INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF ARTISANS IN NSUKKA METROPOLIS OF ENUGU STATE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page-       –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           i

Approval Page-           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           ii

Certification Page-          –           –           –           –           –           –           iii

Dedication-     –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           iv

Acknowledgement-    –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           v

Table of Contents-            –           –           –           –           –           vi

List of Tables –         –           –           –           –           –           –           vii

Abstracts-               –           –           –           –           –           –           viii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION-      –           –           –           –           –           1

            Background to the Study-      –           –           –           –           –           –           1

            Statement of the Problem-         –           –           –           –           4

            Purpose of the Study- –    –           –           –           –           5

            Research Questions-   –           –           –           –           6

            Hypotheses-    –      –           –           –           –           –           6

            Significance of Study-           –           –           –           –           –           7

            Scope of the Study-    –           –           –           –           –           –           –           8

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW-     –           –           –           –           9

Concept of Information-         –           –           –           –           –           –           9

An overview of artisans-         –           –           –           –           –           –           11

 Information needs and seeking behaviour of artisans-          –           –           12

Problems facing artisans in meeting their information needs-       17

 Strategies for enhancing artisan access to information-       18

             Review of related empirical studies- –             –           –           20

             Summary of the literature review-   –           –           –           23

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS- –           –           –           –           24

            Research Design-          –           –           –           –           24

            Area of the Study –     –            –           –           –           –           24

            Population-      –          –           –           –           –           24

            Sample and Sampling Technique-             –           –           26

            Instrument for Data Collection-         –   –           –           28

            Validation of the instrument- –    –           –           –           28

            Method of Data Collection-   –                –           –           28

            Method of Data Analysis-      –      –           –           –           29

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF DATA-         –           –           –           31

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION-           –           –           45

            Discussion of Findings-     –           –           –           –           45

            Implication of Study- –             –           –           –           –           49

            Recommendations-     –      –           –           –           –           50

            Suggestions for Further Research-      –   –           –           –           51

            Limitations-   –           –           –           –           –           –           52

            Summary –       –           –           –           –           –           –           52

            Conclusion-                –           –           –           –           –           53

REFERENCES-       –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           54

APPENDICES-         –           –           –           –           –           –           –           –           58

LIST OF TABLES

TABLES

• Population of the respondents-             –           –           –           25
  • Sample of the respondents-        –           –           –           –           27
  • The information needs of Artisans-         –           –           –           34
  • Responses of artisans on the extent their information needs are being met-  36
  • Response of artisans on the extent they seek information from the sources- 37
  • Responses of artisans on the problems they encounter-             38
  • Responses of artisans on the strategies that could be adopted-         –           40
  • Educational levels of the artisans-       –           –           –           41
  • Age of the respondents-              –           –           –           –           41
  • Gender of the respondents-    –           –           –           –           41
  • Hypothesis 1   –     –           –           –           –           –           42
  • Hypothesis 2   –           –           –           –           –           –           43

ABSTRACT

The study is on the information needs and information seeking behaviour of artisans in Nsukka metropolis of Enugu state. The specific objectives of the study are to determine the information needs of artisans in Nsukka metropolis,  to find out the extent to which their information seeking behaviour helps in meeting their information needs, to identified the sources used by the artisans in meeting their information needs, to asses the obstacles facing artisans in their search for information, to determine strategies of enhancing their information seeking behaviour for the satisfaction of their information needs and to assess the influence of selected demographic characteristic (gender, age and educational background ) on satisfaction of their information needs.  The survey research design was used while six research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study consists of all registered male and female artisans in Nsukka metropolis and ten percent of the population was sampled. The instrument used for study was a questionnaire titled Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of Artisan’s Questionnaire (INISBAQ). Percentages which was presented in a bar chart was used to analyze the demographic characteristic of the respondents, weighted mean was used to analyzed the data collected from research questions 1-5 while mean and standard deviation was used to analyzed research question 6. A one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the computation of responses with regards to the hypothesis 1 while mean was used for the computation of hypothesis 2. The findings of this study were: that, artisans in Nsukka metropolis of Enugu state have many information needs and have various ways of seeking information and there are many barriers to meeting their information needs. The implications of the study for government, libraries and artisans were discussed. The recommendations based on the findings were that government should provide continuing education programmes for artisans in their various vocations to enable them to perform their duties effectively and artisans should be encouraged by the government to take advantages of distance education programmes and evening classes. There is also need to provide quality and properly trained information agents to assist in identifying information needs of special groups like artisans and providing the required information. Community outreach programmes could be organized by government and other information agencies and public libraries should be proactively involved in the provision of information to artisans.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study.

Information needs of people may vary according to their social group, age, gender, economic status, interest groups and profession but however, every individual, including artisans, needs information for growth and survival. The importance of artisans has been increasingly recognized all over the world. Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1995) defined an artisan as a person who does skilled work with his or her hands”. Also Mooko and Aina 2007, defined artisans as those who perform skilled work with their hands. For the purpose of this study, an artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who works on items that may be functional or decorative. Artisans  refers to persons who are engaged in the such occupations, as  hairdressing / hair barbing, mechanics, refrigerator / air conditioner repairing, masonry, printing, carpentry / furniture making, shoe making, building / construction, electrical work, spraying / painting, fashion designing / tailoring, vulcanizing, book binding, plumbing, panel beating and welding . Some of the characteristic features of artisans arehigh labour intensity, low capital requirements, a degree of skill, and small scale of production, simple technologies, self- employment and the use of local raw materials (Pye, 1998). They have different demographic characteristics such as gender, different marital status, different ages with different social and economic responsibilities and different educational levels. They are equipped mainly with vocational education which may be acquired formally or informally. In most cases, they serve as apprentices before they become perfect in their vocation. Some are in urban areas while others are in rural areas. But all artisans are those who perform skilled work with their hands. Artisans have been an integral part of national development strategies in many societies because of their impact on productivity and economic development. They provide essential goods and services for the society and economy, they engage in income-generating activities to earn a living, there by reducing unemployment and eliminating poverty in order to improve their standard of living and bring about growth in economic development of the nation.

Information is imperative to artisans; they need information for survival, effective discharge of their duties and to develop their businesses. They require specific ideas or needs concerning the type of job they do. They require technical, vocational and business education. 

Information has been defined by Chen and Hernon, (1987) as all knowledge, ideas, facts, and imaginative works of mind which are communicated formally and/or informally in any format. Similarly, Nzotta (1991) sees information as the facts in form of written or unwritten intelligent, communication and knowledge gather from various sources. These scholars consider information to embrace all form of communicated words no matter the form or format. In the context of this study, information is defined as any stimulus that can be communicated to change people’s behaviour, attitude, operation, and perception or that reduces uncertainty either negatively or positively.

Information needs means an imbalance existing between what a person knows and what the person is supposed to know. In other words, there is a gap existing between the present situation and the more desirable situation. According to King (1980), one of mankind’s greatest resources is information, and one of our unique assets is the ability to assimilate and use information”. Utor (1999) concluded that “information is indeed an economic resource which behaves similarly to capital and labour, and that investment in information increase productivity”. Information seeking behaviour on the other hand is mainly concerned with who needs what kind of information for what reasons, how information is found evaluated and used. (Girja,1990).   Wilson defines what he calls information behaviour as those activities a person may engage in when identifying his or her own needs for information, searching for such information and using or transferring that information. Information seeking behaviour is the attitude of individuals when searching for information. The type of information an individual needs at a given point in time depends on the problem he or she wants to address. As a result, the purpose for which the information is needed leads to the source for which such information could be obtained (Utor, 2004). The fundamental aim of the user of information generally is to make decisions on what to do about certain problems. Okwuebina (2006) stated that information is something we need when we want to make a choice. It is therefore not surprising that information is needed for awareness, increased productivity, health, up-dating knowledge etc. The information needs of an individual have to be studied in the context of the information environment, which includes not only the information needs but also the information- seeking behavior, access to information and sources of information used for meeting the information needs.

Information needs and information seeking behaviour can be influenced by certain variable, such as occupation, gender, age and educational level. Laloo (2002) identified the information needs and information-seeking behaviour of various groups such as scientists, social scientists, managers, doctors and university teachers and it was observed that information needs of such groups varies according the above mentioned variables. In another study Adimora(1983) equally identified the information needs of various groups such as hairdressers, rural farmers, customs and excise workers, and caterers in hotels and tourism centres and discovered that their information needs varies according to their occupation. The information needs of artisans can also be affected by gender. Whereas some of the vocations, such as carpentry, vulcanizing, mechanics, hair barbing etc, are dominated by males. Some others such as dress making, hair dressing etc are predominantly females. It can also be affected by age for there is different age groups that make up the group such as younger age, middle age and the older age. The approach of each to information seeking may differ. Artisans’ information seeking behaviour can equally be affected by educational qualifications: many may not have any formal education but rather informal education.  Some attended only primary school and some others secondary school, while some may be dropouts of primary and secondary schools and some have higher education. 

Artisans in Nsukka metropolis of Enugu state are people who struggle with their hands and tools to work. They are located in different parts of Nsukka metropolis of Enugu state. Nsukka metropolis is located within headquarters of Nsukka Local Government Area; Nsukka Local Government Area is situated at the North Western border of the former Eastern region of Nigeria. Nsukka is the home of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. There is high demand for the wide range of goods and services provided by artisans. The artisans are found in the main market, mechanic village, shops and sheds throughout the metropolis. They need information to uplift their standard of living and to upgrade their occupations but these information are not been provided to them at a particular point in time in order to satisfy those needs.

Statement of the Problem                                                                             Information is indispensable in our contemporary world.  Every individual, whether rich or poor, literate or non-literate, urban or rural based, irrespective of gender, has information needs (Afolabi, 2003). Artisans play a vital role in providing essential goods and services for the society and economy. They engage in income-generating activities to earn a living, thereby reducing unemployment and poverty.