SELF
EFFICACY AND INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS
OF SELECT UNIVERSITIES IN OGUN STATE
ABSTRACT
The research appraises the self efficacy and information seeking behavior of
students of selected Universities in Ogun State. it elucidate self efficacy and
the concept of information and investigate the nature of self efficacy and
information seeking behavior of students of selected Universities in Ogun State.
INTRODUCTION
Information
is an important tool used in the realization of any objective or goal of the
library.
Information is an important factor in any library because they are needed by
users. Every library user needs information of increasing variety and diversity
of levels, frequencies, volumes and with ease. Therefore, information need
stems from a vague awareness of something missing and as culminating in
locating information that contributes to understanding and meaning Library patrons
seek information because they need information resources to survive in all
sectors of life (Ajiboye and Tella, 2007, Fiankor and Adams, 2004, Fatima and
Ahmad (2008)).
The
information need (or need for information) is a factual situation in which,
there exists an inseparable interconnection with “information” and “need”, information
needs can therefore be said to be the amount of positive information an
individual or group of users need to have for their work, recreation and many
other like satisfaction. Thus, information need arise wherever individuals find
themselves in a situation requiring knowledge to deal with the situation as
they see fit. In other words, lack of information needed to accomplish a task
results in information need which several authors have variously described and
explained ((Singh and Satija, 2006; Fiankor and Adams, 2004;
Adeniyi,
2007).
Information
needs are diverse and constantly changing and not amenable to generalization.
Information
needs can be social, economical, political, cultural or educational
CHAPTER 1
1.1
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Information
seeking behaviour is a broad term, which involves a set of actions that
an
individual, such as undergraduates, takes to express information needs, seek
information,evaluate and select information and finally uses this information
to satisfy his/her information needs (Fatima and Ahmad, 2008). It is therefore
described as an individual’s way and manner of gathering and obtaining
information for personal use, knowledge, updating and development. In other
words, information seeking behaviour involves active or purposeful information
as a result of the need to complete course assignment, prepare for class
discussions, seminars, workshops, conferences, or write final year research
paper. Though, Singh and Satija (2006) see information seeking behavior as a
human process that requires adaptive and reflective control over the afferent
and efferent actions of the information seeker in which information seeking
behaviour results from the recognition of some needs, perceived by the user,
who as a consequence makes demand upon a
formal
system such as libraries and information centres or some other person in order
to satisfy the perceived information need. Thus, they pointed out that
information seeking behaviour essentially refers to locate discrete knowledge elements
concerned with the three basic resources namely, people, information and
system.
Information
seeking behaviour is an area of dynamic interest among librarians, information scientist,
communication scientists, sociologist, and psychologists. Information seeking
behaviour is expressed in various forms, from reading printed material to
research and experimentation (Bhatti, 2010). Information users make active and
intentional attempts to seek up to date information from the library resources,
including, electronic sources. It is worthy to also note that the advent of information
technology has revolutionized the field of library and information services and
has brought about considerable changes in the information seeking behaviour of
users.
Though there
seems to exist many reasons and sources of information to the information user,
the university library occupies a central position in the information seeking
process of undergraduate students in Nigerian universities.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problem confronting this research
is to appraise the self efficacy and
information seeking behavior of students of selected universities in Nigeria
1.3 RESEARCH
QUESTION
1
What is self efficacy and nature of information of students?
2
What is the information seeking
behavior of students?
3 What is the self efficacy and information
seeking behavior of students of selected universities in Ogun State?
1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
1
To determine the significance of information to university students
2
To appraise the self efficacy
and information seeking behavior of students of selected Universities In Ogun State.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
1. The study shall provide an analysis of
the self efficacy and information seeking behavior of students of selected Universities
in Ogun State
2. It
shall provide a reference source of information for students and the public.
1.6 STATEMENT OF
HYPOTHESIS
1
H0 Information is not significant to University
Students In Ogun State
H1 Information is significant to University
Students In Ogun State
2
H0 The level of information available to University
Student In Ogun State is low
H1 The level of information available to University
Student In Ogun State is high
3 H0 The self
efficacy and information seeking behavior of selected University Students In Ogun State is low
Hi The self efficacy and information seeking behavior of selected University Students
In Ogun State is high
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is focused on the self
efficacy and information seeking behavior of students of selected Universities
In Ogun State
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
INFORMATION
SEEKING BEHAVIOUR DEFINED
Information
seeking behaviour is a broad term, which involves a set of actions that an individual,
such as undergraduates, takes to express information needs, seek information,
evaluate and select information and finally uses this information to satisfy
his/her information needs (Fatima and Ahmad, 2008).
1.5
.