Information Needs And Information Seeking Behaviour Of Rural Women Entrepreneurs In Abia State, Nigeria:- Umebali, Catherine. 0

Abstract

This study investigated the information needs and information seeking behaviour of rural women entrepreneurs in A bia State, Nigeria. A total of 180 rural women entrepreneurs were purposively sampled. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of this sample size. In the first stage, two local government areas were selected from the three senatorial zones in Ahia State namely, Bende and Ikwuano Local Government Areas. In the second stage, one community was selected from each local Government Area; Nkpa im Bende Local Government Area and Umudike in lkwuano Local Government Area In the final stage, thirty (30) rural women actively involved in entrepreneurship were purposively selected from three villages in these Omnmunities. Findings of the study revealed that rural women entrepreneurs m Abia State do understand that they have information needs. But most exhibit Poor information seeking behaviour while seeking information due to some reas sons. These reasons includes workloads, poor e edl u ucati 6 onat l ba ackgroun.d, " secrecy, lack of knowledge about the functions of libraries, time constrains a nd many other factors. The study therefore recommends the promotion of S c ered),, » 3Se ·« ·(CAS) and Selective ation programmes, Current Awareness iervices( / . ins "5semination' of Information (SDI) especially by female librarians. prio-;4,, U9 nd improvement of poverty eradication programmes y the IN1g ·an government, as a way out of these problems.