satisfying readers' information needs in a...

Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1988,35(4),149-155

SATISFYING READERS' INFORMATION NEEDSIN A NIGERIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE

A ttempts to examine the information require-ments of the users of the Library of the RubberResearch Institute of Nigeria and also to deter-mine whether they are being met or not. Rele-vant suggestions are made.

INTRODUCTION

Special libraries have long recognised their rolesas information disseminators in their effort tofacilitate scientific and technological develop-ment. The task of the special library is to select,evaluate, organize and disseminate specialized in-formation as soon as they are available.

Special libraries in Nigeria should be able todevelop effective information dissemination me-chanism that are best suited to the needs of theirclienteles. Are the human and material resourcesavailable in Nigerian special (research) librariesadequate to meet the needs of their clienteles?To what extent are the services rendered by eachof the libraries geared towards the general andpeculiar needs of research workers? It is hopedthat this study will provide answers to these andsome other questions.

The library under investigation is concernedwith one aspect of agriculture i.e. production ofrubber crops. Rubber Research Institute of Ni-geria was established in 1961 by the former Wes-tern Regional Government as part of the Minis-try of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Thepromulgation of decree No. 25 of 1971 broughtthe Institute under the control of the FederalGovernment.

The present station at Akwete, near Aba,was taken over and merged with that in Benin toform the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeriawith the headquarters at Iyanamo , near Benin-City. The Library aims at helping the Instituteto realise its objectives which are to conductresearch relating to the production and product

Vol 35 No 4 December 1988

E ADECHE APEJIDepartment of Library ScienceUniversity of MaiduguriMaiduguri, NIGERIA

0: rubber and other latex producing plants ofeconomic importance and, in particular, under-take research on:

(a) the improvement of the genetic poten-tials of rubber;

(b) the improvement of agronomic and hus-bandry practices relating to rubber;

(c) the mechanization and improvement ofthe methods of cultivating, harvesting,processing and storage of rubber;

(d) the improvement of the utilization ofby-producs;

(e) the ecology, and pests and diseases ofrubber and improved methods of theircontrol; and

(f) the integration of the cultivation of rub-ber into farming systems in differentecological zones and its socioeconomiceffects on the rural population [1]. Howfar the Library has helped in achievingthese objectives shall be seen presently.

RELATED STUDIES

An identifying feature of special library servicesis that the librarian is fully involved in the seek-ing and organizing of information for specificpurposes. The special library is obliged to pro-duce information which may not even be pub-lished and that can be discovered only by know-ing how and where to direct inquiry. Require-ments may even be anticipated and informationprovided before a specific request is made...•.

Non-Conventional literature forms a substan-tial part of the literature from the scientific fieldand constitutes a vital primary means of commu-

149

nication. Posnett and Baulkwill (1982) definednon-conventional literature as:

that part of the literature which wouldpresent a non-special library, as opposedto a special library with more than aver-age difficulty in its acquisition [2] .

Such a difficulty is due to the fact that the lite-rature is not distributed through conventionalcommercial channels. To acquire such literatureone must have a knowledge of the subject mat-ter, the institutions and persons involved in theproduction and distribution; yet, non-conven-tional literature is significantly notorious forits inaccessibility even in the country of origin,not frequently traced by documentation ser-vices, having a comparatively high speed of pro-duction, and it gets quickly obsolete and is bul-ky. For a Nigerian special library, these are se-rious problems. However, research reports assistin providing answers for inquiries. In some cases,an answer is available from the non-report litera-ture but by including report literature, a betteranswer may be given while in other cases theanswer exists only in report literature as Slaterand Fisher (1969) have shown[3].

Researchers are usually busy and to satisfytheir information needs, special informationdissemination techniques such as providing atitles-only current awareness bulletin must bedevised. Blick and Magrill (1975) have demons-trated the usefulness of such a technique atBeecham Research laboratory in the UnitedKingdom[4] . or the 958 references, 721 items(75.3%) were of interest to at least one resear-cher; 45% of the items were seen as importantand 9% as vital. Without the provision of the bu-lletin, it was discovered that 59% of the 'vital'items and 50% of the 'important' items wouldhave escaped the notice of the customers while35% of the 'vital' items and 15% of the 'impor-tant' items would have reached them too late.

Researchers' information needs may be bestsatisfied when the special library is able to carryout the following objectives:

(a) development of the collection of books,periodicals and other publications;

(b) maintenance of special subject referen-ces, files and indexes;

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(c) dissemination of currently published in-formation by means of personal notifica-tions, preparation and distribution of li-brary bulletins, and provision of specialservice publications;

(d) circulation of books and routing of pe-riodicals;

(e) filing and indexing of internal reports,technical correspondence;

(f) maintenance of reference service;

(g) compilation of bibliographies and organi-zation of reports;

(h) editorial assistance with publications;

(i) translation of foreign language publica-tions; and

(j) personalized service of various types [5].

The assessment of the value, usefulness andacceptability of selective dissemi~tion of infor-mation (SOl) service by the user must, of nece-ssity, be subjective but these judgements willbe supplemented by more objective measure-ments such as the rate of withdrawal from theservice, the number of notified documentswhich the user sought to obtain, and what pro-portion of papers found most useful were noti-fied in the SOL Language barrier is recognisedas an obstacle to the transfer of knowledge andto the dissemination of documentary informa-tion. It is doubtful whether special libraries inNigeria such as the one under focus can affordfull-time translators. The use of clearinghousessuch as International Translation Centre inDelft, Netherlands have been suggested [6] .Poor communication systems that exist in Nige-ria might frustrate the use of such translationcentres.

METHODOLOGY

The library of the Rubber Research Instituteof Nigeria is open to all members of staff ofthe Institute. Any other person may use thelibrary subject to the approval of the librarian.

>#' In this study, the clientele of the library re-fers only to research workers in the institute.One set of questionnaires was designed for

Ann Lib Sci Docu

INFORMATION NEEDS IN RESEARCH INSTITUTE

the librarian and another set for the research- TABLE 1ers. This was administered on all the 20resear- Impression about Library Collection.chers in the Institute with 100% response.

RESULTS

All the 20 respondents are primarily busy inconducting research on rubber development.They include studies in rubber diseases, treecrop agronomy, pathological problems ofrubber, rubber nutrition, etc. As researchers,they need immediate access to vital informa-tion related to their projects. Locational fac-tor is a strong determinant of library patro-nage? That the library is centrally located andeasily accessible is not in doubt. 13 of the 20respondents (65%) feel that the library is 'near';while seven respondents (35%) feel it is 'near'enough. No one seems to complain about thelocation of the library.

The library opens from 8.00 a.m. to3.30 p.m. on week days. The number of hoursa library functions affect the frequency of li-brary use. All respondents claim to use the li-brary - an indication of the usefulness of thelibrary to all the respondents. 3(15%) of therespondents use the library occasionally, 8(40%)use it once in a week and 5(25%) use it daily.

19 respondents use the library for referencework, 11 to consult books and journals and 14for some c.ther reasons. The library has about6,000 books and reference materials which arenot adequate for an important research insti-tute, moreover, most of the materials are oldand outdated. The periodicals available aregrossly inadequate. The poor budgetary allo-cation to the library does not allow for subs-cription to current periodicals and because ofthis, most researchers are forced to patroniseUniversity of Benin libraries. No researcheras shown in Table I considers the library collec-tion excellent or adequate or even fair - no oneis satisfied even minimally. A comparison ofTables 1 and 2 shows total dissatisfaction aboutthe entire collection. Only one respondent inTable 2 is satisfied with the available books.The library certainly does not have facilities forcurrent awareness services. Materials are in shortsupply and there is no staff to compile even con-tent lists. Because journals are acquired in singleor double copies each, they are never sent to in-dividuals but displayed and may be given out


Impression Number ofUsers

Excellent

Fair

Inadequate 12

Poor 8

Total 20

TABLE 2

Percentage

60%

40%

100%

Types of Collection and Satisfaction of Users

Type ofCollection

Number ofUsers notsatisfied

Referencebooks 18

Bibliogra-phies 6

Abstracts &indexes 20

Journals 20

Textbooks 19

Researchreports 20

Currentawarenessmaterials 15

Percentage

90%

30%

100%

100%

95%

100%

75%

Surprisingly, only 6 respondents are dis-satisfied with the available bibliographieseven though they are very few,

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only on specific requests. The library has no in-dexers and abstractors neither does it have re-prographic and telephone facilities.

CONCLUSION

Our aim in this preliminary investigation is toevaluate the involvement of special libraries inNigeria in satisfying researchers' informationneeds by using the Rubber Research Institute asa sample. We assumed that most special librariesin Nigeria have not developed effective informa-tion dissemination mechanism that is best suitedto the needs of their users.

We discovered that the library does not havethe necessary staff and equipment to give basicSDI services. It is questionable for any speciallibrary to claim to aid researchers in their in-vestigations without knowing their areas of inte-rest. The library does not have subject and userprofiles which are basic to SDI. The collectionsare weak and inadequate while the abstractingand indexing services are hardly current. Ade-quate efforts need to be made to subscribe tocurrent journals and bibliographies. Reviews and

TABLE 3

Awareness Services provided to Users

Services Number of Users

Abstracts 6

Indexes

Bibliographic citations

Copies of the first pages ofarticles

Content list of periodicals

Unpublished documents

Publishers/booksellers lists

4

1

Review journals/reviews 3

New periodicals 9

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publishers lists, when available, should be givenpromptly to interested users while content listsshould be compiled constantly and made avail-able. There is no justification for the non-avail-bility of reprographic and telephone facilitieswithout which quick information transfer isdifficult.

There is the need to engage the services ofskilled manpower that can aid library users inthe complex process of information search. Theprocessing, packaging and delivery of informa-tion should be the pre-occupation of the libraryso as to satisfy the ever growing and sophistica-ted needs of incessantly inquisitive researchers.This is why, the library needs sophisticated in-formation services. It should however be notedthat the institutional framework of services arenot as important as the actual delivery of highquality services.

It is probably time, special libraries in Ni-geria started subscribing to the concept of com-puterized information packaging and control.The E. Latunde Odeku Memorial Library of theUniversity College Hospital, Ibadan came up re-cently with acomputer-generated bibliographycovering three decades of medical research [81.This should be an eye-opener to other speciallibraries in Nigeria.

Even though, this study is not definitive anda single library may not be regarded as a fairrepresentative sample of existing special librariesin Nigeria, we ate convinced that by mere extra-polation, we can picture the situation in similarlibraries.

REFERENCES

1. Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria: RRIN inbrief. Benin-Clty, Rubber Research Institute of Ni-geria, 1983 p. 2-3.

2. Posnett N W, Baulkwill J W: Working with non-conventional literature. Journal of Information Sci-ence 1982, 5(4), 122.

3. Slater M, Fisher P: Use made of technical libraries.London, Aslib Occasional Publication No.2, 1969,pp.41-51.

4. Blick A R, Magrill S: Value of a weekly in-housecurrent awareness bulletin serving pharmaceutical

Ann Lib Sci Docu


research scientists. Information Scientist. 1975, 7. If yes, what type? .9(1), 19·28.

5. Strauss Lucille J etc: Scientific and technical libra-ries: their organization and administration. NewYork, John Wiley, 1964.

6. Van Bergeijk D: Overcoming the language barrier ininformation transfer: the role of the InternationalTranslation Centre. Unesco Journal of InformationScience, Librarianship and Archives Administration1981,3(3),173-177.

7. Apeji EAD: Impact of Bendel State Library Serviceon Ak oko - Edo Community. (Unpublished MLSthesis, University of Ibadan, 1982) pp. 58-96.

8. De Cola Freya: Three decades of medical research:a computer-generated bibliography. (UnpublishedSeminar Paper, university of Ibadan, February1984).

APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR USERS OF THELIBRARY(INSTRUCTION) :

Tick the appropriate answer in the space pro-vided or fill in the blank with appropriate ans-wers.

BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

1. Name: Dr/Mr/Mrs/Miss .

2. Age:

3. Division/Section: .•....................

4. Qualifications acquired _ .

5. Post: .

6. Are you engaged in any form of research?

Yes

No


LIBRARY USE

8. Are you aware of the existence of libraryfacilities in this Institute?

Yes

No

9. If yes, is the location ?f the library

(a) Near

(b) Near enough

(c) Far

(d) Too far

10. How convenient is the library's openinghours?

(a) Very convenient

(b) Fairly convenient

(c) Not convenient

11. If not convenient what other time wouldyou like to see the library open? .

12. How regularly do you use the library?

(a) Daily

(b) Once a week

(c) More than once a week

(d) Occassionally

(e) Not at all

13. If you do not use the library at all why? ....

14. Why do yo u visit the library?

(a) To read in quiet for an examination

(b) To consult books

(c) To use the reference materials

(d) To read newspapers

(e) To write reports/papers

(f) Other~ (Please specify) .

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18. How useful is the librarian and his staff infinding answer to your enquiries?

(a) Always useful

(b) Sometimes useful

(c) Never useful

19. What do you think about the arrangement ofLIBRARY RESOURCES the library resources?

15. Do you consider the library collection on (a) Very goodyour area of interest.

(a) Excellent

(b) Adequate

(c) Fair

(d) Inadeq uate

(e) Poor

16. Which area(s) of the collection do you consi-der inadeq uate?

(a) Reference books

(b) Bibliographies

(c) Abstracts and Indexes

(d) Journals

(e) Textbooks

(f) Research reports

(g) Current awareness journals

17. How often have you been disappointed innot finding the material you want or the co-rrect solution to your problems?

(a) Always useful

(b) Occassionally

(c) Almost always

(d) Never

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(b) Good

(c) Fair

(d) Poor

20. Is the reading space adequate?

Yes

No

SERVICES TO CLIENTELE

21. How do you find out if there are materialsthat would be useful for your research.

(a) Ask the librarian/library staff

(b) Ask colleagues

(c) Consult bibliographic tools

(d) The librarian draws my attention to it

22. Does the librarian know your areas of in-terest?

Yes

No

23. Which of these current awareness services areyou provided by the library?

(a) Abstracts

(b) Indexes

(c) Bibliographic citations

Ann Lib Sci Docu


(d) Copies of the first pages of articles

(e) Content list of periodicals

(f) Unpublished documents

(g) Publishers/Booksellers lists

(h) Review journalszreviews

(i) Periodicals (new)

24. Do you normally receive a copy of any ma-terial of which you have been notified bythe librarian?

Yes

No

Vnl ':IF;Nn 4 J)P.('f>mber 1988

25. If yes, how long do you usually wait beforeyou get the material?

(a) Less than one week

(b) One week

(c) Two weeks

(d) Three weeks

(e) One month

(f) More than one month

26. Suggest ways of improving the library's in-formation services to research workers:- ....

...................................

...................................

15!)

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