Information seeking behaviour of undergraduate students in the humanities in three universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish the information needs, sources, and the information searching strategies of undergraduate students. The study adopted a descriptive survey method. The study covers 100-400 level undergraduate students in history in the humanities in three universities in the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria. A sample size of 259 was used for the study. Random sampling technique was used in selecting the sampled respondents. The study opted the use of questionnaires, interviews and observation methods. It emerged that the undergraduate students use sources such as textbooks, journals, Internet, and rely heavily on human resources for information. The study also revealed that undergraduate students use search strategies such as starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring and extracting. There is a significant difference between male and female students in the sources they use in obtaining information in the humanities and in their search strategies. Findings will enable library administrators and university management to see the need to integrate information literacy courses into the school curriculum. Also to enable librarians to intensify their efforts to educate students about the information environment rather than simply providing the knowledge of how to use specific tools. 1 Introduction Information seeking behaviour can be described as an individual's manner of gathering and sourcing information for personal use, knowledge updating and development. According to Kakai, Ikoja-Odongo and Kigongo-Bukenya (2004), information seeking behaviour is the way people go about searching for information. They also observed that students' information seeking behaviour involves purposeful information seeking as a result of the need to complete course assignments, prepare for class discussions, seminars, workshops, and write final-year research papers. Taylor (2000) noted that the information sources (e.g. the library) that a user actually needs may not eventually tally with what is practically available, due to constraints either in the stock or the user's own inability. Kakai, Ikoja-Odongo and Kigongo-Bukenya (2004) in their study observed that most students concentrate on using particular materials recommended by either their lecturers or colleagues who have used them before, rather than searching to find the most appropriate document to use. Recently, comparisons have emerged with other academic disciplines. According to Whitmire (2002) undergraduates in the humanities demonstrate a significantly higher use of library facilities than others. They more often use catalogues, turn to librarians for assistance, browse library collections, use reserve collections and journal indexes, etc. Watson-Boone (2004) identified the importance of the professional network of neighboring and distant colleagues in the information seeking behaviour of undergraduate students in the humanities. Wilberley and Jones (2000) asserted that, though undergraduate students in the humanities do turn more frequently to librarians, they do so with some reluctance. Tibbo (2002) in her investigation of the information seeking behaviour of historians states that " we have no idea if they succeeded in finding these materials based on web searches " (p.5). Mann (2003) posited that most researchers, even with computers, find only a fraction of the sources available to them. He explained that undergraduates tend to work within one or another mental framework that limits their basic perception of the universe of knowledge available to them. Students according to him use a subject-disciplinary method that leads them to a specific list of sources on a particular subject. He points out that while this method allows students and researchers to find more specific sources, it is limiting in that they may not realize that work of interest to their own subject appears within the literature of many other disciplines. He also observed that users want 'good enough' sources, not necessarily the best sources available. The evaluation of 'good enough' is based on a number of factors, the most important being