Information seeking behaviour of faculty: The case of the College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

The article sought to find the information seeking behaviour of faculty members of the College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. The sur-vey method was employed. Questionnaire instrument was used to collect data on method of se-lecting information, type of information sought, purpose for seeking information, types of tools used and problems involved in seeking information. Seventy out of 110 responded. A little over half of the respondents sought information through reviewing articles; close to the same propor-tion consulted the Internet; about four out of five of the respondents sought information for do-ing research work; and over three out of five sought information for preparing lecture notes. Majority of the respondents consulted textbooks for information while half consulted periodi-cals; and almost all the respondents used Google search engine to access information on the Internet. Sciencedirect and Ebscohost were the most used online journals. The commonest prob-lems faced by respondents were unavailability of information, abstract instead of full-text docu-ments and very old textbooks in the library. Involvement of faculty members in the selection of textbooks and purchase of full-text documents by the library on behalf of faculty members among others were recommended to address these problems. INTRODUCTION Information resources abound in this era of knowledge explosion in both print and elec-tronic formats. The World Wide Web presents more options to information seekers and even affects the information seeking behaviour of researchers and faculty members. Three main factors are involved in information seeking. Patitungkho and Deshpade (2005) explain that information seeking behaviour involves per-sonal reason for seeking information, the kinds of information sought for and the ways and resources with which the needed information is being sought.