Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Spring 5-21-2022
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The study examined Covid-19 information needs and seeking behaviour of undergraduates of Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified Covid-19 information needs, Covid-19 information sources, strategies of seeking Covid-19 information and Covid-19 information seeking challenges encountered by the undergraduates. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the undergraduates of Federal University Otuoke who were in 300, 400 and 500 levels of study. Convenience sampling was adopted and three hundred and sixty-nine (369) undergraduates, consisting of 76, 73, 74, 71 and 75 undergraduates, each constituent drawn from the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Management Sciences, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering respectively were involved in the study. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by two experts in the Department of Library and Information Science in Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State. The researcher distributed three hundred and ninety-three copies of the draft of the validated questionnaire to students who visited the university library. Out of the three hundred and ninety-three questionnaires distributed, 369 questionnaires were properly filled in and found usable for data analysis. This produced a response rate of 93.89 %. The data collected was analyzed using weighted mean and standard deviation. The results from data analysis revealed that information on causes/treatments of the disease and on methods of its transmission was needed. It also revealed that friends, course mates, relations, neighbours, health care workers, library, mass media, books, journals, association meetings, internet/websites and social media were the sources of Covid-19 information used. It further indicated that the strategies for seeking Covid-19 information adopted were starting, browsing, monitoring and extracting. Finally, it was revealed that poor telecommunications network, lack of funds to purchase resources and subscribe to data, library closures and poor power supply were the challenges in seeking Covid-19 information encountered by the undergraduates. The study recommended that the government should take measures to improve telecommunications networks in Nigeria; universities’ management should make available free Wi-Fi to enable students seek their information needs and Nigerian university libraries should digitize their information resources so that undergraduates can access their health-related information needs without having to visit the physical library.