration was adopted as the sampling technique due to the manageable population. The closed-ended questionnaire was used to elicit data for the quantitative component of the study while structured interview elicited data for the qualitative component. Data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (correlation, multiple regression and ANOVA).The study found that small scale business owners in University of Ibadan community had high level of economic integration, information was highly available to them and their level of information use was high. Also, information availability and use, individually and jointly influenced economic integration. The authors concluded that how economically integrated small scale business owners will be, is determined by how much information they utilize. Recommendations were made on how libraries could foster EI in line with the study.