University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

December 2022

INFORMATION NEEDS AND SEEKING PATTERN OF CHILDREN IN

PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A CASE STUDY OF KWARA STATE LIBRARY,
NIGERIA
Ronke Oyetunji
Methodist Theological Institute, oyetunjironke1@gmail.com

Michael Chinweike Chigbundu

Caleb University, Nigeria, talkwithmichaelnow@gmail.com

David Azeez Olokode

University of Ilorin, freezone04@yahoomail.com

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac

Part of the Scholarly Communication Commons

Oyetunji, Ronke; Chigbundu, Michael Chinweike; and Olokode, David Azeez, "INFORMATION NEEDS AND
SEEKING PATTERN OF CHILDREN IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A CASE STUDY OF KWARA STATE LIBRARY,
NIGERIA" (2022). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 7472.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/7472
 INFORMATION NEEDS AND SEEKING PATTERN OF CHILDREN IN PUBLIC
LIBRARIES: A CASE STUDY OF KWARA STATE LIBRARY, NIGERIA

Introduction

Since the beginning of man’s existence, man has always sought for information for his
survival. This information, he uses for solving his immediate problems. The entire human race
needs information to survive and thrive in the 21st century because information is key to intellectual
growth and social development. Information are facts which are generated from our daily
interaction with information carriers such as scholarly works, individuals, and other information
carrying objects. Children just like adults, also have knowledge gaps and they also seek for
information to fill up their knowledge gaps. Children are persons less than 18 years of age, and
they enjoy every rights and benefits like adults1. International agencies recognize the place of
children in any society, especially in view of the fact that they are the future leaders of any nation.
Information needs of children is as a result of explorative activities being undertaken by
the children. These needs change continuously as a result of their growth2. The growing age stages
of children are; early childhood (2-6years old), late childhood (6-12 years old), and Adolescence
(12-18 years old)3. The implications of this growing age stages on library, is difficulty in knowing
the right quantity of information resources to acquire and make available in the public library for
children. There is a need for public libraries to identify the age varieties of children in the library
and the children’s information needs so as to be able to know the right quantity of information
resources to acquire and make available in the library for children. This is important because
children have high expectations when vising a library to seek for information and they get
disappointed if the library is unable to satisfy their information needs4.
The study area is Kwara State Library. The Kwara State Library is a public library in
Nigeria, and has same features and functions like every other public library. Its Headquarters is in
Ilorin which is the state's capital. The library has two Divisional Libraries at Jebba and Offa areas
of Kwara State. It is established with the sole aim of providing qualitative and adequate reading
resources for the people of Kwara state irrespective of age, educational background, status in the
state, religion and gender.
Children of all age categorizes with different information needs and seeking patterns, visit
the public library in search of information. In Nigeria, the information seeking pattern of children

1
in public libraries are poor and it affects the retrieval of their needed information. When the
children visit the library, they make a mess of the information resources on the library shelves and
as a result, make it difficult for them to easily retrieve their needed information resource. The study
is meant to broaden the frontier of human knowledge on library service delivery to children in
public libraries, and also provide a long lasting solution to problems encountered in public libraries
especially when dealing with children. The research will be of great assistance to library staff,
librarians, and library students as it will enable them to understand the information needs of
children and the children’s information seeking patterns. The findings emanating from this study
will assist in improving the services offered to Children by public libraries. It would also enable
decision makers to improve and update their research policies in order to aid the excellent
undertaking of research. This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on information
needs and information-seeking behavior.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the information need and seeking pattern of
children in Kwara State Library. The specific objectives of this study are to:
i. To identify the sources of information available to children in Kwara State library
ii. To investigate the information need of Children in Kwara State library;
iii. To identify the information seeking patterns of children in Kwara State library;
iv. To identify the challenges of children when seeking information in the library

Research Questions
i. What are the sources of information available to children in Kwara State library?
ii. What are the information needs of Children in Kwara State library?
iii. What are the Information seeking patterns of children in Kwara State library?
iv. What are the challenges of children when seeking information in the library?

Literature Review
Information Seeking pattern and Needs of Children
Information seeking pattern involves a set of actions which an individual engages in to
seek for information, evaluate information, and eventual usage of the information to satisfy his/her

2
information needs. Information seeking pattern and behavior are often used interchangeably, and
it involves a set of actions such as: user’s information needs, information evaluation and
information seeking methods that meets the users’ needs5. Information seeking pattern is also the
way an individual conduct himself when searching for information6. It is concerned with
determining user's information needs, searching behaviour and subsequent use of information 7.
Information seeking pattern is influenced by one’s environment, demographic factors and
psychological factors8. It denotes several procedures of identifying search terms, choosing
information locating tools, carrying out information search, locating the information, and eventual
utilization of the information9.
Since children information needs differ from those of adults in the library10, it appears that
a relationship exists between children's information needs and their information searching patterns.
Children’s information seeking pattern varies based on their level of knowledge and
understanding, and there is always an impetus of them to seek for information to satisfy their
needs11. Curiosity and need to fill a gap in knowledge, majorly influences children’s information
seeking behavior12. They seek for information to solve their school assignments by consulting
different sources of information available to them in libraries13. When children visit public
libraries, they seek for their needed information using different varieties of information sources in
the library. Some children prefer seeking for information from librarians14. Some also use
catalogue cabinet to locate their needed information in libraries15 .
Information need is a knowledge gap. It is a knowledge gap that requires an information-
bridge16. The concept of information need is fundamental to library because library as an
information center aims to retrieve information relevant to users’ information needs17. Information
need is also referred to as a state of lack of desirable information needed to solve a problem18. It
is a necessity that arises from an information problem which comes when there is a gap in one’s
knowledge about something 19. This knowledge gap fosters individuals to seek for knowledge.
Children just like adults, need and seek for information to solve their problems. Children
in public libraries are categorized as general readers, subject readers, and non-reading users; the
general readers are those who do not have any specific subjects in mind when they visit the library
but to read any informative materials, the subject readers are those who use information resources
to acquire a particular educational need, while the non-reading users are those who make use of
information resources for recreational purposes only20.

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Public Library
Public libraries render library services to all categories of users. Some of the services they
render are but not limited to storytelling to children to encourage early learning and reading culture,
information resources in all formats, and quiet reading space for students and professionals21. They
are local centers of information that make all kinds of information readily available to all kinds of
individuals. They are established, supported and funded by the state government. They provide
access to knowledge, information and works of imagination through a range of resources and
services. It is equally available to all members of the community which includes children. The
public library is seen as the local gateway to knowledge and provides basic condition for lifelong
learning, independent decision- making and cultural development of people and social groups22.
Public library is a world-wide phenomenon, they occur in a variety of societies, in differing
cultures and at different stages of development, although the varied contexts in which they function
inevitably lead to variances in the services they render, and the method the services are rendered23.
They are distinct from research libraries, academic libraries, school libraries, and special libraries
in that their mandate is to serve the general public's information needs rather than the needs of a
particular school, institution, or a research population. Some examples of public libraries are; New
York public library, Boston public library, Delhi public library, State central library in India,
Colombo public library, Kwara State Library Board in Nigeria, Ibom Library in Nigeria, the British
library, Peckham library in London and so. These public libraries provide resources and services
in a variety of media to meet the information needs of the general public irrespective of the users’
age, gender, socio-economic status, religion and educational qualification. They essentially
provide access to knowledge, information and works of imagination through a range of resources
and services24. Public libraries have important roles in the development and maintenance of a
democratic society by giving individuals access to a wide range of knowledge, ideas and opinions.
The libraries help people with discovering knowledge and acquire new skills, obtain information
about health and well-being, and obtain information about government activities and services25.
Public library clients are heterogeneous in nature and they include literate and non-literate,
the aged, the handicapped, children, young people, and any group of people in the society26. The
services rendered by public libraries could be summarized as mobile library services, information
and referral services, outreach programmes, current awareness programmes, selective

4
dissemination of information (SDI), internet services, photocopy services, book depot, and library
services to children27. Public library services include but not limited to community information
services, recreational activities, reference services, storytelling and reading competition for
children, career information, customer care, and adult literacy education28. By nature of their
establishment, they provide support services for lifelong learning through a wide range of
information services that accommodate the needs of all categories of users.

Public Library Services to Children

Public libraries are expected to provide effective services for children, provide requisite
services for schools, provide needed information and reference service, and stimulate reading for
pleasure and recreation among children29 because children just like adults have information needs
and they also visit public libraries in search of information. Children need public libraries for life
long education30 because public libraries create a conducive environment for lifelong learning and
understanding of one’s culture. Moreover, the information needs of children are distinct from adult
information needs because while adults’ information needs are complex and advanced, children’s
information needs are less complex and advanced. This distinct information needs are
acknowledged in public libraries through the creation of children section.
This children section renders library services to children and caters for their information
needs by collecting and making available, information resources in varieties of forms to cater for
the children’s information needs. Moreover, library services are made possible through the
provision of information resources which prompts people most especially children to visit libraries.
For public libraries to be attractive to children, the following information resources need to be
made available: board books, picture books, story books, graphic novels, eBooks, Internet services,
comics, magazines and educational toys31. More so, these information resources are to be
presented in a colorful mode to educate the children and help them imbibe reading culture. Public
library staff also need to be knowledgeable on best approaches in rendering library services to the
different age groups of children in the public library32. Moreover, children are special public library
users whose needs must be met and not overshadowed by information needs of adults33.

Problems Encountered by Children in Search of Information in a Public Libraries

5
 In a conducted a study on information seeking behaviour of different types of users of
public libraries of Southern Punjab, findings indicate that the major constraints that hindered
meeting users’ information needs include; lack of information retrieval tools in the library,
inadequate relevant materials, ignorance of where to obtain needed materials, unconducive state
of library for reading, inadequate power supply, and uncooperative attitude of library staff to assist
library users34. A study also found inadequacy of relevant materials in public libraries as a major
problem facing Oyo State library board users of Nigeria in meeting their information needs35. In
addition, another study revealed that most public libraries in Nigeria are under-staffed with the
right caliber of personnel and are stocked with outdated books which are not commonly used by
the children36. Where these books are current, they are not the type that could motivate the reading
habit of children. In addition, inadequate information resources, poor library skills, poor
information literacy skills, lack of awareness of information needs and unfamiliarity with the
library were found to be problems children encounter while trying to satisfy their information
needs in Plateau State Library Board37.

History of Public Library in Nigeria

The seminar organized by the federal government of Nigerian in conjunction with
UNESCO in 1953 at Ibadan on the development of public libraries in Africa, marked a turning
point in the development of libraries in Nigeria38. It was in line with the recommendation of this
seminar that the machinery was set in motion for the establishment of the defunct regional libraries
in Nigeria. The set out objectives of the seminar were: to promote adult education programs, to
promote and make provision for information and reference services to people, to ensure provision
of qualitative services to children and young adults in schools and, to promote reading culture39.
The public libraries which were established in the defunct regions of Nigeria; defunct eastern
region, defunct western region, and defunct northern region, were managed and controlled by the
then regional governments. The Eastern regional library was established in 1955 by the then
Eastern regional governor to render library services to the Easterners and also to address the
illiteracy level in the region. With the division of the region into States, the wealth of the regional
library was shared among the created states. This led to the creation of state libraries.
The western regional library was established in 1955. A public-lending library section of
the regional library was set up in 1957 at New Court Road, Ibadan. Some of the measures taken

6
by the library was the regular conveyance of books to a number of local government council
reading rooms in the region. In same vein, the western regional government also maintained
departmental libraries for the purpose of housing government documents, newspapers, files,
textbooks, special report, surveys, compendia etc.
The Northern regional library was established in the early 1950s by the then Northern
regional government, in a quest to promote literacy level in the region. The plan of the regional
government was to upgrade reading rooms that were established in the Northern provinces after
the second world war to libraries by stocking them with books and other information resources.
The wealth of the regional library was shared in 1967 after the division of the Northern region into
states (Kwara State, Kano State, North-Western State, North-Central State, North-Eastern State,
and Benue-Plateau State). The acquired library resources were used in setting up State Libraries.

Profile of Kwara State Library, Nigeria

Kwara State is a state in Nigeria with a population of 1,000,477 citizens (World population
review, 2022). The State was created on May 29, 1967. The State emerged from the division of
the defunct Northern region of Nigeria into six states (Kwara State, Kano State, North-Western
State, North-Central State, North-Eastern State, and Benue-Plateau State). Following the creation
of Kwara state, the Federal Ministry of information of Nigeria contacted the British Ministry of
Overseas Development (B.M.O.D) to assist with sending a library advisor who will share the assets
of the defunct Northern region library among the six newly created Northern states. Mr. Robert
Pearce was sent to share the assets. Each state accepted its own proceeds and kept them in their
newly established state libraries.
A qualified Librarian, in person of Mr. Popoola, was sent to Ilorin to head the newly
established Kwara State library. A Library Assistant and five library clerks were also sent to Ilorin
to assist the State Librarian. The Senior Librarian in Kaduna State Library, Mr. S. A. Mold made
a tour to Ilorin to meet Native Authority Officers in respect to finding a physical workspace for
the state library. His tour yielded to the conversation of the Native Authority Court’s building to
Kwara State library building. The building was used for a duration of six months until December
1967 when the Readers Service section of the state library was moved to a different location in the
state. The administrative and technical section of the library moved from one location and control

7
to another. The library is presently managed and controlled by the Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology.
Kwara State Library offers a conducive environment which makes reading attractive. The
library’s book collection contains journals, books, and other information resources. The services
currently offered by the library include book borrowing, reference and bibliographic services,
photocopying, binding and lamination, interlibrary lending, course book reserve services,
Internet/database searches, referrals and off-site library services at FSP and GSS in Ilorin, among
others. The collections in the Main Library are organized into four sections based on the Library
of Congress Classification Scheme. The sections are: administrative section, acquisition section,
technical section (cataloging and classification), reader service section (reference unit and
circulation unit) children and serials division as well as internet café.

Methodology
This study is a quantitative research, in which descriptive/survey research design was
adopted. The descriptive design is considered appropriate for this study because it can answer
what, where, how and when of a phenomenon. The target population for this study were children
between the ages of two to eighteen years. For adequate and effective study of the population,
simple random sampling was adopted for this study. Questionnaire was used to collect data from
Kwara State Library users (children). It was administered by the researcher to Kwara state library
users who fell in the age category of 2-18 years. The questionnaire was divided into three sections
as follows: Section A: collected demographic information of the respondent, Section B: collected
data on the sources of information available to children in Kwara State library, Section C: collected
information on the information needs of Children in Kwara State library, their seeking pattern, and
challenges they face when seeking for information. The research questionnaires were randomly
administered to one hundred (100) children who used the Kwara State Library during the author’s
research period. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using the analytical tools in Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive statistics was used to analyses the
demographic variables of the respondents. The data is presented, analyzed and interpreted using
frequency table and simple percentage.

8
Discussion of Findings

4.2 Demographic of the Respondents

S/N ITEM Frequency Percent
Age 2-4 5 5
5-7 7 7.7
8-10 12 13.2
11-13 21 23.1
ABOVE 13 46 50.5
Total 91 100
Gender Male 31 34.1
Female 60 65.1
Total 91 100
Educational Qualifications Nursery 5 5.4
Primary 25 27.5
Secondary 62 68.1
Total 91 100
Field work (2021)

Table 1 shows that majority of the respondents are above 13 years (50.5%). The table also shows
that a small fraction of the study’s population (5.5%) is within the age range 2-4 years. The table
also shows that majority of the respondents are females (66%). The table also shows that majority
of the respondents are secondary school students (68.1%) while few of the respondents are in
nursery schools (2.57%) and primary schools (5.4%). Judging from the table, it can be said that
most of the children that visit the Kwara state library are secondary school students. The
implication of this is a high demand for educational information resources that will support the
school curriculum of the children in the library. This is because most of the children in the
Children’s section of the library are advanced in age and would sought more of educative
information resources such as textbooks and story books than recreational resources. Absence or
inadequate availability of educational information resources in the Children section of the library,
would amount to inadequate library services in the section.

Figure 1: Library Visitation Frequency

9
 2.10% 0%

10%
Daily
Twice a week
40.70%
Weekly
Once a month
36.20%
Quarterly
Yearly
11%

Field work (2021)

Figure 1 shows that majority of the respondents do not visit the public library daily. As shown in
the table, 40.7% of the respondents visit the Kwara State Library daily while 36.2% visit the library
weekly, 10% visit the library once in a month while 11% visit the library twice a week. However,
none of the respondents visit the library yearly.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research Question 1: What information resources are available to children in Kwara State
library?
Figure 2: Information Resources available for Children

10
 120%
100% 100.00% 99.00% 100% 99% 100%
100% 88%

80% 70%

60% 49%51%

40% 30%

20% 12%
0% 0.00% 1.00% 0% 1% 0%
0%
Pictorial Board books Story books Cartoon and Textbooks Comics and Cartoon Audio Educational
Books artworks magazines story books Poems and Toys
rhymes

Available Not Available

Field work (2021)

Kwara State Library is well equipped with information resources to meet the information needs of
children. This is shown in Figure 2 in which all the respondents (100%) indicated that pictorial
books are fully available in the library, all the respondents (100%) indicated that story and
information books for all ages were available in the library, 99% indicated that cartoon, artworks,
comics, magazines and books to help with home works were available in the library. However,
51% of the respondents indicated non-availability of audio poems and rhymes. The study shows
that story books for all ages, cartoon and artworks, books that aid solving, assignment are fully
available, comic magazine, pictorial books, cartoon books, educational toys are available. The
availability of the above mentioned information resources at Kwara state library is in conformity
with information resources that are expected to be available in the Children Section of public
libraries. This buttressed by Onyam and Akporn (2019) and Akinola (2020), who stated that public
libraries are expected to make available picture books, story books, cartoons internet services,
games, poems, children magazines, textbook, fiction and nonfiction resources at the children
section of the library for children use, more so all the resources should be presented in a colorful
mode to educate the children and help them imbibe reading culture. Making those information
resources available will assist the children with meeting their information needs. Although the
library has adequate availability of pictorial books, story books, comic books, textbooks and so
on, there is inadequate availability of audio poems and rhymes for children’s use. The implication
of this is, children below the ages of 5 years who learn faster through listening might not be

11
adequately served in the library. While stocking the section with print resources, it is also necessary
for the children section of public libraries to be stocked with audio-visual resources to meet the
demands of their users.

Research Question 2: What are the information needs of Children in Kwara State library?

Figure 3: Information Needs of Children

80%
71%
68%
70%
61%
60% 57% 57% 57%

50% 43% 43%

38% 39%
40% 32%
29%
30%
20%
10% 5%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0%
I need information I need information I need information I need information I need information I need information
on the topic I was to assist me with on educational on folklore on cartoons and on poems and
taught in class my school games artworks rhyme time
assignment and
home work

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Field work (2021)

Figure 3 shows the information needs of children in the Kwara State Library. As shown in the
chart, majority of the respondents (71%) strongly agree that they need information to assist them
with their school assignment. The chart also shows that majority of the respondents (57%) strongly
agreed that they need information on what they were taught in class. However, Majority of the
respondents indicated that they do not need information on Educational games, folklore, cartoons,
and Poems. Hence, it can be said that the main reasons why children visit public libraries is to seek
for information that is related to their schools’ curriculum and not for recreational purposes. This
is however true because majority of the respondents are secondary school students and would need
more information on topics learnt in class, information to solve school assignments, reading for
exams and borrowing of educational books and so on. This can also be attributed to the age range
respondents in which majority of them are within the age range 8 and above. This is in agreement

12
with Ejike, Amaoge and Noye (2019) who stated that age 8 and above is a critical time for children,
such years’ children transit from hearing and looking at picture books to reading independently
and school works; as such, they consult more of educational and developmental resources, their
information needs is majorly information that will help to transit to adolescence. Hence public
libraries should equip their children section with more educative resources to meet the information
needs of children in the children section of the library.

Research Question 3: What are the Information seeking patterns of children in Kwara State
library?
Figure 4: Information Seeking Pattern among Children

90%
78%
80%
69% 71%
70% 67%
62% 63%
60%

50%
38%
40% 35%
30% 29%
30% 23% 22%
20%

10% 3% 5% 3%
0% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0%
I ask question I search the I use the I talk to my I read through I wait for story or
from the Shelves by myself Catalogue Card Friends in Library the picture books folklore time to
Librarian by myself get my
information

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Field work (2021)

As shown in Figure 4, the children majorly seek for information by consulting picture books in the
library (71% strongly agreed and 29% agreed to it). Additionally, majority of the respondents seek
for information by asking Librarians questions (38% strongly agreed to seeking information from
librarians and 62% agreed to it). In addition, majority of the respondents indicated that they consult
their friends in the library to seek for a needed information (23% strongly agreed and 69% agreed
to it). Furthermore, majority of the respondents seeks for information on the library shelves (35%
strongly agreed and 63% agreed to it). However, none of the respondents waits for story and

13
folklore time to get their needed information. Hence, the findings reviewed that the children have
little interest in participating in story and folklore period in the library. They prefer to obtain their
needed information directly from librarians, picture books, checking the library shelves, and asking
their friends in the library, questions. This is in agreement with Owolabi (2019) testing the
information seeking behavior in public library stated that children engaged librarians by asking
questions and using other information materials, but they disagreed with use of catalogues cards;
this can be attributed to inadequate knowledge on how to use the library catalogue card. This is
support with Irving (2019), that highlighted that another seeking pattern shown by children in his
study on challenge of information seeking; stating few children successfully use the catalogue card
to access the information materials need. Furthermore, the respondents disagree that they don’t
wait for folklore time to get their information. Based on the findings, it can be said that the
information seeking pattern of children in Kwara State library are; consulting librarians, engaging
in self-information search, consulting friends, and checking picture books.

Research Question 4: What are the challenges of children when seeking for information in Kwara
State library?

Figure 5: Factors affecting the Information seeking pattern of Children in KWSL

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
I don’t know When I ask Librarians do I can’t find the I don’t know The library is Most times
how to search Librarians to not know the books I want in how to use the not favorable librarians are
for books on help, they do books I needed the children catalogue card for me to read not around to
the shelves not answer library to find the help me search
immediately books I want for my
information
material

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Field work (2021)

14
Figure 5 presents factors affecting the information seeking pattern of children in Kwara state
Library. From the table, majority of the respondents do not know how to use the library’s catalogue
cards and searching for their needed information resources (40% strongly agreed and 50% agreed
to it). The Table also indicated that majority of the respondents encounter difficulty in finding their
needed information resources in the Children’s section of the public library (47% strongly agreed
and 36% agreed to it). Additionally, the Table shows that majority of the respondents indicated
that the Librarians in the Public Library do not know the books they needed (39% strongly agreed
and 42% agreed). Furthermore, majority of the respondents indicated that the Librarians do not
attend to their information needs on time (39% strongly agreed and 53% agreed. From the
presentation above, it shows that the major factors affecting the information seeking pattern of
children in Kwara State Library are inability of Librarians to understand the information needs of
children in the library, children’s inability to easily find their needed information in the library,
and the children’s inability to use the catalogue cabinet. The challenges that affect the success of
children seeking pattern at Kwara State Library are ascribed more to the librarians not being able
to understand the information needs of the children and not being able to attend to the information
needs of the children on time. Moreover, the children encounter difficulty locating their needed
information resources on the library’s shelves. Furthermore, inability of the children, to use
catalogue card successfully also militate the children’s success of locating their needed
information resources in the library. The is in agreement with Job and Nwokedi (2020) who found
that inadequate information resources, poor library skills, poor information literacy skills, lack of
awareness of information needs and unfamiliarity with the library are factors that contribute to the
challenges of information seeking patterns of library users. In addition, Ternenge, and Torkuma
(2021), revealed that lack of awareness/orientation programme, inadequate search skills, lack of
information literacy programme, lack of current materials, as well as inability to evaluate sources
of information are factors affecting information seeking patterns.

Conclusion and Recommendations

From the review of literature, there is the view that children information needs changes, because
they are at a growing stage and each stage they are influences their information needs and the
patterns they follow in meeting such information needs. The study shows that children visit Kwara

15
state library regularly. The study also found that the information resources needed by children are
available in the library. The study also found that the information need of the children in Kwara
state library is more educational related than recreational related. Their information seeking pattern
involves the use of librarian’s help and self-effort. The major challenges faced by the children are
difficulty of librarians understanding their information needs and the children’s difficulty in
finding their needed information resources in the library.

Recommendations
Based on the results of findings, the followings are recommendations for future implementation.
1. A training session should be organized for the Kwara State library staff to train them on
best approaches of rendering services to children in libraries.
2. Kwara State library staff should endeavor to always be willing to quickly assist the children
with getting their information resources in the library.
3. Children should be encouraged to visit the library from early ages, to help them have
understanding of how to make proper use of library.
4. Children in public libraries should be trained on how to use library catalogues in retrieving
their needed information.
5. The children in the public libraries should also be encouraged to participate in story and
folklore time in the library.
6. Children section of public libraries should be equipped with both print and audio-visual
information resources to meet the information needs of different age categories of children
in the public library.

Suggestions for Further Studies

1. A further research can be conducted to examine the factors affecting librarian’s library
services rendered to children in public libraries.
2. Another study can be conducted to examine the attitude of librarians in public libraries to
rendering quality library services to children.
3. Furthermore, a study can be conducted to examine the perceived usefulness and ease of
use of library catalogues by children in public libraries.

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