Information needs of law students in Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the issues in information needs of law students in Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research method was used for this study. The population for the study is one thousand and twenty-nine (1,029) students with a sample size of one hundred and five (105) respondents. The data collection instrument used was the questionnaire. The findings revealed that the major information needs of law students are information on academics, information on legal issues, information on innovative ideas/exploratory knowledge, information on current research as well as information on personal growth and development. Based on these findings, conclusion was drawn; suggestions and recommendations were also given that as future lawyers, law students need information to excel in their legal profession. The study recommends that adequate information resources should be provided to law students and they should be adequately educated and trained on how to effectively seek and use them to satisfy their information needs. IntroductionOvertime, the information field has developed a deep understanding of the concepts of information need and its role in information seeking and use. The view that information needs motivates information behaviour, is an embedded assumption of the user-oriented paradigm which focuses upon what people think, do and feel when they seek information (Wilson, 2007). Dervin (2009) stated that an information need is an independent preventing an individual from moving forward in cognitive time and space. She went further to state that the person is faced with a gap that must be bridged by asking questions, creating ideas and/or obtaining resources. Such gaps do not occur in the abstract but arise out of a particular critical events and situations.Information needs could be seen as individual or group desire to locate and obtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need.

Library resources constraints, frustration, and user behavior: An empirical library operations study

“…The frustration‐aggression theory well captures this effect. The reasoning behind this theory is that frustration in library settings is likely to birth unacceptable user behaviors such as pilfering or theft, mutilation, defacing of library material, hiding books in between shelves, keeping books beyond due dates, making noise, and loitering in library premises (Arinola et al., 2014 ; Isebe, 2014 ).…”

“…Antisocial behaviors are common in libraries, and they include pilfering or theft, mutilation, defacing of library material, hiding books in between shelves, keeping books beyond due dates, chewing, eating, and drinking, noise-making, littering, and loitering in library premises (Udoudoh 2012, Perez et al, 2009. Evidence in extant literature shows that the issue of book theft, hiding books within shelves, and mutilation is rampant (Isebe, 2014). These antisocial behaviors have been mainly associated with financial constraints.…”

Constraints Facing African Academic Libraries in Applying Electronic Security Systems to Protect Library Materials

“…For academic libraries to flawlessly deliver effective information services that meet up with the current challenges, there is a need of adopting and integrating new modern ways of protecting library materials. Nweke (2019) and Isebe (2014) hold that library materials theft and mutilation is a "Library Epidemic" desolating every academic library globally. The perseverance of the theft and mutilation of the library collection problem has impelled librarians to plan strategies to snatch the problem so as to remain with the current collections to meet their users' needs.…”