Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of University of Zambia Third Year Development Studies Students.

Abstract

Information is as old as the human being. It is considered to be one of the resources used to enhance development be in education, health, or agriculture. Information is a resource used to make decision. The main aim of the study was to investigate the information needs and information seeking behaviour of University of Zambia third year Development Studies Students. The study was guided by specific objectives which include; students’ information needs, student’s information seeking behaviour, major sources of information and challenges students, encounter when seeking information. The research used a case study design. The research used both quantitative and qualitative research designs. In this study the target population comprised of Development Studies undergraduate students who are in their third year of study. A total of 51 third year Development Studies students that were sampled for the study. A multi-stage sampling procedure combining purposive and simple random sampling methods was employed to select the sample. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and the data which was collected using a questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

The findings have shown that that most students at the University are aware of the books as a major sources of information. And the information services students consult in their academics, results show that the majority of responses consult Books for their studies, reading and research and the majority of the students are knowledgeable in locating and retrieving information for studying, reading and research. On information seeking behaviour, students visit the library, results showed that the majority of the respondents visit the library 1-2 times a week and the format of information they prefer when they go to the library and the results showed that majority of students prefers print (book) format when they visit the library. Further, the students are unable to identify the information facilities, the only sources the majority of respondents identified were books, and internet and reading spaces of which most of them complained was inadequately provided. This shows that students face a number of challenges in the in seeking for information. Therefore, management should purchase more new library materials for reading, studying and researching and the government and UNZA management should fund the library adequately so that it can be able to purchase more reading materials and to employ more librarians who would assist the users of the library to search for information.