Career Counseling Service: A Tool For Sustainable Career Choice for Library and Information Science Students in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

This paper explored the need for career counselling service as a tool for sustainable career choice for library and information science  students in universities in Nigeria, for the fact that many young adults in Nigeria are unemployed and others unemployable, traceable to  a number of factors and lack of career counselling service has been identified as a major cause for this unfortunate situation of young adults in Nigeria with all the repercussions. The paper made a clarification of basic concepts including: career choice, counselling service,  library and information science students, it further discussed the need for career counselling service for the library and information  science students in Nigeria and highlighted a number of reasons such as: to create awareness for the students to know specific abilities,  skills and other personal considerations necessary for various occupations in the labour market, career counseling could help students  identify problems and prospects of different career paths thus the learners could make informed career choice thereby avoid the risk of  change of career path later in life, career counselling could also assist students choose fields that are in tune with their skills and job  expectations. In spite of all these, hurdles to career choice were identified and extensively dwell upon, related issues such as: societal  attitude towards certain occupations, parental due pressure on their children, peer group influence toward career choice by students  were traced down as hurdles to informed career choice for young adults in Nigeria. The paper made cogent recommendations and  concluded that if these recommendations are adhered to by the government, management of universities, counselling units of universities, educators and students, the issue of career counselling and career choice for library and information science students in  universities in Nigeria would be managed to a great extent and the students will graduate and find jobs that match their characteristics  and then the issue of joblessness will be a thing of the past in Nigeria.