Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of the Postgraduate Students at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja

Abstract

The study investigated the information needs, and the information seeking behaviour of NILDS postgraduate students, the sources consulted, barriers, as well as ways to improve their information seeking experiences. The study adopted a descriptive survey method. The target population was all the postgraduate students of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and random sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents. The study opted the use of questionnaires and data was analysed using frequency tables and percentage. The major findings of the study are: the postgraduate students’ information needs are various but the highest information need is for academic purposes. The students use sources such as textbooks, journals, Internet, and rely heavily on human resources for information. The studies also found that the students encounter a lot of challenges in meeting their information need but ranking highest is the lack of space in the library and not understanding the library’s shelf arrangement/classification scheme. On the strategies to enhance their information seeking experience, the students said there is the need to increase the copies of important books, need for library orientation for fresh students, and increase borrowers’ privileges among others.