Analytical Study of Information Need and Seeking Behaviour of Agricultural Researchers in Nigeria

Author(s): Janet Oluwakemi Oyeniyi

Information is an essential and integral part of all human endeavours. Research endeavour is primarily built on seeking information with which researchers arrive at findings and their conclusions. The output of any research is an outcome of the quality and quantity of information that researchers could obtain. In spite of the Nigerian government funding of agricultural research, the output from the effort has not been significant. Therefore the study investigated the information seeking behaviour of agricultural researchers in Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to (i) identify information providers used by agricultural researchers in seeking information (ii) investigate how often researchers access information sources (iii) ascertain the researchers opinions on purposes of visiting the library (iv) investigate most preferred source for up-to-date information by agricultural researchers and (v) determine the most preferred collection for accessing information.Questionnaire was used to collect information from a carefully selected 450 researchers from agricultural research institution that are under (ARCN). The finding of the study revealed that information providers used mainly by agricultural researchers are internet, colleague’s collections and the library while printed journals are frequently accessed information source. Majority visit the library just to access reference materials while the most preferred sources for up-to-date information is attending conferences, lectures and seminars. Therefore the study concluded that when seeking information, majority of agricultural researchers in Nigeria prefers internet to library collection which in most cases are obsolete, although the two are still the major information providers in many of the research institution.

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