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TITLE PAGE
INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION PROVISION TO SECONDARY SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELORS IN
ENUGU STATE
BY
HENRIETTA NGOZI MAMAHPG/MLS/06/41516
A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS IN
LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
NOVEMBER, 2011.
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APPROVAL PAGE
This project has been approved for the Department of Library and Information Science University of Nigeria, Nsukka
By
________________ ____________________Prof. (Mrs.) V.W. Dike Internal Examinal Supervisor
___________________ ___________________ External Examiner Prof.(Mrs.)V.W. Dike
Head of Department
_____________________________Prof. S. A Ezeudu
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CERTIFICATION
This is to certify that this research work “Information need and information provision to
Guidance counselors of secondary school in Enugu state was carried out by Mamah, Henrietta
Ngozi a post graduate student in the Department of Library and Information Science with
registration PG/MLS/06/14516. The work embodied in this research report is original and has
not been submitted in part or full for any other diploma or degree of this or any other University.
________________ ___________________Supervisor Student
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DEDICATION
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO MY HUSBAND, DR. L.I. MAMAH, MY CHILDREN IK, NNEDI, CHIGOZIE AND CHIDIOGO MAMAH
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my unalloyed gratitude to my project supervisor, Professor Mrs V.W
Dike, her inclination to perfection, kindness and tolerance cannot be ignored. As a matter of
fact, Prof V.W Dike is one of the most devoted supervisors I have ever met. I am indeed very
grateful to her.
I express my gratitude to Dr. R. E. Ozioko, Dr V.Nwachukwu, Dr E Omeje, Mrs M.
Ngwuchukwu, Dr A. J. C. Mole for always ready to offer usefull corrections and for their
proffessional assistance. My special thanks goes to Dr Ifeoma Echezona and Dr Vicky Okafor
for encouraging the researcher to enroll into this programme and for their inspiration, ideas and
also assisting me with materials. I am also indepted to other lecturers and staff of the department
who assisted me with materials through the course of my study. The materials and advice
provided by my colleagues mrs Judit Ezugwu, stella Nwadinaobi and Ndidi Ugwuoke were
always relevant and timely I thank them imernsely. I am under a deep obligation to my beloved
husband Dr L.I.Mamah of the Dept of Geology, and my children, Ik, Nnedi, Chigozie and
chidiogo for their encouragement and understanding.
Finally, this piece of work will be devoid of completeness if I fail to register my utmost
gratitude and indebtedness to God Almighty for the spirit of perseverance, strength, wisdom,
inspiration and above all protection throughout this work.
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TABLEOF CONTENTS
Title Page - - - - - - - - - - i
Approval Page- - - - - - - - - - ii
Certification Page - - - - - - - - - - iii
Dedication - - - - - - - - - - - iv
Acknowledgment- - - - - - - - - - v
Table of contents- - - - - - - - - - vi
List of tables - - - - - - - - - - viii
Abstract - - - - - - - - - - ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION - - - - - - 1
Background of the Study - - - - - - - - 1
Statement of the Problem - - - - - - - 7
Purpose of the Study - - - - - - - - - 8
Research Questions - - - - - - - - - 9
Significance of the Study - - - - - - - - 9
Scope of the Study - - - - - - - - - 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW - - - - - - 12
Conceputal Framework - - - - - - - - 12
Sources of Information for Guidance Counsellors - - - - - 26
Problems Facing Guidance Counsellors in Meeting thier Informaiton Needs 28
Strategies for Enhancing Guidance Counsellors Access to Informaiton - 30
Review of Related Empirical Studies - - - - - - 34
Summary of Literature Review - - - - - - - 42
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS - - - - - - 44
Design of the Study - - - - - - - - 44
Area of the Study - - - - - - - - - 44
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Population of the Study - - - - - - - - 44
Sample and Sampling Techniques - - - - - - 45
Instrument for Data Collection - - - - - - 45
Validation of the Instrument - - - - - - - - 46
Method of Data Collection - - - - - - - 46
Method of Data Analysis - - - - - - - 47
CHATER FOUR : PRESENTATION OF DATA - - - - - 49
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION - - - - 60
Discussion of findings - - - - - - - - 60
Implication of findings - - - - - - - - 63
Recommendations - - - - - - - - 64
Suggestions for further Research - - - - - - - 66
Limitations - - - - - - - - - 66
Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 67
REFERENCES - - - - - - - - - 68
APPENDICES - - - - - - - - - 74
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LIST OF TABLES PAGE
Table 1. Education zones, Schools, and professional Guidance Counselors - 45
Table 2. Areas where Guidance counselors need information - - - 50
Table 3. Extent Guidance Counselors seek information from various sources - 52
Table 4. Extent to which information sources meet their information need - 54
Table 5. Problems facing guidance counselors in meeting their information need 55
Table 6. Strategies for improved provision to better meet their information need - 57
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ABSTRACT
The study was designed to explore the information needs and information provision to guidance counselors in Enugu state secondary schools. The discriptive survey design was used while five research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study consists of all proffessional guidance counselors in secondary schools in Enugu state. The instrument used was questionaire. Data was analysed using mean, frequency count, and percentage. The result revealed that guidance counsellors in secondary schools in Enugu state have many information needs. The information needs are in the areas of educational information, career and vocational information, and also personal-social information. The result also reveals that the extent to which information needs are met are still vey low and their sources of information are professional colleagues, radio, neighbours, school library, radio, neighbours, adolescents, international bodies, such as UNESCO report, and world bank report, others are academic library, internet, newspapers, magazines, non-governmental organizations, television, public library, conference, seminars, workshops, family and friends, textbooks, journals, form teachers, subject teachers. However, despite the importance of information to guidance counselors in the administration of guidance and counselling services. A number of problems affect the guidance counselors in meeting these needs, including unavailability of information sources, some information sources outdated, unorganised information sources, lack of necessary skills to acquire necessary information, lack of internet facilities, inability to know when new materials are acquired. The recommendation based on the findings were that workshops, seminars, in-service training be organised more regularly to update the knowldge of guidance and counsellors while internet facilities should be provided to enhance access to adequate and current information.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
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Guidance and counseling is an assistance rendered to an individual to help him to
understand himself and his problem better and develop insight into possible ways of
solving the identified problems. Golberg (1980) defined counseling as a systematic
exploration of self or environment by a client with the aid of a counselor to clarify
understanding of environmental alternatives so that behavior modification or decision are
made on the basis of greater cognitive and effective understanding. Olayinka (1988) sees
counseling as a dynamic and purposeful relationship between two people in which
procedure vary with the nature of the students needs but in which there is always natural
participation by the counselor and the student with the focus upon self clarification and
self determination by the student. In this day of technological advancement, children of all
ages need help beyond what teachers presently provide. This recognition propelled the
Nigerian government to make a policy decision, sending guidance counselors to schools as
well as assisting interested individuals to train as counselors. Thus counselors have been
assigned to work with children. Efforts are being made at both state and national level to
ensure that the Nigerian child is advanced technologically, industrially, technically,
scientifically through education. The system of education of the child (junior secondary
school and senior secondary school) is very complex and intricate in the sense that
his/her psychological and developmental growth is inseparable from his academic
growth. As a result of these complexities, the introduction of effective counseling services
to the secondary schools is very important
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The National Policy on Education (2004) made it clear that guidance and
counselling in our schools are essential, paragraph 83 (1) of the policy document declared
this in these words. ‘‘In view of the apparent ignorance of many young people about career
prospects, and in view of personality maladjustment among school children, career
officers and counselors will be appointed in post primary institutions. Since qualified
personnel in this category are scarce, government will continue to make provisions for the
training of interested teachers in guidance and counseling.”
The Ministry of Education (1990) envisaged that through the services rendered by
Guidance and Counseling unit by the end of nine years basic education and senior secondary
education, the student should have gained insight in the area of educational guidance, social
guidance and vocational career guidance. Specifically, students through personal guidance are
expected to gain knowledge about themselves, their values, needs, abilities and aptitudes. They
are also expected to acquire good social relationship and communication skills through social
guidance. Educational guidance will provide students/pupils with educational awareness,
acquisition of work skills and increased career awareness, decision making skills, employability
awareness and career information service.
Guidance and Counseling programs provide pupils vital information in the areas of
educational, occupational and socio-personal endeavors as well as in career planning and
placement service. Decision-making, whether for educational, occupational, or socio-personal
needs is the most difficult aspect of behavior to develop, and making choices at this stage
involves many mistakes, and a high degree of threat, conflict, frustration, and anxiety. In effect,
the programme ensures the timely identification and diagnosis of school-related problems such
as underachievement, reading deficiencies, slow learning, poor academic performance, poor
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study habits, academic failures and pupil personal conflict. It also provides information on
training and employment opportunities for distribution to schools .Other responsibilities include
staff consultation, parental assistance, student self appraisal, planning referral to allied
community agencies and public relations. Guidance assists students in developing decision-
making competence and in formulating future plans..
In spite of the above, children still experience diverse problems that hinder teaching and
learning. The change theory holds that many physical, biological, anatomical and psychological
changes occur during the period of adolescence, and that the basis of all the instability,
destruction and estrangement is caused by the manifested changes (Uba, Makinde, Adjuno,
1993). Adolescence is a period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It is a period of
storm and stress, of confusion and conflict both for the adolescent, his parent, his peers and the
society in general. As a result of many physical changes taking place in the adolescent, he is
bound to have conflicting ideas, values, and beliefs about himself. Akimboye (1984) noted that
the physiological and psychological changes are often either intimately or remotely related to
many of the situations which create behavior problems in adolescents such as peer group
influences, delinquent behavior, sexual behavior, and moral and ethical concerns. Madu (2002)
listed other dimensions of adolescent problems as follows: depression, lethargy, hopelessness,
suicidal pre-occupation or attempts, apparent conduct disorder, complaint of restlessness,
concentration difficulty, insomnia, fighting, running away, school failure, withdrawal and poor
social relationship.
Other behavioral problems of adolescents include, alcohol and drug abuse, pregnancy,
delinquency, risk taking, suicide. As a student progresses through different school levels,
assistance in processing information, problem solving and decision was making increases in
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proportion to the development demands. According to Akinboye (1982), such disturbed
children have wrong ideas about themselves and may use socially unacceptable means to find
their place in the society. Children in this kind of predicament hardly benefit from teaching and
learning.
However, such children can be helped to learn to resolve their problems and become
better adjusted individuals. This is part of the counselor’s duty in the school. Secondary school
counselors believe that each child possesses intrinsic worth and inherent and inalienable rights
and that each child is the focus of the educational process. Counselors believe that most
students, given the experience of an accepting non valuating relationship, will make intelligent
decisions. When effective, school counseling functions as a continuous process to assist
students by identifying and meeting their needs in educational, vocational and personal-social
domains. Guidance is the function of every member of the educational team, but the school
counselor has the primary responsibility for leadership. Guidance assists students to understand
themselves by focusing attention on their interests, abilities, and needs in relation to their home,
school and environment. The intended outcome of the Guidance and Counseling programme is
to increase adaptive behavior by developing in individuals such basic skills and abilities as are
necessary for overcoming day-to-day problems in the school. The school counselor is the person
or a staff who has special training in accessing the specific needs of each student and planning
an appropriate guidance programme in educational, vocational, and personal-social domain.
Through training, the effective school counselor, remains informed and approach each
counseling situation realistically. Guidance and counseling provides parents additional
understanding of child and adolescent development in order to strengthen the role of parents in
the promotion of growth in children.
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Information service is a vital component of guidance and counseling. It provides
guidance counselors with basic knowledge in the areas of education, occupation and personal-
social issues and decision making. They also assist students who are about to graduate and are
ready to enter higher institutions of learning to be aware of training opportunities and various
requirements at various levels of education or entry into institutions. Also they provide students
with information that could lead them to understand them self and various aspects of one’s
development as well as the understanding of others.
Information is universally accepted as an important resource in any organization. A well
organized system of information is a prerequisite for effective decision making. Information
has been variously defined in the literature. Osuala (2001) sees information as facts and
opinions provided and received during the course of daily life, while Ajibero (1993) sees
information as data of value in planning, decision making, and evaluation of any programme.
Martins (1988) define information as that which adds to awareness or understanding of some
topics of intelligence, data, news or knowledge. Information makes people to be conscious of
topics or phenomena necessary to fit best in the society. This implies that information is not
something that springs up from within but is received from the outside in order to stimulate an
action.
Bouazza in Obidike (2007) defined information need as what an individual ought to have
for his work, his research, his edification. Crawford (1974) suggested that the measure of
information needs can be complicated as it involves a cognitive process which may operate at
different levels of consciousness and hence may not be clear even to the inquirer himself.
The information needs of individuals have to be studied in the context of the information
environment, which includes not only the information need but also the provision of
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information, access to information and sources of information used for meeting the information
need. Because of the importance of providing information sources to users, the information
needs of specific users need to be studied. The guidance counselor whose duty it is to help an
individual to understand himself ,his world, his capabilities and abilities, so that he can best
utilize his potential to the fullest, needs information and applies different methods or strategies
in meeting her information needs. Osokoye (1987) pointed out that guidance and counseling is
important for proper personal, academic and social adjustment of students in schools. The main
objective is to give psychological guidance that will help an individual to achieve his self-
direction, self understanding and mental balance necessary to make the maximum adjustment to
school. A judicious application of guidance will foster wise educational decisions which might
lead to a better future career, especially now that students are confronted with a variety of
subjects to choose from. In turn, an efficient guidance counselor in today’s complex world is
dependent on information and analysis that permits him to make informed decisions.
The need for formal library instruction for guidance counselors is very important.
Awareness of electronic search tools and information management skills should be emphasized.
This is an information age when we are being bombarded with ever-increasing quantities of
information made more accessible by information technology. There is a realization that if we
do not learn to use it effectively, we will be overwhelmed by it.
The type of information an individual wants or needs at a given point in time depends on
the problem he or she wants to address at that time. As a result, the purpose for which the
information is needed leads to the source from which such information could be obtained (Utor,
2004). Information could be provided to users through personal observation, interaction with
one another, from libraries, in books, journals, conference papers, dissertation, non-book
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materials, internet etc .Be that as it may, it stands to reason that guidance counselors in
secondary schools who want to be effective in their arduous task of helping individuals to make
appropriate decisions should have easy access to accurate, unrestricted and most current
information. A tool for carrying these functions out is the library. Guidance Counselors in
secondary schools need a type of school library that provides interesting books, magazines and
periodicals on occupational information and career opportunities, pamphlets on effective
reading, sex education and inter-personal relationship, current JAMB brochures to help for
further educational information to higher institutions of learning, A-V resources such as radio,
tapes and CDs, visual resources such as pictures, charts and slides, video, TV, posters on
guidance and counseling. These provide educational, vocational as well as personal and social
information. The school library should provide for both the teachers and students
Guidance and counseling is needed for effective operation of the National policy on
Education, the need to curb secret cult activities, prevention of mass failure in public
examination, Student indiscipline and vandalism, awareness of available career opportunities.
There is need also to pay attention to each individual within the school to ensure that hidden and
latent talents are identified and developed to the optimum.
Statement of the Problem Guidance and counseling play a very vital role in secondary school in Enugu state.
Guidance counselors aim at helping students to adjust fully within the environment they find
themselves and become functional and productive members of the society. They help students
to understand themselves well enough to be able to make appropriate decisions concerning
educational choices, occupational interests and solutions of personal and social problems and
thereby reducing incidences of socially unacceptable behaviors. Counseling prepares an
individual for participation in a life activity which will be socially useful and personally
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satisfying. Carrying out this role requires information concerning educational, vocational and
personal and social needs of adolescents in secondary school and skills for acquiring the needed
information.
Unfortunately, from observation, this responsibility seems not to be carried out
satisfactorily. Perhaps non-functionality of guidance counselors in the secondary school is as a
result of lack of information. Without doubt, when these secondary school guidance counselors
do not have adequate information at their disposal, the likelihood is that they will be unable to
properly guide their students. This may lead to delinquent and maladjusted behaviors such as
secret cult, examination malpractices, drug abuse, students’ unrest, bullying among secondary
school students thereby increasing the number of criminals in the society.
While, scholars have done some studies on information needs of various groups, there is
a dearth of studies on guidance counselors. Given the importance of guidance counselors in
secondary schools, the problem of this study stated as question is: what are the information
needs of guidance counselors and to what extent are their information needs met?
Purpose of the Study The general purpose of this study is to investigate the information needs of guidance
counselors in secondary schools in Enugu State.
Specifically, the study will:
1. Determine the information needs of secondary school guidance counselors in Enugu state;
2. Examine the information sources from which guidance counselors in secondary school obtain
needed information;
3. Ascertain the extent of satisfaction of secondary school guidance counselors with
information provided by various sources;
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4. Determine the problems facing these secondary school guidance counselors in meeting their
information needs;
5. To suggest ways of enhancing the satisfaction of secondary school guidance counselors’
information needs.
Research Questions 1. What are the information needs of secondary school guidance counselors in Enugu state of
Nigeria?
2. From what sources do secondary school guidance counselors obtain the information they
need?
3. To what extent are secondary school guidance counselors satisfied with the information
provided by these sources?
4. What are the problems facing secondary school guidance counselors in meeting their
information needs?
5. What are the ways of better meeting the information needs of guidance counselors in
secondary schools?
Significance of the StudyThis study identified the information needs and information provision to Guidance
counselors in Enugu state secondary schools. It is hoped that the results of this study shall be of
benefit to various groups of people in a number of ways. The study will be significant to the
government, guidance counselors, local education authorities, policy makers, and information
providers and also to other researchers.
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To government, it will inform the government on the extent to which the schools are
provided with adequate and well qualified guidance counselors capable of handling adolescents
in secondary schools with their complex problems. It is hoped that the result of this study will
expose to them the importance of information to guidance counselors in secondary schools in
the implementation of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria. The study will expose to
government the need for in service training, workshops, and conferences for the guidance
counselors for effective counseling so that the guidance counselors will be equipped with
knowledge on how to use the available information resources. The government should by this
study, be aware of the need for adequate funding of the school libraries, public libraries, and
academic libraries and other agencies to enable them meet up with the challenges.. The result
of this study will help government, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to
identify better methods of providing information to this group of people and also to employ
professional guidance counselors so that they can be distributed to secondary schools where
there services are needed. The result will reveal the problems encountered in the process of
meeting their needs. As such the libraries and government will embark on a vigorous
programme aimed at surmounting these obstacles. Moreover the study will provide strategies,
which they will find useful for addressing the problems of secondary schools guidance
counselors information need in Enugu State.
The study exposed the attitudinal dimensions of guidance counselors to the information
they need and the extent these information are provided. It will inform the local education
authorities and the school authority on the extent to which information is needed by guidance
counselors to discharge their duties more effectively and the urgent need to take appropriate
steps towards providing access to information. This can be done through provision of both
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academic library, school library, and public library as it will enable them to acquire necessary
information materials, especially those concerning guidance counselors. This study is also
expected to help them to promote careers in educational services in school through the
establishment of career resource centers in all local education authorities.
To the ministry of education, the result will expose to them a better approach to use in
addressing the information needs of this group of people. The result of this study is expected to
assist the post-primary school management board to provide a better approach to addressing the
issues of training and deploying more guidance counselors to schools. .
To the Guidance Counselors, this study will be of immense importance to them because it
will create awareness in them as to the importance of information in facilitating their
assignment. It is expected to find out the strategies that could be adopted in enhancing their
areas of information need and that will help to create awareness and sensitize the guidance
counselors on how best to search for the information materials that will help to meet their needs.
The result will also examine areas of guidance counselors’ needs which will enable the
government and non-governmental organizations to be better equipped to support them.
The result of this study will expose the problems encountered in the process of meeting
their needs as such both the school authority , local education authority, and government will
embark on vigorous programmes encountered aimed at surmounting these obstacles . It will
serve as an operational guideline for meeting the information needs of guidance counselors. It
will be of importance to information providers of all categories. This is because it will expose
areas of information needing of their clients particularly guidance counselors’ information
needs.
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This study will also be of benefit to guidance and counseling students, and other
researchers who may be working in related areas to select similar topics for further research.
Scope of the Study
This study is aimed at ascertaining the information needs of guidance counselors in
secondary school and the extent these information needs are met. This study will cover only the
professional guidance counselors from secondary schools in Enugu state of Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The related literature of information needs and information provision to guidance
counselors of secondary schools in Enugu State of Nigeria will be reviewed under the following
sub-headings;
Conceptual Framework
Concept of guidance and counseling
Concept and characteristics of adolescence
Information needs of guidance counselors
Sources of Information for Guidance Counselors
Problems Facing Guidance Counselors in Meeting Their Information Needs
Strategies for Enhancing Guidance Counselors Access to Information
Review of Empirical Studies
Summary of the Literature Review
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Conceptual Framework
Concept of guidance and counselingGuidance is a programme of services to individual students based upon the needs of each
student, an understanding of his immediate environment, and the influences of the factors on the
student and the unique feature of each school. Guidance is designed to help each student adjust
to his environment, develop the ability to set realistic goals for himself, and improve his total
educational programme (Isakson and Mink, 1963). Guidance can be defined as a process,
developmental in nature, by which an individual is assisted to understand, accept and utilize his
abilities, aptitudes, interests and attitudinal patterns in relation to his aspirations (Zeran and
Ricco, in . Guidance also deals with a large number of people in a teaching situation. Okon
(1980) defines guidance as giving assistance to individuals to come to understand who they are
as individuals, become aware of their personal characteristics(values, abilities, aptitudes,
strengths and weaknesses); understand the world around them and the people with whom they
interact. Guidance forms part of pupils’ personal services in schools while counseling is part of
the guidance programme.
There are three broad categories of guidance and counseling. They are educational
guidance, vocational guidance, and personal-social guidance. Educational guidance is concerned
with educational, school and academic programme and so aims at helping individual to make
adequate plans, choices and decisions pertaining to educational goals. It involves knowing the
subject title, need for a time table, educational opportunities within one’s localities, course
requirements, textbooks needed, jamb problems, extra-mural/evening lessons, how to fill exam
forms, use of school libraries, how to improve reading skills, coping with exam stress and
anxiety, how to pass examination etc. Vocational guidance aims at providing adequate
information of work. The ultimate aim of vocational guidance is to match the intellectual,
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educational and personality characteristics known to determine success in particular career and
job .With the anticipated increase in the number of school subjects, choice of subjects will
become more complex for secondary school students, so vocational guidance will help the
individual to make proper vocational adjustment. Personal guidance on the other hand aims at
assisting the individual to develop a healthy attitude towards self and others. Most when they
leave there homes to a new environment have traumatic experience and in the process become
maladjusted and lose confidence in themselves and in their abilities, because of various personal-
social problems such as parental conditions at home, academic problems, marital problems,
family, family emotional, financial, sexual and other sources of discomfort. Thus it should
enable the individual to understand himself better, how to deal with exam anxiety, increase self-
understanding, self confidence, respect for others, cope with inflation, retrenchment, dishonesty,
vandalistic attitudes and envy.
Counseling, on the other hand, is defined as a process whereby one person assists the
other in a person-to-person or face-to-face relationship. This points to the fact that counseling
unlike guidance, is individualized in practice. The assistance may take many forms. It may be
educational, vocational, social, recreational, emotional and or moral. Counseling is a process by
which an individual is stimulated to:
1. Evaluate himself and his opportunities:
2. Make a feasible choice in the light of his unique characteristics and opportunities.
3. Accept responsibility for his choice and
4. Initiate a course of action consonant with his choice.
Goldberg (1980) defined counseling as a systematic exploration of self or environment by
a client with the aid of a counselor to clarify understanding of environmental alternatives so that
xxv
behavior modification or decisions are made on the bases of greater cognitive and effective
understanding. Olayinka (1988) sees counseling as a dynamic and purposeful relationship
between two people in which procedure vary with the nature of the students needs but in which
there is always natural participants by the counselor and the student with the focus upon self
clarification and self determination by the student. These definitions point to the fact that
counseling is an educational service that could help individuals reach their full potentials.
Olayinka opined that students need counseling at various levels of their educational development
because most of the times, they feel unhappy, unable to meet their needs, perplexed,
disappointed confused and frustrated especially when they experience failure in their studies.
A counselor is somebody who is professionally trained and who is capable of being
regarded as a special kind of teacher, and his major role is to assist an individual, through the
counseling relationship, to outline his own resources and his environmental opportunities in the
process of self-understanding, planning, decision-making, and coping with problems relative to
his developmental needs and to his educational and vocational activities. The counselor
according to Gesinde (1980) is a person whose characteristics are described by many writers as
social, intelligent, interested in people, enterprising, sincere, stable, objective, calm,
broadminded etc. In addition to that characteristics, a counselor must be trained in the field of
counseling. This is why Ifelunni (1997), defined the counselor as trained expert with enough
psychology necessary to understand and predict human behavior. In addition to psychology, he
is trained personnel in test construction and administration, practicum, as well as enough theories
needed to understand client’s problems and being in a position to proffer assistance. Also in
defining the word counselor, Denga (1983), said that he is “a staff member with specialized
skills who provides assistance to individual students and their parents in making decisions that
xxvi
ensure an efficient and orderly progression of the student through the various stages of his
growth and development. They promote the academic, career, personal, and social development
of children and youth. School counselors help students evaluate their abilities, interests, talents,
and personalities to develop realistic academic and career goals. Counselors use interviews,
counseling sessions, interest and aptitude assessment tests, and other methods to evaluate and
advise students. Akinade (2001) defined counseling skills as special abilities counselors acquire
posses and use in their profession. Lauver and Harvey in Kolo (1991) also said that “skills are
needed to perform intentionally, sensitively and creatively in the counselor’s role so that the
client’s goals are met’’. Often, counselors work with students who have academic and social
development problems or other special need.
To achieve the objectives of the National Policy on Education, the secondary school
counselor provides services to help teachers gain acquaintance with their pupils as unique,
distinct and dynamic individuals. For instance he assist teachers to evaluate his pupils’ progress,
give improved instruction, point out students who need remedial instruction and help in applying
aptitudes, achievement and diagnostic tests according to the needs of each student. The school
counselor monitors the educational progresses of each child to enable him/her derive optimal
benefit from schooling. Through effective use of cumulative record, the counselor can detect,
early enough, pupils who may need remedial courses in certain subjects such as math’s or
English and approach qualified personnel to provide necessary instruction.
Guidance is designed to help each student adjust to his environment, develop the ability
to set realistic goals for himself, realizes his potentials in obtaining these goals, integrate these
new experiences with his concept of self and improve the total educational programme.
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Guidance includes all those services guidance counselors can provide for secondary school
children.
Counselling on the other hand is part of a guidance programme and is defined as a
process whereby one person assists the other in a person to person or face to face relationship.
This points to the fact that counseling unlike guidance, is individualized in practice. Through
counseling, pupil problem are adequately taken care of. The pupil in a counseling relationship
has the opportunity to express his desires, motivations, and feelings. He takes the counselor into
confidence when outlining his problems.
Mallum Y. A (2000), outlined professional services of guidance counselors as follows:
1. Counselling services
2. .Information services
3 Orientation
4 Placement services
5. Referal services
6. Follow-up service
These are important and inevitable services which are designed to cater for the
effective/emotional needs of students. A student may be more receptive to the curriculum if his
emotional needs are met. This service is better provided by the school counselor who has been
trained in this aspect. It can be provided in to individuals or in groups.
The word adolescence comes from a Greek word‚ adolescere which means to grow to
maturity. Adolescence is a period in the developmental stage of a human being when an
individual is faced with the problem of shedding the relatively comfortable role of a child for
that of a reasonable adult. It is a transition stage, a difficult stage and a delicate stage that needs
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to be handled with caution by both the adolescents and all those who have influence over him,
especially the parents. Hall in Shertzer and Stone (1976) described adolescence as a period of
storm and stress. Adolescence is a period when people begin to assert themselves in various
ways by ‘throwing away’’ tradition in general and questioning the teachings of parents, teachers
and other authority figures. The adolescent wishes to control his own life but finds life full of
frustrating obstacles. He may be aggressive or rebellious one day, and cooperative and
affectionate the next day. Often this situation leads to violence. Smith (1988) defined
adolescence as a period in which a person moves out of the home circle and becomes mentally,
socially and emotionally independent. This period usually starts when the individual is 12 years
and lasts till he or she is 18 years. During this period, rapid development takes place and the
society to which the person belong ceases to regard him/her as a child. At the same time, the
society does not accord him full adult status, roles and function. This situation is critical to the
life of adolescence who is neither children nor adult. As the child matures, he/she seeks new
freedom and in finding it, becomes accountable to the society to which he/she belongs
(Nwabachili and Egbue 1993). As adolescents search for personal identity, they try to synthesize
the values and views of persons close to them, such as parents, teachers and peers, and put the
thesis into a cohesive self-image. When these values are not co-relating, adolescents may likely
experience role confusion as they try out different social roles one after another. According to
Okeke (1990), Hurlock (1973), and Ausubel (1954), as adolescents are experiencing role
confusion, adults should assist them by giving them accurate information. Adolescents should be
told about the changes in their physical structure, which is the normal biological change every
human being must experience in one way or the other. Hurlock (1973) stressed that through
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observation, the adolescents should see that the period is just a stage in life and that development
is a life-long process.
The adolescents are faced with a lot of confusion. Although adolescent period is a period
of re-examining beliefs as well as challenges the values of parents and society most of them do
not deviate from the important issues as given to them by their parents. Erickson (1968) asserted
that the hazard of adolescence is role confusion in the search for personal identity. During this
period, adolescents encounter such problems as falling in love with the opposite sex and changes
in their physical features (male and female alike). With reference to what children are expected
to know, rapid scientific and technological advancement in the society makes parental
knowledge obsolete for these adolescents.
When adolescents are corrected after exhibition of unacceptable social behavior, they feel
rejected. They also become over sensitive to adult’s suggestion or advice regarding the type of
friends they keep, the type of dresses they wear and appropriate use of time. They usually react
to such advice by describing adults as people operating in the olden days mentality or papas and
mamas who are‚out dated’ in the current social changes. On the other hand, adults beat, flog,
scold and use abusive words on them rather than enforcing conformity to accepted values in the
society (Okeke 1990). The bodily changes which occur as individual grows affect his or her
physical, social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, sexual maturity and moral behavior.
Erickson (1968) proposed a series of eight stages of human development, which he called
psychological stages. He believed that the psychological development of individuals depends on
the social relationship established at various levels of one’s life. At each level or stage, there are
special problems to be encountered. Prominent among these problems is role confusion or search
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for personal identity which occurs during adolescent. In fact, the period of adolescents is a
critical one with complex problems associated with it
Puberty is a period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation that occurs mainly in early
adolescence. However, puberty is not a single sudden event .It is part of a gradual process and it
is difficult to pinpoint its beginning and its end. Except for menarche, which occurs rather late in
puberty, no single marker herald’s puberty? For boys, the first whisker or first wet dream is an
event that could mark its appearance, but both may go unnoticed.
Behind the whisker and widening of hips in girls is a flood of hormones, powerful
chemical substances secreted by the endocrine glands and carried through the body by the
bloodstream. The concentration of certain hormones increase dramatically during adolescence,
Body image, dating interest, and sexual behaviors are affected by pubertal change. In thinking
about puberty’s effects, keep in mind that an adolescent’s world involves cognitive and social
changes as well as physical changes. As with all period of development, these process work in
concert to produce who we are in adolescence.
Information is an indispensable resource for any academic endeavor. Information has
remained one of the most valuable assets in management and decision- making. It has been
accepted widely as the essential feature of production, consumption and exchange in the modern
time. Opeke (2004) posits that the source of wealth and power is increasingly information and
human mental creativity as compared with physical resources. The implication of this assertion is
that the application of information and information bearing resource to the management of
human society is at the centre of the growth of civilization. Uhegbu (2001) defined information
as power by which an individual or group of people can find their ways in a social relationship
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Curras (1987) conceives information as a stimulus and its accompanying response and
secondly as a process of decision-making. Thus as a stimulus, information can be described as a
response caused by external stimulus that conditions a person’s behavior or the amount of impact
received from the exterior that modifies our knowledge state. Thus, information can be described
as a process by which we receive the event of the external, giving us the opportunity to have
informed judgments and decisions.
Faibisoff and Ely in Afolabi (2003) argued that information is a symbol or a set of
symbols which has the potential for meaning. Information is therefore a unique and critical
phenomenon without which human life may be heading for crises and isolation. It has focus and
a driving force for change. In perception, information attracts an avalanche of viewpoints from
which its usefulness, relevance or irrelevance, contents and medium of dissemination may be
understood.
Information from the perspective of social concept is nothing but a class of events. It is
the alteration of the image which occurs when it receives a message. It is an event that occurs at
some unique point in time and space to serve a particular purpose. From the social perspective,
Pat in Afolabi (2003) explained that information is a source of change which conjures change in
the mind of the recipient a completely new opinion in what hitherto he was aware of. It motivates
the receiver to aggregate various situations into coherent whole for sound decision. The Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English (1974) further states that information means
informing or being informed, something told news or knowledge given. The implication here is
that information is a change agent, a reinforcement of ideas and opinions Webster Reference
Dictionary of English language defines information as news or intelligence communicated by
word or in writing, facts or data; knowledge derived from reading or instruction or gathered in
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any way. This implies that reports and stories received from neighbors and friends and things
read on the pages of newspapers and books are information
Nzotta (1987) also views information from a social angle. He conceives of the social
value of information from the angle that it is all about facts gathered from various sources. The
facts according to him can be in the form of written or spoken statements or even nonverbal
gestures. They can be presented through people, speaking, writing or gestures to one another,
books, newspapers, magazines, films, letters, diaries, radio and television etc. It is clear from this
definition of Nzotta that he held a similar view with Webster Reference Dictionary of the
English language in its definition of information.
The general concept acknowledges that while information in itself is not knowledge it
provides essential raw material, which in due course can lead to new knowledge through the
restructuring of existing knowledge. The social concept further argues that information is meant
to change or increase understanding of something. Information changes a person’s state of
knowledge. On a subject, it could be textual or numerical, it could also be news on promotions
and movement of staff conditions of service, politics, price hike, employment opportunity, death,
child birth, church service, new technology, automobile and all matters which affect or influence
individual in the conduct of their businesses.
Adeniji (2004) stated that everybody needs information to reach his or her potential and
that the more information is available to a system about itself and about its environment, the
more reliable it becomes and the greater its chances of survival. Information is a resource source
that must be acquired and used by guidance counselors if they must be useful to their clients or
relevant among their colleagues. Afolabi (2003) reasoned that information is a conveyor, a
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change agent, a reinforcement of ideas and opinions. This means that with useful information,
someone’s behavior can drastically change from good to bad or vice visa.
Ajibero (1993) stated that information is data of value in planning, decision-making, and
evaluation of any programme. Information is not a physical thing that can be seen and touched,
rather, it is an abstract thing, a fact, an idea or data; it is interwoven with data and knowledge
Uwen (1990), information can be defined as data that have been subjected to some processing
functions capable of answering a user’s query, be it recorded, summarized or simply collected,
that would help in decision-making. One then understands that information is a finished product
ready for use, the source and media of communication not withstanding. In support of the view
of Uhegbu, Abdullahi and Haruna (2006) citing Aguolu (1989) saw information as structured
data which are needed to take appropriate decisions. He stated further that when information is
not available at the appropriate time, its value becomes zero. Information can be seen as
knowledge in the form of facts and opinion, which is transmitted through a medium from one
person to another. Information is not a physical commodity but an abstract thing, a fact an idea
or data; it is interwoven with data and knowledge.
Anyepeku (1986), clearly reported that information is man’s related knowledge in all
forms and all sources, which will help users to make rational decisions. Ozioko (2007) viewed
that knowledge of every subject to man centers on the availability of information. Todd (1995)
opinioned that information is used attributively for objects that have the quality of imparting
knowledge. It exists in easily recognizable things such as books, video, and multimedia that can
be stored, exchanged, transmitted, lost and destroyed. Todd (1995) in Obidike resumed that
although things of information are important; the central components of this perspective are
people and their knowledge structure. knowledge structure in the real sense are what people
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already know and are capable of being modified or transformed by information (Brookes, 1990).
These views of information centers on the effect of information rather than on what it actually is.
Laloo (2002) in his own opinion about the concept of information identified the following
properties of information as;
a. It is not consumed in its use.
b. It can be shared by many and can be used simultaneously without any loss to anyone
c. It is the most democratic resource in that it can be consumed by the poor and the rich alike
depending upon the intake capacity.
d. Information is dynamic, ever-growing and continuing and no final word is said or will ever
be said on any aspect of it.
According to Rogas 1982; Brophy 1986, stated that to be effective, should have the
following qualities: accessibility, precision, timeless, flexibility, unbiasness, comprehensive-
ness, compatibility, clarity, verifiability, quantifiability, and relevance. It is clear that with the
above strong quality that information is a strong pillar, which cannot be ignored by any
individual, group of people, organization and government. To this end Adeniji (2002) stated that
every body needs information to reach his or her potential and that the more information is
available to a system about itself and about its environment, the more reliable it becomes and the
greater chances of survival.
Information needs of individual differ according to their work role. Crawford (1984) and
Laloo (2002) agree that information need is a difficult concept to define, isolate and especially to
measure. Information need involves a cognitive process which may operate on different levels of
consciousness and hence may not be clear even to the enquirer himself.
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For information need to make plausible meaning, it is necessary to define the term
“need”. Prooter in Afolabi (2003) defined need as a condition of lacking or wanting something
necessary or very useful. It is a state of deprivation or physical state as a circumstance in which
something is lacking or necessary and requires some cause of action. According to Aninweze
(2004), ‘need represents an imbalance or lack of adjustment between the present condition or
situation or status quo and a new or changed set of condition assumed to be more desirable. More
especially, need may be looked at as the difference between what is and what ought to be, hence
always implying a gap between these two conditions. Longman Dictionary of contemporary
English also defined need’ as a condition of taking or wanting something necessary or very
useful. It is a state of deprivation or physical states as a circumstance in which something is
lacking or necessary this, requiring some cause of action. Laloo (2002) stated that need means
what a person ought to have, circumstances under which something is lacking, that which one
cannot do without” and that which is necessary for an organism’s health and wellbeing.
Information needs means an imbalance existing between what a person knows and what a
person is supposed to know. An In order word there is a gap existing between present situation
and the more desirable situation. At the personal level, we need a great deal of information in all
our daily activities of working, schooling and handling day -to -day- problems. 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 labor, and that an investment in
information increases productivity’. Guidance Counselor’s information needs mean all the vital
knowledge concerning academic, vocational, and personal social counseling to the child.
xxxvi
Information needs, means an imbalance existing between what a person knows and what a
person is supposed to know.
Tague (1976) has provided six types of information need.: social or pragmatic
information needs-required for coping with day to day life; Recreational information needs;
Professional information needs; Educational information needs; Success information needs for
employment opportunities, self improvement (dress, speech, personal carriage etc) Specialized
information needs-(for the physically handicapped, emotionally, disturbed, geographically
isolated and non-English speaking groups etc). Coover (1967) and Aboyede (1987) stressed that
information needs relate first to the main characteristics of the people- what they are and what is
important to them and should reflect the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of
their development and aspiration..
Olayinka (1984) has stipulated areas of information needs to the guidance counselors;
According to him, guidance counselors need information in establishing guidance activities such
as orientation program for the new students ,establishing school clubs, societies and the school
Choir, Provision of study skills(how to study effectively), how to use the library effectively,
record keeping services; the cumulative record services, provision of remedial Courses for
students in their weak subjects, provision of Guidance services; occupational information,
educational information, Moral/Religious talks and songs on morality, sex Education, Dignity of
Labor, Obedience to Constituted authorities, Organization and execution of excursions to
educational and vocational institutions or places of interests, Motivation of students during prize
giving day, Participation in the selection of students from junior secondary to senior secondary
school. Darwin in Obidike (2007) further notes that information need arises when a person’s
xxxvii
cognitive structure is not adequate to a task or a person wishes to resolve a problem in his/her
state of knowledge is insufficient, uncertain or in conflict.
Sources of Information to Guidance CounselorsInformation is very crucial in every research endeavor. Timely, accurate and current
information is therefore imperative at every stage of any research work. According to Nzotta
(1985), adequate provision of information is the soul of research. Information comes in different
formats and sources. These sources could be formal and informal, print or electronic or both and
researchers use them. The library stocks these materials for the researchers to use. To meet the
information needs of the secondary school guidance counselors, the school libraries as well as
the academic library are primarily responsible for the collection and dissemination of the
information in the school. The school library provides information to its students, staff, and
others. The information that is made available to users is usually presented in the form of printed
text, graphics sound, animation or still pictures. This presentation can be enhanced by the use of
appropriate technology. Oni (2000) submits that information technology comprises all the
electronic infrastructure and facilities employed by libraries to improve and provide efficient
services.
Most people seek information from their friends, neighbors, relation, colleagues, and
groups meetings such as religious groups, cooperative societies/associations. This diversification
in sources and formats affects the manner by which guidance counselors seek information. When
the information sought is complex and cannot be easily found, the information seeker resorts to
the libraries.
With the advent of new communication technology such as internet, many professionals,
researchers and highly placed individuals seek a greater proportion of their information through
xxxviii
the net. A network is a technology through which information can be provided to guidance
counselors. A network is a way of connecting computers so that they communicate, share
resources like printers and storage space. According to Oketunji (2002), networks come in all
shapes and sizes. He (oketunji) further explained that network allow computer users to share
expensive computer equipments. For instance equipment like printer or very large storage disc
can be shared by networking. Some other types allow users to share programs between
computers and to take to each other using computerized massages called electronic mail or more
simply mail. Such networks can be used to move files from one computer to another called local
network (LAN). With the availability of these technologies, the guidance counselors can have
greater proportion information through the net. The numerous advantages in the use of new
technologies in information provision and handling cannot be over-emphasized. Writing in this
vein, Madu and DIrisu (2002) submitted that libraries, information scientist, archivists’ policy
maker, university administrators recorded managers etc can no longer ignore the fact that the use
of information technology in the handling of information has come to stay. They added that
innovation in computer and telecommunication technologies have resulted in major changes in
basic library operation such as circulatory reference services, cataloguing, classification and
collection development (ordering and acquisition)
Beside, Afolabi (2003) citing Vickery and vickery noted that interest in the information
sought, authenticity of the source, motives and past experience in similar information content do
affect seeking pattern. Utor (2008) citing Beal (1997) reported that, the need to study information
seeking behavior of any group of persons is to improve on already existing services or creating
new agencies to cope with all the information needs we feel are not satisfied but should be met.
xxxix
The likely sources of information to guidance counselors is through formal conversations with
the clients, colleagues, newspapers, and magazines, posters, internet etc.
Harris and Dewdney’s (1994) asserted that people tend to seek information that is easily
accessible, preferably from interpersonal sources such as friends, relatives or co-workers rather
than from institutions or organizations, unless (an important qualification) there is a particular
reason for avoiding interpersonal sources’. may be re-assed .
Problems Facing Guidance Counselors in Meeting their Information Needs
Even though the world is experiencing information explosion, Nigeria is experiencing
information poverty. Just like any other, the paradox in the establishment of school library is the
same; it needs its own board to establish its existence and sustenance. Among the problems
facing the guidance counselors in information provision are perhaps lack of adequate
information. This may be due to the failure of our library professional to provide complete access
to those information resources due to poor indexing, abstracting and bibliographic work on their
part. Ochogwu (1993) stated that information materials are not often available to communities
because of cost of access to it. In order words, he said, while some of the information materials
may be available, they were unaffordable because of high cost of purchasing them. These
include, for example, newspapers, magazines, and even books. These materials, according to him
are very expensive. These libraries therefore find it difficult to acquire, organize and disseminate
them to their users because of their high prizes. There has always been that problem of
inaccessibility to library materials. When this happens, user get frustrated at certain points of
their search for information. Murfin (1980), categorizes these accessibility problems into four
(1) Acquisition failure-where the needed materials are not acquired
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(2) Circulation failure- where the materials are already checked out of the library
(3) Library operation failure- where the materials are mutilated damaged or lost.
(4) User error- where the materials are in the library but readers fail to retrieve them.
The problem of inaccessibility of materials can always be traced to the entire library
system. The assumption that once library materials are acquired, that they automatically become
available to the reader, is very wrong. There must be strong effort by the library management to
achieve effective use of acquired materials. Utor (2004) agreed that the non-availability of
information materials is a barrier to effective information transfer to the grassroots and this
problem is caused largely by high cost of information materials. He also maintains that absence
of reading culture, general ignorance as to what materials contained with the relevant
information pertinent to one’s particular need is another factor that hinders access to information.
Adeyemi (1991) enumerated some factors, which incapacitate users in utilizing information as
follows; Availability and timeliness of information, relevance and repackaging,
inadequate/unavailable training to recognize information as a vital component in the process of
policy analysis, political considerations, which negate the desire of the civil servant to base his
decisions on verified information and government policy, which equates information to
propaganda and public enlightenment. Other obstacles to information accessibility in developing
countries as enumerated by Turner (1968) include poverty, illiteracy, and lack of awareness of
the need for information; geographical distance between nations and under-development, lack of
basic infrastructure .These constraints are minimal in developed and industrialized countries
where basic infrastructures and facilities exist and majority of the populace are literate and
educated and are able to exploit information resource systematically.
xli
Edoka (2000) blames this condition on grossly inadequate budgetary allocations for
running the libraries .Spiral inflammatory trends, with the resulting severe cut in government
subvention for library and information services, these bad conditions results from hash economic
realities dominant in most African countries including Nigeria.
Though information is widely recognized as a catalyst for both national and personal
development (Ifla ,1988), many people, are unaware of the need for information materials
available free in libraries and information centers .This is because the availability of information
does not mean its accessibility. The wealth of information available or in existence in the world
today is tremendous and the sheer volume of it, in myriads of formats, makes it impossible for
one to have complete access to it. Provision of specific information required by guidance
counselors may be hindered by lack of current bibliographic sources to identify or lack of funds
to acquire relevant information materials .poverty is a prevalent characteristic of most
developing countries and moreover much of their scarce funds is allocated to other social
services like health ,government ,education, housing, agriculture, transportation, etc, which are
given priority over information systems like libraries, documentation and information centers.
Poor communication and poor transportation facilities inhibit information transfer and
accessibility also lack of good roads transportation, postal and telecommunication services is
great impediment to free flow of information
Strategies for Enhancing Guidance Counselors Access to Infomation Libraries and other information system have a vital role to play in the realization of the
goals and objective of guidance and counseling services by providing information necessary for
their sustainability and it is affair assumption that a library is indispensable to the effective
functioning of any guidance and counseling services considering the complexities of modern day
xlii
society. Today the changes that have rocked all spheres of life have brought with them multitude
of problems from multitude of sources.
The guidance counselors are in constant need of accurate, reliable and up-to date
information of all kinds usually within a very limited time frame. The school library must
therefore identify with guidance counselor in the school to know the problem he faces to be able
to serve him with maximum effectiveness. The selection of information must be exhaustive
enough and must be aimed at completeness and consciousness’ (Utor, 1998). IFLA (2000) stated
that library education programme have focused on developing physical collections of books and
other materials in library buildings staffed by people who have learned to select, acquire,
organize, retrieve and circulate these materials. Today, the emphasis is on the individual client
and the concentration should be on information provision in a variety of contexts. It seems from
all indications that librarians have been managing documents instead of information. It shows
that the skills in which they have been trained have been those related to document management.
Myburgh and Ninon (2002) observed that, to be able to remain relevant in this knowledge age,
library schools should focus on training librarians as managers of information rather than
managers of documents. There is so much information being churned out to day that a mere
provision of documents will be a waste of time to the clientele. Okoye (2007) has suggested that
for improved services, there should among other things be on-print materials like computers and
so on should be provided. The stock should be organized on the shelves using standard rules.
Aina (1981) described the library as the heart of an academic institution” According to
him, the library provides the needed information to users. To meet the user needs, it will require
librarians to know what information sources exist, which ones can be reached and how new
sources can be created and maintained. Anyaoku (1994) explained that the user effort at using
xliii
the library are not well enough, without sufficient working knowledge of its available tools and
resources. The assumption that once library materials are acquired, that they automatically
become available to the reader, is very wrong. There must be strong effort by the library
management to achieve effective use of acquired materials.
The state library board should organize workshops and induction courses for library
personnel. Library staff should embark on user’s education for her services such as SDI,
document delivery service, inter-library loan to educate their staff on how best to use the library
services. The boards also should distribute books in various subjects free to schools. Sometimes,
they give books out on loan for specific periods, and occasionally operate mobile library
services. Similar visits with government parastatals, publishing houses, newspapers houses,
broadcasting stations and international organizations have their dividends. This will help the
guidance counselors in educational counseling.
Many posters, charts and pamphlets from government parastatals, can be useful study
aids in the classroom. It is possible for the librarian to arrange with newspaper publishers for the
purchase of past issues of their newspaper at nominal prices. After they have been read, they can
be bound according to monthly accumulations. Their contents can be indexed. These indexes and
the cumulated bound volumes can be used for reference services. Also cuttings can be made and
various files of these cuttings kept assisting students in projects and other assignments. The
guidance counselors can use these materials to create awareness to the students of important
events for instance awareness of HIV/AIDS programme
Library materials are meant to be a source of knowledge and assistance for guidance and
counseling considering the complexities of the modern day society. Material resources are the
stock available in the library. Variations (print and non-print) in stock formats reflect variations
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in student learning skills and student learning styles. Some students excel in visual learning,
others in literary graphic symbols learning, some in tangible, self involved stimulation learning,
still others in discovery and problem solving methods. Education per say, requires variety of
formats, to acquire the necessary information (Ogunseye, 1993). School library should be well
maintained in terms of stock to be able to provide adequate information materials for guidance
counselors. According to Akande (2001) the school library assists teaching by storing
instructional materials, magazines, newspaper, journals and reference materials. The library
stock should include all subject fields, syllabuses, interdisciplinary work, new technology,
illustrations, text books, conference proceedings and seminar papers should be adequately
provided, a range of other non-book materials like; transparences, films, tape, slides, recordings,
other audio-visual materials and other supportive machines. It is essential that these are kept up
to date. Efforts should be made by the institute management to provide information facilities for
the library and link it to the internet for staff use. IFLA (2000) stated that library education
programme have focused on developing a physical collection of books and other materials in
library buildings, staffed by people who have learned to select, acquire, organize, retrieve and
circulate these materials.
Information technology should include, computers and internet connectivity, which
searching should be seen as information sourcing and retrieval skills which students are
supposed to acquire. Tapes of folklores and materials for social studies could be produced from
resource people in the community if there is establishment of rapport between the school and its
community. The materials are then made available and accessible to the staff and students in an
organized form. The books should be stamped, accessioned, catalogued, classified and processed
for students.
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Principals, school administrators, parent’s teachers association, should endeavor to pay
more attention and allocate more funds to guidance and counseling programme. There should be
prudent management of the available finance. Federal government agencies, international and
philanthropic organizations are always willing to help if assistance is requested. Guidance
counselors should be encouraged and sponsored to attend professional associations meetings,
seminars, workshops, and to subscribe to their professional journals and participate in an
invisible college where useful information can be obtained to enhance their work.
Some studies have suggested so many strategies that will help for improved services to
users. Some of these strategies should be adopted to help in serving the information needs of
guidance counselors. In summary the strategies are as follows:
Improve level of funding the school library
Skillful repackaging of information so as to save user’s time
Computerization and network of public library and information centers.
Increased adoption of information of information technologies
Regular updating of information of information resource in school libraries
Constant training and retaining of information practitioners.
Review of Related Empirical StudiesA significant body of literature exists on the information needs of different user groups
across disciplines. Obidike (2007) studied the information needs and information-seeking
behavior of social work lecturers and students in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A total of 300
respondents formed the sample population for the study. The instruments used for data collection
were questionnaire and scheduled interview. Data collected was analyzed using modified Likert
scale. In the study, it was discovered that Social Work lecturers need information to obtain
knowledge, current research in their field and also to get materials in order to update their lecture
xlvi
note for the students. Similarly, the study also showed that lecture notes and also for counseling
and psychology for individual, families and groups. Their sources of information included;
internet services, discussion with colleagues, consultation with experts in the field, review
articles, journals and book review.
Fakhoury (2001) in a national cross-sectional survey investigated the communication and
information needs of mental health counselors in the United Kingdom as well as the difficulty
these professionals experienced in obtaining help from other mental health care providers.
Mailed questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 400 registered counselors. A total of 230
counselors returned the questionnaire, for a response rate of 58 percent. Descriptive statistics,
correlations, and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the results. The
respondents reported being in contact mostly with other counselors, general practitioners, and
psychiatrists. Most of the respondents (80 percent) reported other counselors to be quite or
extremely helpful when consulted; the proportions were much lower for other types of
practitioners, especially general practitioners and psychiatrists. Reported barriers to coordination
of counseling services included lack of time and communication problems with other
professionals. A total of 160 respondents (70 percent) reported not having the necessary training
or skills for managing severe cases of mental illness, and 168 (73 percent) indicated that they had
a need for information about mental illness. Predictors of information needs were a lack of the
necessary skills for managing severe cases, contact with mostly other counselors, and a desire for
information about illness, the services of voluntary agencies (agencies with charity status and
other nonstatutory organizations), and mental health law. This survey highlighted the importance
of meeting the information, communication, and training needs of mental health counselors in the
United Kingdom in order for counselors to provide high-quality counseling services.The survey
xlvii
shows that mental health counselors in the united kingdom need more training,treatment, and
mental health law .Eforts should be made to increase counsellors access to and communications
with other health care professionals and other health ractitioners.
Shanmugam (1999) investigated the information seeking-behaviour of trainee teachers
from two teacher training colleges within the state of Johor, Malaysia. A total of 197 pre-service
teachers from the fifth semester have been studied. The data-collecting instrument consisted of a
questionnaire. The findings revealed that a majority of the trainees' information needs are
focused around their course work and there is a low awareness of information needs that are not
related to teaching. More than half of the trainees moderately expressed positive feelings for
seeking information. As for negative feelings, the feeling of ‘desperate’ was most prevalent.
Trainees largely preferred informal and interpersonal sources. Renowned printed sources such as
journals, encyclopedias, and indexes recorded a low frequency of use. The trainees favored
sources in Malay language to English. Even though the student teachers rated public libraries as
excellent, they frequented college library most despite rating it as the third best. Accessibility
was considered as the most important external attribute of information. Currency and relevancy
of information were given high priority amongst the internal attributes. Accessibility to sources
and using the OPAC were cited as major problems when locating information. Investigations
showed that computers were largely used for typing rather than for seeking and processing
information.
Sanya (2005) looked at the knowledge, attitude and perception of teachers who see a lot
of epileptics relates on daily bases and have a high influence on students with epilepsy. Self-
administered questionnaires were used to obtain information from 460 randomly selected
teachers in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Kwara State-middle belt of
xlviii
Nigeria. The response rate was 75%. Almost all of the teachers had heard about epilepsy, but
their awareness does not equate with the acceptance and understanding of epilepsy. About 30.5%
believed that it could be contracted through the saliva of an epileptic, 27.7% thought it was
synonymous with possession with evil spirit, while 10% misunderstood epilepsy for insanity.
Close to one-fifth of the teachers were of the opinion that epileptic students have a below average
mental capacity compared with other students and so cannot attainment the highest possible
education. It was discovered that Negative attitude and bias towards epilepsy is still deeply
ingrained among teachers in Nigeria. Apart from formal education, teachers need to have health
education courses on common disease conditions such as epilepsy that are prevalent in school
age. This might help to reduce prejudice and increase the acceptance of epileptic individuals into
the classroom.
Alderman and Gimped studied the interaction between type of behavior problem and type
of consultant: teachers’ preferences for professional assistance. In this study, 122 teachers
responded to a survey regarding the type of classroom behavior problems for which they would
be most likely to seek assistance from another school professional (consultant) and the
effectiveness of different school-based consultants. Results indicated that teachers are most
likely to seek assistance outside the classroom for aggressive behavior problems and are most
likely to handle inattentiveness, disruptive (but not aggressive) behaviors, and excessive talking
on their own. Overall, teachers indicated only a moderate level of effectiveness for all types of
consultants. Handling the problem in the classroom without assistance from a consultant had a
higher mean effectiveness rating than consulting with various professionals.. Teachers also
respond to open-ended question addressing behaviors contributing to effective consultation and
behavior leading to ineffective consulting in the school system.
xlix
Manuel and Asuquo (2009) did a survey data collected from one thousand secondary and
primary school age cohort on the verge of graduation were analyzed to determine the percept of
their vocational and labor information needs as well as the extent to which the perception of
these needs were color by sex differences. The results of this indicate high levels of vocational
and labor market needs amongst both primary and secondary near –school leavers. The results of
this study also show no significant difference that exist in the mean response scores of male and
female primary and secondary school near –leavers on their perception regarding their vocational
and market needs.
Cameron (2005) studied the Information Needed for Occupational Entry (INFOE) project
incorporated the use of microfilm aperture cards to help students acquire information about local
employment opportunities and qualifications for various occupations, To assess the impact of
project INFOE in pilot schools within the state of Tennessee, information was obtained from
students and counselors concerning the INFOE materials. This data revealed that counselors
generally felt the need for more information on professional type careers. Also a few counselors
expressed a desire for INFOE cards with general information on job interviews and how to select
a career. Student opinion regarding the INFOE materials was gathered by means of a pretest-post
test design. Seventy of the 164 students responding indicated that INFOE materials helped them
select a vocational education course. A major recommendation of the study is that the deck of
job titles should be disseminated to any school in the state that will make effective use of them.
Herr (1981) studied the types and functions of the agencies needing occupational
information for use in career counseling vary greatly. For example, career and guidance
counseling is often supplied by a wise variety of individuals, including general education
teachers, rehabilitation counselors, employment service counselors, comprehensive employment
l
and training act (CETA), counselors vocational education teachers, and school counselors.
Among the forms act such counseling is likely to take are the following: testing, group
counseling, individual counseling, and group guidance. To be of maximum use to the widest
possible audience, an occupational information system designed to aid career. Guidance
counseling efforts must contain information pertaining to occupational and supply, occupational
characteristics, complementary information, and supply and demand analysis. While various
career and labor market information are available from governmental or commercial sources,
much of this information is prepared primarily for distributional purposes and as such, does not
meet the needs of school –based career education and guidance and counseling programs. To fill
the need for information capable of giving students a broad understanding of occupational
structure and points of access to the labor market, states should provide in-service training to
familiarize teachers and counselors with occupational system and should expand delivery of the
system to diverse subpopulation.
Nwokedi and Adah (2009) studied the information needs of Post-Primary school teachers
in Jos Metropolitan. The extent to which the teacher's information needs as identified were being
met by the library available to them in their schools and obstacles faced in making sure that
enough information resources are provided for the teacher were elucidated. The study covered
286 teachers in Jos Metropolitan. The survey method was used for the study. The Instruments
used for data collection were questionnaire, interviews and examination of documents.
Descriptive statistics such as Frequency Counts and Percentages were used to analyze the data.
The Findings revealed that post-primary school teacher in Jos often preferred to have
information resources in their specific fields that text books are mostly used by the teacher, and
there is a serious gross inadequate Library resources and physical facilities in school libraries in
li
Jos. It was therefore, recommended among others that the school libraries should be supplied
with current textbooks. Nevertheless, different subjects should be taken into consideration when
acquired.
Pickett-Schenk, Lippincott, Bennet and Steigman (2005) studied family led education.
According to them, families often do not receive the information that they need to care for their
adult relatives with mental illness. This study examined the effectiveness of a family-led
education intervention, the Journey of Hope, in improving participants' knowledge about mental
illness and its treatment and decreasing their information needs. A total of 462 family members of
adults with mental illness in Louisiana participated in the study; 231 were randomly assigned to
immediate receipt of the Journey of Hope course (intervention group), and 231 were randomly
assigned to a nine-month waiting list for the course (control group). Participants completed in-
person, structured interviews assessing their knowledge of mental illness and problem-solving
skills and their information needs at study enrollment (baseline), three months post-baseline, and
eight months post-baseline. Random regression analyses indicate that at three and eight months
post-baseline, compared with participant aignedt the control group, those in the intervention
group reported greater knowledge gains (beta=.84, p .01) and fewer needs for information on
coping with positive symptoms (beta=-.63, p .05), coping with negative symptoms (beta=-.80, p
.001), problem management (beta=-1.00, p .001), basic facts about mental illness and its
treatment (beta=-.73, p .01), and community resources (beta=-.07, p .05). These significant
differences in knowledge and information needs were maintained over time and were significant
even when controlling for participants' demographic characteristics and their relatives' clinical
characteristics. It was concluded that participation in family-led education interventions, such as
lii
the Journey of Hope, may provide families with the information they need to better cope with
their relative's mental illness.
Saul Becker (2007) studied global perspectives on children’s unpaid caregiving in the
family, Research and policy on young carers in the UK, Australia, the USA and sub- Saharan
Africa. The article provides the first cross-national review and synthesis of available statistical
and research evidence from three developed countries, the UK, Australia and the USA, and from
sub-Saharan Africa, on children who provide substantial, regular or significant unpaid care to
other family members (‘young carers/caregivers’). It uses the issue of young carers as a window
on the formulation and delivery of social policy in a global context. The article examines the
extent of children’s informal caregiving in each country; how young carers differ from other
children; and how children’s caring has been explained in research from both developed and
developing countries. The article includes a review of the research, social policy and service
developments for young carers in each country. National levels of awareness and policy response
are characterized as ‘advanced’, ‘intermediate’, ‘preliminary’ or ‘emerging’. Explanations are
provided for variations in national policy and practice drawing on themes from the globalisation
literature. Global opportunities and constraints to progress, particularly in Africa, are identified.
Kroehn and Wheldake (2006) undertook as their project, the National Youth Roundtable
2005-2006. The National Youth Roundtable 2005-2006 consists of 30 young people from around
Australia who met in Canberra from the 1-9 September 2005. The purpose of this research is to
provide examples of policies and procedures working in practice in Australia at the current time.
As well, the research recognises that a lot more needs to be done to assist young carers and their
families, and aims to assist the Commonwealth Government and Carers Australia to identify the
gaps in service provision for young carers. Young carers mentioned the difficulty of receiving
liii
financial assistance (Carers Payment and Carers Allowance from Centrelink). They also
mentioned the lack of continuity in respite care (would like to have the same person provide care
consistently)The Guide, formulated by Carers Australia, provides information, aimed at helping
teachers understand the special needs of young carers and the challenges that they face,
especially at school. The guide focuses on identifying, understanding and assisting young carers.
Young carers need to be recognised. Many young carers will not identify as such for
various reasons. They need an open door and support that is attentive as well as relevant .Young
people need "time out" - respite from caring for the sake of social and personal development, rest
and relaxation .Lack of support can cause negative outcomes for young people: Emotional/
psychological distress, Nervous exhaustion, Loss of childhood, Sleep deprivation, Interrupted
education through absenteeism
Moore (2006) report is to develop an understanding of the needs and experiences of
young carers in education, and to inform the development of school-based supports for young
carers and their teachers. The aims of this research were to: (i) identify the major issues and
concerns of young carers in the education system, including the barriers to them achieving
satisfactory outcomes in education and receiving appropriate supports and services (including
external referrals); (ii) identify the information needs of teachers and other school staff in
appropriately supporting young carers within the school environment; (iii) identify strategies to
meet the information needs of teachers and the support needs of young carers within educational
settings. Young carers in school requested better financial assistance and/or tutoring services in
order to help them keep up with students without caring responsibilities. Many young carers
report that a lack of sleep has had a big impact on their general wellbeing and restricts them from
connecting to social opportunities such as school and friends. Researchers report that school can
liv
be seen as a place to escape the harsh conditions of the home-life and responsibilities, for young
carers, into 'normality. Young carers requested better understanding of their situation from
teachers and that teachers actively seek to help young careers as they are many times too
embarrassed or preoccupied to seek help. Young carers mentioned that school is the optimal
place for dissemination of information about disability and caring, both for carers and peers.
Young carers mentioned the need for flexibility in school assessments - including the ability to
earn vocational accreditation based on caring work (as is done is some schools), enabling carers
to drop non-compulsory units.
Summary of Literature Review
The researcher has reviewed literature relevant to the information need of different user
groups. The review dwelt on concepts of adolescence, concepts of guidance and counselling, and
concepts of information and information need. It also reviewed library and information sources.
In the course of the review, problems in meeting information needs were identified.
These included such problems as non-availability of materials due to high cost of purchasing
them. Absence of reading culture, general ignorance as to what material contained with the
relevant information pertinent to one’s particular need. In view of this, the review also focused
attention on possible ways and strategies to ameliorate some problems factors identified. The
review also showed that there are information materials on information need in different formats
such as books, monographs, conference proceeding, journals, and students thesis. The review
also showed that there are lots of literature on the internet related to the topic under study. From
the review, it was discovered that guidance counselors do have information needs but most often
their needs are largely unmet. Part of why their needs are unmet is because of the fact that those
that are supposed to be providing these information needs are still using the traditional methods
lv
of acquiring, organizing and disseminating instead of employing the present method of providing
adequate information services, designing new information systems,intervening in the operation
of the existing systems and planning for better programmes. One of the ways of achieving this
goal, is through regular research works and development of the available systems as well as
adequate library management. The review also revealed that inspite of the fact that information
and communication technologies have come to relieve librarians of most of the worries in
information provision, most librarians are hesitant in embracing it.The review has also identified
some problems millitating against the use of the information and communication technologies
for quick information delivery.The review however draws the attention of librarians, the
guidance counsellors, local education authorities, government policy makers and information
providers on the way forward The review show that much literature have been found on the
information need and information seeking behavior of different groups but litle or nothing has
been done on information provision to guidance counselors in secondary schools in Enugu state.
It is this gap that the present work intends to fill.
lvi
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the design of the study, area of study, population of the study,
sample and sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument,
method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Design of the Study
The research design for this study will be descriptive survey design. Descriptive survey
design is aimed at collecting data on and describing in a systematic manner the characteristics
features or facts about a given population. (Nwogu 1991). Olaitan et al (2000) stated that survey
design is appropriate for studies that involved large population. This design according to Aina
(1981) had always been the commonest ways for gathering information by seeking the opinion of
individuals, the consensus of which is expected to provide a solution to the problem.
The researcher is of the view that it will be the most appropriate design in view of the fact
that the study will involve large population. This will enable the researcher to get responses from
a relatively large population within a specific time limit.
Area of Study
The area of study is Enugu state of Nigeria. It is one of the five states that make up the
south Eastern states of Nigeria. Enugu state is made up of six education zones; namely, Agbani,
Awgu,Enugu, Nsukka, Obollo-Afor, Udi
Population of the Study
The population of this study will consist of all the 119 professional Guidance Counselors
in secondary schools in Enugu state. There are a total of 119 professional guidance counselors in
235 secondary schools in Enugu state. The population of the study is shown in the table below.
lvii
Table 1: (Appendix1) Shows the Number of Education Zones in Enugu State, the Number of Schools in the Zone and the Number of Professional Guidance Counselors in Each Zone
ZONES NUMBER Of SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
NUMBER OF PROFESSIONAL
GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS
NSUKKA 48 24
OBOLLO 42 22
ENUGU 21 26
AGWU 41 20
UDI 47 13
AGBANI 36 14
TOTAL 235 119
Source: Post primary schools Management Board, Statistics Division, P.R.S. Dep, Enugu. (2009)
Sample and Sampling Techniques All the 119 professional guidance counselors in the secondary schools in Enugu state
were used in the study. The reason is that the population is accessible to the researcher.
Instrument for Data Collection
Instrument for data collection was questionnaire entitled: Meeting the Information needs
of Secondary school guidance counselors Questionnaire (MINOGCQ). It contains two Sections:
Section A is on bio-data containing five items while section B is on the subject of the study. It is
sub-divided into six parts. Part I of the instrument contains 22 items which are meant to
investigate the major information needs of guidance counselors, Part 11 has 20 items on the
extent to which information needs are met, and Part 111 was on the extent to which guidance
counselors seek information from various sources and it has 15 items. Part 1v, is on the extent
which various information sources meet their information needs and it has 16 items. Part v
contains problems facing guidance counselors in meeting their information needs, it has 10 item
lviii
questions and Part v1 contains the strategies for providing improved provision to better meet
their information needs and it has 13 items. It is a structured questionnaire such that respondent
is provided with optional answers from which they can make their choice. The questions contain
96 items constructed by the researcher in line with the research questions of the study.
The respondents were required to tick (√) in the boxes provided in the questionnaire.
Validation of the Instrument
The research instrument was subjected to face validation by experts from the department
of library and information science. These experts were requested to face validate the
questionnaire items in terms of
i) Clarity of instruction to the respondents
ii) Proper wording of items
111) Appropriateness and adequacy of the items for the study
This was done to ensure that the instrument measures what it was supposed to measure.
Their observation, criticisms, comments and suggestions will strictly be adhered to and
incorporated in the final copy of the instrument before they will be used for the study.
Method of Data Collection
The researcher engaged three trained research assistants with whom she administered the
questionnaire in all the six zones. They were trained on how to administer the instruments. Their
help will be solicited for data collection. The researcher and her assistants visited the zones
during their monthly zonal meetings and administered the instrument on the respondents and
collected the completed questionnaire. This ensures high return rate of the instrument,
lix
Method of Data AnalysisThe data for this study will be analyzed based on each research question using frequency,
percentage and mean. Weights were assigned to the responses thus;
Very Highly Needed (VHN) = 4
Highly Needed (HN) = 3
Less Needed (LN) = 2
Not Needed (NN) = 1
And
Very High Extent (VHE) = 4
High Extent (HE) =3
Low Extent (LE) = 2
Very Low Extent (VLE) = 1
Also, Very Appropriate = 4
Appropriate = 3
Fairly Appropriate = 2
Inappropriate = 1
Formula for finding the percentage is
% =
fN
x1001 Where
% = percentage
F = frequency of responses under each response item.
N = Total number of respondents.
Formular for the weighted mean is
lx
XW =
Σ WXΣW Where
XW =weighted mean
W = weight of a given score
X = a given score
∑ = sum of the number.
Since the researcher used a four point modified rating scale, the limits of real numbers used for
answering the research questions are as indicated below.
0.50-1.49 = Not Needed/ No Extent/Inappropriate
1.50-2.49= less Needed/low Extent/Fairly Appropriate
2.50-3.49 = Highly Needed/High Extent/Appropriate
3.50 – 4.00 =Very highly Needed/Very high Extent/Very Appropriate
Each research question was regarded as accepted if it had a mean score of 2.50 and above
on a four point rating scale and if below 2.50 it was rejected. This means that any mean score
above 2-50 is positive while below 2.50 is negative response.
lxi
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF DATA
In this chapter, the data collected from the questionnaire are presented and analyzed
using frequency table, simple percentage, and mean. The presentation and analysis are done
bearing in mined the five research questions which guided the study. One hundred and nineteen
copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondents but only ninety-one copies of
the questionnaire were returned and used.
Research question 1
Data collected in respect to research question 1 as listed below were analyzed using mean
ranking. The data are presented in table 1 and ranked in descending order to bring out the relative
importance.
lxii
Table 1: Areas where Guidance counselors need Information
Areas of information Needs VHN HN
N NN NO
EX Mean
Decision
1 Opportunities available in various courses
64 22 2 3 91 329 3.69 Very highly needed
2 Entry qualifications for various courses
64 13 5 9 91 320 3.51 Very highly needed
3 Adolescent health issues 57 8 16 10 91 301 3.40 Highly needed4 How to build self confidence 45 21 19 6 91 306 3.36 Highly needed5 Administration of guidance
programme57 16 10 8 91 304 3.34 Highly needed
6 Assertiveness or assertive training
49 14 18 10 91 302 3.31 Highly needed
7 Prevention of mass failure in public examinations
52 24 6 9 91 301 3.30 Highly needed
8 Adolescent psychology 54 13 20 4 91 298 3.27 Highly needed
9 Group counseling 45 13 23 10 91 298 3.27 Highly needed10 Career typology 50 23 5 13 91 297 3.26 Highly needed11 Prevention of drug abuse 47 24 8 12 91 296 3.25 Highly needed12 Subject combination for
different careers32 11 39 10 91 285 3.13 Highly Needed
13 Positive self regard 31 24 24 12 91 280 3.07 Highly needed
14 How to rehabilitate habitual offenders in secondary school
38 32 6 15 91 275 3.02 Highly needed
15 How to curb students riot and vandalism
45 22 7 17 91 3.01 Highly needed
16 Vocational and career guidance 49 18 10 14 91 284 3.1 Highly needed
17 Handling emotionally disturbed adolescents
37 13 27 14 91 272 3.00 Highly needed
18 Confidence buildin3 20 - 28 91 91 260 2.8619 Sexuality and family education 38 7 17 29 91 236 2.59 Highly needed
20 Psychological testing 29 11 42 9 91 230 2.52 Highly need
21 Institutions for different careers
30 15 15 31 91 226 2.48Less needed
lxiii
From table 1 above, the findings revealed guidance counselors basic information need.
All the items contained from numbers 1-20 are highly needed and two of the items are very
highly needed. It was only item no 21, institution for different career that is less needed with
mean response of 2.48. The analysis of data presented shows that opportunities available in
various courses and entry qualification for various courses are very highly needed with mean
responses of 3.69 and 3.51 respectively while the other twenty items of the questions ranging
from how to curb secret cult activities (3.48), prevention of information on adolescents (3.40),
administration of guidance programme (3.38), adolescents psychology (3.33), prevention of drug
abuse (3.30), etc were all highly needed.
lxiv
Research Question 2
Table 2:
Data collected in respect to research question 11 as listed below were analyzed using mean ranking. The data are presented in table 11 and ranked in descending order of Satisfaction
Extent to which information needs of Guidance counselors are metAreas of information Needs
VHE HE LE NA NO EX MEAN Decision
1 Psychological testing 42 11 29 9 91 265 2.94 High extent2 How to curb students
riot and vandalism36 20 25 13 91 265 2.91 High extent
3 Vocational and career guidance
21 30 25 15 91 264 2.90 High extent
4 Sexuality and family education
30 33 14 14 91 261 286 High extent
5 Handling emotionally disturbed adolescents
36 18 25 12 91 2.85 High extent
6 Career typology 31 14 30 16 91 242 2.65 High extent7 Entry qualification for
various courses12 25 29 25 91 235 2.58 High extent
8 Positive self regard 25 22 24 20 91 234 2.57 High extent9 Adolescents health
issues12 38 27 14 91 230 2.52 High extent
10 Adolescent psychology 19 17 30 21 91 208 2.29 Low extent11 Assertiveness or
assertive training11 16 20 30 91 206 2.26 Low extent
12 Prevention of mass failure in public examination
20 28 24 31 91 202 2.26 Low extent
13 Group counseling - 27 24 40 91 202 2.21 Low extent14 Non- governmental
organization20 10 22 39 91 193 2.12 Low extent
15 Subject combinations for different careers
10 10 41 30 91 182 2.00 Low extent16 Subject combinations
for different careers10 10 41 30 91 182 2.00 Low extent
17 Prevention of drug abuse
13 20 30 28 91 200 2.19 Low extent
18 Institution for various courses
15 21 24 40 91 180 1.98 Low extent19 Confidence building 20 12 20 14 91 170 1.86 Low extent20 How to rehabilitate
habitual offenders- 31 25 31 91 172 1.9 Low extent
21 Opportunities available in various courses
- 23 28 40 91 165 1.8 Low extent
lxv
From table 2 above, the findings revealed extent to which guidance counselors basic
information need and the extent to which these needs are met. The analysis of data presented
revealed that out of twenty one items, only 9 items have mean scores above 2.50 that is high
extent. Such information needs are psychological testing, how to curb student’s riot and
vandalism, vocational and career guidance, with mean of 2.94, 2.91, and 2.90. This was closely
followed by sexuality and family education, handling emotionally disturbed adolescents, career
typology, and entry qualification for various courses, positive self-regard, with mean ratings of
2.86, 2.85, 2.65, 2.58, and 2.57 respectively. However, other items ranging from Adolescents
psychology, assertiveness or assertive training, group counseling, non-governmental
organization, subject combinations for different careers, prevention of drug abuse, institutions for
various courses, opportunities available in different courses were rejected with mean responses
below 2.50.
lxvi
Table 3:
Extent to which guidance counselors seek information from various sources
Table 3: Extent to which guidance counselors seek information from various sources
The above table reveals the extent to which guidance counselors seek information from
the above sources. The analysis of data shows that the respondents rated professional colleagues,
to very high extent with mean rating of (3.67).School library, Neighbors, colleagues, adolescents
were also rated very high extent with mean of (3.56). While internet, academic library,
international bodies, newspaper, magazines, Television, non-governmental organization,
S/noSources of Information VHE HE LE NA NO EX Mean Decision
1 Professional colleagues
71 13 4 3 91 334 3.67 Very High extent
2 School library 69 14 4 4 91 324 3.56 Very high extent3 Neighbors, colleagues,
adolescents63 19 6 3 91 324 3.56 Very high extent
4 Internet 58 16 8 9 91 305 3.35 High extent
5 Academic library 54 13 18 6 91 297 3.26 High extent6 International bodies;
UNESCO report, UNICEF report, WORLD BANK report
51 20 10 10 91 294 3.23 High extent
7 Newspaper, Magazines
56 10 10 15 91 289 3.17 High extent
8 Television 48 13 12 18 91 273 3.00 High extent9 Public library 41 13 23 14 91 263 2.89 High extent10 Conference, Seminars,
Workshop41 4 23 23 91 263 2.89 High extent
11 Non-governmental organizations
26 33 25 7 91 260 2.85 High extent
12 Family, friends 39 8 17 27 91 258 2.84 High extent13 Radio - 61 22 8 91 235 2.58 Very high extent14 Textbooks, journals 19 22 33 17 91 215 2.36 Low extent15 Form teachers, subject
teachers19 19 18 35 91 204 2.24 Low extent
lxvii
television, public library conference, seminars, workshops, family, friends, journals, form
teachers were all rated to a high extent with mean of above 2.50.This means that the guidance
counselors consult these sources to a high extent.
Research question 4
Table 4 Extent which various information sources meet their information needs
Guidance counselors were asked to indicate the extent to which various information
sources meet their information needs. Their responses were analyzed descriptively using mean
ranking. It was arranged in descending order.
S/NO Sources of Information
VHE HE LE NA NO Mean Decision
1 Television, 39 15 24 13 91 262 2.87 High extent 2 Professional
colleagues41 9 24 17 91 256 2.81 High extent
3 Career day/week 32 19 14 26 91 253 2.78 High extent4 Family, friends 16 7 45 23 91 243 2.67 High extent5 Conference,
Seminars27 25 9 30 91 231 2.53 High extent
6 Radio 20 36 14 21 91 230 2.52 High extent7 School library 29 8 26 28 91 220 2.41 Low extent8 Public library 25 17 16 33 91 216 2.37 Low extent9 Academic library 25 17 16 33 91 216 2.37 Low extent10 Internet 24 15 21 31 91 214 2.35 Low extent11 Newspapers,
magazines14 25 18 34 91 201 2.20 High extent
12 Non-governmental organizations
21 11 23 36 91 199 2.18 Low extent
13 Neighbors, colleagues, adolescents
18 6 41 26 91 198 2.17 Low extent
14 Form teachers, Subject teachers
19 12 24 36 91 196 2.15 Low extent
15 Professional journals
21 7 32 31 91 200 2.11 Low extent
16 Parents 20 7 20 44 91 185 2.03 Low extent
lxviii
The analysis of data above shows the extent to which various information sources meet the
information needs of the guidance counselors. Precisely the analysis revealed that the extents to
which information needs of guidance counselors are met are still low. This is because most of the
items have their mean score below 2.50. It is only the items contained in numbers 1-6 that the
respondent seeks their information to a high extent. They include: television with highest
responses of 2.87, and is closely followed by professional colleagues with the mean of 2.81, and
career day/week were also rated high with responses of 2.78. Others are family, friends 2.67,
conference, seminars 2.67 and radio with mean response of 2.52. The respondents however rated
items contained in numbers 7-16 low and they include: school library, public library, and
academic library, internet, with mean responses of 2.41, 2.37, and 2.35 respectively. Public
library and school library have the same response. Others are newspaper, magazines 2.20, non-
governmental organization 2.18, neighbours, colleagues, adolescents 2.17, form teachers, subject
teachers 2.15, Professional journals 2.11 and parents 2.03.
lxix
Research question 5S/NO Sources of Information VHE H
ELE NA NO EX Mean Decision
1 I lack money to access the information I need
72 18 1 - 91 345 3.79 Very high extent
2 I do not have time to seek for information
73 15 3 - 91 343 3.76 Very high extent
3 Post primary school management board staff unwilling to supply needed information
60 17 10 3 91 315 3.46 High extent
4 Unavailability of information sources
50 19 14 18 91 293 3.21 High extent
5 E-mai facilities unavailable 48 15 10 18 91 3.02 High extent6. Some information sources
outdated 41 13 23 14 91 263 2.89 High extent
7Available information materials highly unorganized
37 13 27 14 91 255 2.80 High extent
8 Lack of internet facilities 20 47 7 17 91 2.76 2.76 High extent9
I lack the necessary skills to acquire necessary information
32 11 38 8 912472.71 2.76
high extent
10 Difficult to know when new materials are acquired
19 22 33 13 91 2252.47
Low extent
Table 5: Problems facing the Guidance counselors in meeting their information needs. Table 5 shows a picture of problems faced by guidance counselors. The analysis shows
that time and money is the major factor which affect guidance counselors in accessing
information with mean score of 3.79 and 3.76 respectively .Post primary school management
board staff unwilling to supply needed information(3.46), Unavailability of relevant information
sources (3.21). ), e- mail facilities unavailable (3.02). Also, the table shows that some
information use to be outdated (2.89), available information materials highly unorganized (2.80),
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Lack of internet facilities (2.76), Lack of the necessary skills to acquire information (2.71),) and
difficulty knowing when new materials are acquired.
Research question 6
Table 6 Strategies for providing improved provision to better meet their information needs. Indicate using very appropriate, appropriate, fairly inappropriate. Strategies for provision of information to better meet the guidance counselors information needs.
S/NO
Strategies for provision of information VA A FA IN NO Ex Mean Decision
1 Current journals, textbooks, conference proceedings, and seminar papers should be provided
65 22 3 - 91 388 3.71 Very appropriate
2 Guidance counselors should be sensitized on the existence of information agencies available to them
61 26 3 1 91 329 3.61 Very appropriate
3 School library should be well maintained in terms of stock to be able to provide information materials
64 12 14 - 91 307 3.37 Appropriate
4 Information technology facilities should be provided
65 9 16 - 91 304 3.34 Appropriate
5 Computer training should be pursued for guidance counselors
62 14 14 - 91 305 3.35 Appropriate
6 In-service training should be provided for guidance counselors through workshops/ seminars/meetings
64 14 6 6 91 317 3.48 Appropriate
7 There should be an awareness campaign programme on where to locate information materials
54 31 3 3 91 318 3.49 Appropriate
8 Information should be provided in every aspect of guidance and counseling to suit clients
58 18 15 - 91 316 3.47 Appropriate
9 Guidance and counseling resource center have to be established in all the local education authorities
53 22 13 3 91 307 3.37 Appropriate
10 Information agencies should disseminate the user through selective dissemination of information
49 17 21 1 91 293 3.21 Appropriate
11 Continuing education should be provided guidance counselors
50 18 19 4 91 296 3.25 Appropriate
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12 Government should provide information agencies to provide more information
52 18 11 10 91 294 3.23 Appropriate
13 Guidance counselors should be encouraged and sponsored to subscribe to their professional journals
39 24 7 - 91 263 2.89 Appropriate
The data analyzed in table 6, indicates that all the items dealing with strategies to enhance
guidance counselors information needs were all ranked appropriate with the mean response of
above 2.50, the items dealing with provision of current journals, text books, conference
proceedings, and seminar papers recorded the highest mean of 3.71 followed by item on
sensitizing the guidance counselor on the existence of information agencies available to them
with a mean response of 3.61. Others like school library should be well maintained in terms of
stock (3.37), Information technology facilities should be provided (3.34), Computer training
should be pursued for guidance counselors (3.35), In-service training should be provided for
guidance counselors through workshops, seminars/meetings (3.53) where all rated very high
extent while there should be an awareness campaign programme on where to locate information
materials (3.49), information should be provided in every aspect of guidance and counseling to
suit the clients (3.47 ), guidance and counseling resource centre have to be established in all the
local education authorities (3.37), information agencies should disseminate the user through
selective dissemination of information (3.35), continuing education should be provided guidance
counselors (3.25), government should provide information agencies to provide more information
(3.23), guidance and counseling should be encouraged and sponsored to subscribe to their
professional journals (3.15) have their mean response above 2.50.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the discussion of major findings of the study based on the research
questions, the procedure adopted, conclusions. The researcher further made some
recommendations discussed the limitations of the study and finally suggested areas for further
research.
Discussion of Findings
Information is very important in the life of every individual. Guidance counselors need
information in order to carry out their duties effectively. The findings of this study showed that
the basic information needs of guidance counselors includes educational, vocational and
personal- social information of the secondary school students whose majority are adolescents.
Opportunities available in various courses, qualification, career typology, subject combinations
for different careers, institutions for different careers, vocational or career guidance.(educational
need), prevention of drug abuse, how to build self confidence, assertiveness or assertive training,
sexuality and family education. Coover (1967) and Aboyede (1987) identified information needs
as first to relate to the main characteristics of the people, what they are and what is important to
them and should reflect the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of their
development and aspiration. The findings are in agreement with Adeniji (2004) who stated that
everybody needs information to reach his or her potentials.
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The findings are also in consonance with the earlier findings of Olayinka (1984) which
stipulated areas where Guidance counselors need information. Such areas as establishing
Guidance activities, study habits, record keeping services; the cumulative record services,
provision of remedial courses for students in their weak subjects, provision of guidance services,
occupational information, educational information, etc. There is no doubt that when these
information needs are met, the objective of the national policy on education will be achieved.
Sources of information of the guidance counselors
The findings showed that only one out of fifteen items had a mean response below 2.50
and that is international bodies: UNESCO report, UNICEF report, and WORLD BANK report.
This shows that Guidance counselors were not using this body regularly as a source of
information instead professional colleagues, school library, radio, Neighbors, colleagues,
adolescents, were sources very highly used. These findings are in line with Adimora’s (1993)
study which was on users and their information needs in Nigeria. The study showed that
information sources for users included colleagues, information centers, subscription to journals
etc. The findings are also in agreement with Obidike (2007) study. The study was on the
information needs and information seeking behavior of social work lecturers and students in
university of Nigeria Nsukka. In this study, it was found out that sources of information for those
category of people included discussion with colleagues, consultation with experts in the field,
going through review articles/journals and internet services. In this study, it was found out that
source of information for those categories of people included professional colleagues, school
library, radio, neighbors, adolescents. These they rated very high extent.
Extent to which information needs of guidance counselors are met
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The result of the data analyzed revealed the extent to which Guidance counselor’s
information needs are met. The table indicates that out of 16 items guidance counselors rated 5
above 2.50; the items are contained in nos 1-5. However, item no 1 consultation with
professional colleague recorded the highest response of 2.81.While the other items such as
Internet, professional journals, neighbors, parents, family, friends, form teachers, subject
teachers, Non-governmental organizations were rated below 2.50.The findings are indications
that those factors are capable of affecting the efficient operations of the guidance counselors and
consequently may result in increase in maladaptive behavior among the youths in secondary
schools.
However, if these sources of information are adequately provided, or are improved upon,
then information flow will increase and guidance counselors will be more productive.
Obstacles guidance counselors encounter in meeting their information need
The findings revealed that the major obstacles are lack of money to access the needed
information and also lack of time to seek for information. It was also discovered that restriction
of information materials needed has created problems for guidance Counselors in meeting their
information need. The result of this study revealed that staff of the ministry is always unwilling
to reveal accurate information to the guidance counselors. The reason is that it affords them
opportunity to have a fair share of the national cake. The findings are indications that these
factors are capable of affecting guidance counselor’s productivity. On the other hand, if these
factors example funding, in-service training of guidance counselors as at when necessary are
improved upon, information flow is likely to improve.
This is in line with Afolabi (2003), who found that economic factors such as time, labour,
restriction of information materials needed has negative effect on meeting the information needs
lxxv
of people. It was discovered that Guidance counselors do not get information they need. This is
probably why information provision by libraries, internet, and other information agencies are
rated to low extent. It could be attributed to the fact that guidance counselors are not aware of the
potentials of libraries and information technology in information dissemination. In order to solve
this problem, Gill (2001) and Okezie (2004) emphasized that many more public and school
libraries with mobile library services should be established to reach closely to the rural dwellers.
It could be as a result of the absence of public libraries and school libraries in our secondary
schools and metropolis that lead to the low ranking by the guidance counselors. This is because
throughout Enugu state there are only very few public and school libraries which are merely
reading places for they do not have enough materials for users.
Strategies for providing improved provision to better meet their information needs
It was found that the mean rating value for all the 10 items were all greater than 2.50. The
mean rating value ranged from 3.70-3.47. Consequently, the guidance counselors need all the
strategies to be employed to surmount the problems. It was found that current journals,
textbooks, conference was of utmost importance strategies to be employed to solve the problem.
Also sensitizing the guidance counselor on the availability of information agencies will go
along way to solving their problem of not having sufficient and reliable career
information to pass on to students and also the problem of lack of money to such as maintaining
school library with materials, provision of information technology facilities, provision of
information materials and also lack of time to seek for needed information. Other strategies, in-
service training through workshops, seminar meetings could help guidance counselors to solve
their problems.
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These findings are in line with Herr (1981) who noted that states should provide in-
service training to familiarize teachers and counselors with occupational system and should
expand delivery of the system to diverse sub-population. The fact is that through in-service
training, guidance counselors will acquire better methods of acquiring information faster.
Implication of the study
The findings of this study indicate that the extent to which information needs of guidance
counselors in secondary schools in Enugu state are met are still very low. Since the findings of
the study have shown that respondents in six education zone have agreed on those factors that
affect guidance counselors in carrying out their duties, the implication is that such factors like in-
service training programme, seminars, conferences, finance, provision of information technology
facilities, library and so on should be either provided as required or improved upon as necessary
to enhance service delivery to the adolescence in secondary school and towards the successful
implementation of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria. The government should channel
all efforts towards this.
The internet, a source of vast amount of information from all over the world was not
accessible to the respondents. The few that use it is from commercial cyber cafes. Since all the
guidance counselors are literate, they could source information relevant for their professional
activity from the computers in the libraries and information centers and have latest information
especially about the youths and method to tackle their problem. There is urgent need for the
establishment and maintenance of school and public library and information centers. Books,
magazines and newspapers could be obtained for information.
lxxvii
This study has implications for management of guidance counselors in sec schools. This
study has revealed that providing continuing education to guidance counselors, providing on the
job training to them, as well as payment of salaries as at when due among others will ensure
adequate information flow. This study, therefore, provides background for the government and
the school authority on how best to ensure effective implementation of guidance programmes.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations have been proffered;
The reseacher wish to recommend that workshops, seminars, inservice training be organised for
the guidance counselors more regularly to enable them to acquire relevant knowledge and skills
needed for them to discharge their duties more effectively. Thus the guidance counselors will
obtain more knowledge on how best to manage adolescents and their problem
Only well skilled professional g/cs should be considered for employment. The changing needs of
the society requires that we move with time. Right now we are in the jet Age’ and information is
flowing in. The youths acquires and uses both negative and positive information. The researcher
therefore recommend that libraries, information centers and of course ministries, should acquire
internet facilities, and other information technology facilities and through inservice training,
guidance counselors will be trained on how to use the internet. If this is done guidance
counselors can easily get information as quickly and correctly as possible from any of this place.
Efforts should also be made by both the, school authority and government to motivate
guidance counselors. The government should improve the working conditions of the guidance
counselors such as payment of salaries and allowances and other incentves on regular basis. g/cs
lxxviii
should be allowed free access to all resources which are necessary for guidance and counselling
of students
lxxix
Suggestion for further Research
For the purpose of further research, the researcher wish to suggest that a study be conducted on;
1. The information need and information seeking behavior of guidance and counselling
students in the universities of Nigeria
2. Another study should be conducted on the services offered by guidance counselors in
Enugu state secondary schools and its effect on school drop outs
3. This study could be replicated using other secondary school in other states.
4. Availability and use of library resources by Guidance counsselors in Enugu state
Limitations of the study
The reseacher encountered a number of problems in the course of carrying out this study.
Firstly, the attitude of some guidance counselors was highly discouraging. Out of one hundred
and ninety-nine copies of questionaire distributed only nine one copies was returned, That
limited the reseacher’ use of respondent from one hundred and ninety nine to ninety–one. Again
the reseacher faced the problem false data from the officers working in the zone. The official
number of professional guidance counselors working in the state was different from the actual
number of proffessionals in the field.The reason is that they use the official number to receive a
fair share of the national cake. The reseacher also faced the problem of moving round the six
education zones to distribute and collect this questionaire.The guidance counselors no longer
attend meetings regularly since the state government removed their subsidy.This made the
reseacher to go to many zones severaly.
lxxx
Conclusions
This study on information need and information provision to guidance counselors in
Enugu state secondary school has revealed that information is vital for effective guidance and
counseling. This entails that all stakeholders must ensure that what the guidance counselors
need for effective discharge of their duties in terms of information is made available to them.
The researcher used five research questions to guide the study and survey design was
used. The entire population was used hence no sampling was applied. This is because the
population is accessible to the researcher. The main instrument for data collection was
questionnaire. The researcher employed the services of three trained research assistant with
whom he used to collect data for the study after which mean, frequency and percentages were
used to analyze the data generated. The findings of the study revealed that, guidance counselors
need a lot of information for counseling. As a result, guidance counselors adopts different
approaches to meet their information needs ranging from discussion with friends and
professional colleagues, religious bodies and even information sources from academic and
school library and other information centers.
However, a number of factors inhibit them in meeting their information needs more
effectively. These factors include lack of time and money, post primary school management
board unwilling to supply needed information, unorganized information materials, lack of E-
mail and internet facilities, and also the skills necessary to acquire necessary information.
To curb the above mentioned problems identified, the study suggested the following
measures, provision of current journals, text books, conference proceedings, sensitizing
lxxxi
guidance counselors on the existence of information available, arranging available materials for
easy retrieval, in –service training and computer training to be pursued for guidance counselors
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