Information Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2004

Information seeking behaviour of the Catholic religious in Ibadan, Nigeria

Airenobeuan Edale Adetimirin
E-mail: lawanle@yahoo.com

A study was conducted to gain insight into the Information Seeking Behaviour of the Catholic Religious in Nigeria. A total of 124 individuals from five religious congregations were selected using the stratified random sampling method, and from these, questionnaire was retrieved from ninety-two respondents. Results showed that the information needs of the five congregations differ significantly (p<0.01). Across congregations, the greatest needs were for information on the Catholic church, information technology and school curriculum, in that order. Differences in importance among the various sources of information were significant (p<0.05). Respondents from the various congregations were similar in the sources they use for information. Majority of the respondents use books to satisfy their information needs. However, local libraries are limited in their ability to provide all the books and journals required to meet all the information needs of the Catholic religious in Nigeria due to a devaluation of the local currency. A strengthening of the existing cooperation between the library of the Dominican Institute, the host institution to the Catholic religious studied, and libraries of other religious institutions and universities will serve to complement the resources of the former. Journals rank lower than the Internet and informal sources such as newspapers and magazines, and friends and colleagues. In developing countries like Nigeria, the Internet has great potential as a source of information but that potential is yet to be fully exploited. To exploit this potential, the institute has acquired a VSAT. This should reduce the cost of sourcing and providing current information.