Citation

Nwagwu WE, Iheanetu O. Afr. J. Libr. Arch. Inform. Sci. 2011; 21(1): online.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Archlib and Information Service)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated how policy makers in Nigerian public agencies that have mandates for policy making and implementation in the science and technology sector access and use information sources in their activities. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 121 of the policy makers to find out the sources and types of information they use and their perceptions of the availability and accessibility of the sources. The policy makers reported that the most available sources were newspapers (88.6% of the respondents) and colleagues/superiors (82.9%), while the most accessible sources were colleagues/superiors (70.0%). The most inaccessible information sources were student theses and dissertations (40%), reports from research institutes (37.1%) and books of abstract (35.7%). The results imply that soft information sources and personal contact are the most available and accessible information sources. The policy makers suggested that improved availability and accessibility of information produced in the research institutes and universities could help strengthen their policy making activities. This could be achieved through the building of local institutional repositories and databases of scientific research and publications, as well as joint conferences and workshops involving policy makers and scientists/researchers in the research institutes and universities.