ATTITUDES OF UNDERGRADUATES TOWARDS A CAREER IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

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ATTITUDES OF UNDERGRADUATES TOWARDS A CAREER IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The choice of a career is a herculean task faced by many people and if this choice is not carefully made, can either make or mar the future of an individual because there are many career paths to choose from. The choice of a career can therefore be influenced by various factors ranging from internal to external such as ignorance, gender, interest, parental/relative influence, advice from friends, school’s influence(peer and curricular content), religion, child’s upbringing, teacher’s counsel, family values, prestige and societal perception accorded a particular profession, employability; an individual’s characteristics, environment, salary, etc.

Interestingly, some individuals are attracted to career because of the mode of dressing of the individuals in that profession e.g. lawyers, physicians, accountants, pilots, and engineers etc. Library and Information Science (LIS) is perhaps one of the disciplines that undergraduates may not have chosen as a career path because it is perceived as an ‘unprofessional’ discipline (Isaa, 2008). Information science and librarianship as a discipline concerned with the effective transfer of desired information from human generator to human user. Based on the services rendered by librarians to patrons and the place of librarianship in the country of professions. Ajibero (1993) argued with evidences, confidence and vigour that librarianship is the mother of all professions, custodian of culture and promoter of scholarship as it (librarianship) provides for existence, growth and survival of all other profession. Ajibero (1993) in a strong term stressed that librarianship is one of the oldest and still the greatest of all human professions as the practitioners (librarians) are pre-occupied with searching for data and information on behalf of others and it is from these data and information that other professions derive their surviving nutrients and strength. Many people or Nigerians are ignorant of what library and information science is all about or whom a librarian is, his duties, required qualification and status and this lack of awareness or ignorance has continuously given librarianship or the field of library and information science a bad image. Reviewing past relevant literatures on image of librarian and librarianship, and the damage that had been done to the profession through wrong perceptions due to ignorance, Ajidahun (2004) quoting Agasa (1997) called for an outright redefinition of the role of the librarians. Until this is done, it was predicted, the false societal perception of image will continue to pursue library and information science profession.

An individual is adjudged a professional because he/she has knowledge and skills in a particular discipline and to which the “commoner” or the unprofessional seek this knowledge. Librarians are professionals due to their knowledge and ability to bring order to a world of “information chaos”. Technological advancement has therefore given the profession a lift such that a librarian is no longer confined only to the “four walls” of a library and neither has the place of the librarian been eroded by the internet. Rather this technological platform enhances a librarian’s information role, such that the librarian of today doubles as a programmer, webmaster, digital curator, electronic librarian, internet searcher, database manager, etc. (Igbinosa, 2007).

In Nigeria, the National Universities Commission which is the regulatory body for higher education in Nigeria is perhaps contributing to the sudden recognition and societal acceptance of LIS in Nigeria. This might have been caused by the proliferation of institutions of higher learning and as part of its accreditation policy, that institutions must have well-equipped libraries as well as professional librarians to support the teaching, learning and research activities in these institutions. Furthermore, other factors that may dictate a career path for today’s youth in US are Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) result; predetermined cut-off point in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exanimation (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Post-UTME conducted by the chosen universities (Oguagbemi, 2012).

The choice of a career path in L1S may therefore not have stemmed from a natural interest of today’s youth owing to it not being perceived as one of the conventional “professional disciplines’’ hence most undergraduates find themselves by accident rather than by design in the profession. Most undergraduates will rather choose professional disciplines like Law, Medicine, Pharmacy. Accounting, Engineering, etc. and then have a rethink of change of course when they do not meet up to the required demands for admission (Olarenwaju, 2012).

As a result of the foregoing one then begins to wonder if LIS schools in Nigerian universities are “dumping grounds” for less academically intelligent undergraduates with less impressive academic entry profile? It is pertinent therefore to state that undergraduates in US departments are also admitted based on specified admission criteria used for their counterparts in the “professional” disciplines. They have to meet up with predetermined cut-off marks. All these and the subjects taken at secondary school constitute the entry profile of students, An undergraduates entry profile into LIS is not restrictive rather it is a combination of different subjects hence the richness of the profession (Okoro, 2009).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

It is assumed by the general populace that undergraduates in LIS are not as highly-rated academically as their counterparts in other professions hence this gives the picture of US departments as a “dumping ground” so to say. Furthermore, several studies in Nigeria have been conducted in relation to undergraduates’ career choices however very little or no research has been carried out with emphasis on newly admitted students and their entry academic profile in relation to their career choices, hence this study investigates the career choice of library and information science students in Delta State University.

1.3 Research Questions

The following research questions are raised to guide the study:

What are the factors influencing the choice of career in library and information science?

What are the challenges of library and information science practices?

What are the attitude of the students about library and information science as a career?

1.4 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this research work is to investigate the career choice of library and information science students in Delta State University. Superficially, the study will address the following:

The factors influencing the choice of career in library and information science

The factors affecting the choice of career in library and information science

Challenges in the practices of library and information science

The attitude of the students about library and information science as a career

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study will be of great benefits to the students, lecturers, educational administrators and educational policy makers

The study will benefit the students in such a way as to help them understand the values of choosing career that will suit their potential and vocational aspirations.

This study will also be of significance to the lecturers since the study will expose those factors that influence students in their choice of career in library and information sciences.

Furthermore, the educational administrators will benefit from this study as guiding them in the areas of admission so that they will not admit students who are not ready into the department of library and information science.

Lastly, educational policy makers will benefit from this study as the study will expose them to the predispositions to the career choices in library and information science which will guide them when making policy that relates to libraries and librarianship in the educational sector.

1.6 Scope and Delimitation of Study

This study covers the career choice of library and information science students in Delta State University. This study is limited to four hundred (400) level students from the department of library and information science, Delta State University, Abraka.

1.7 Operational Definition of Terms

Library: This is a collection of books and other literary materials which are kept for reading, study and consultation

Career: This is an occupation or profession, especially one requiring speedily training

Choice: This involves mentally making a decision, judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one or more of them.

Library and Information Sciences: This is the systematic body of knowledge related to the book and the library, including diverse aspects dealing with books and autonomous activities but also related to the entity of which they are a part.

Student: This is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution.

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