Information Needs and Information Gathering Behavior of Medical Doctors in Maiduguri, Nigeria

Abstract

Survey data describes the results of an investigation on the information needs and information gathering behaviour of Medical doctors in Maiduguri, Nigeria. A total of 158 Medical doctors (128) males and 30 (females) were used for the study. The overall response rate was around 70.2 percent. Medical doctors need specific medical information to enhance their knowledge on a day-to-day basis, particularly with the information explosion such as e-mail and internet facilities. Medical doctors prefer the use of publishers catalogues as the most important source for new developments in their relevant fields. Many do not have access to local data bases that are supposed to have remarkable impact on their information gathering behaviour.

Keywords

• Information gathering
• Information needs
• Medical doctors
• Nigeria