User Education and Information Seeking Behaviour of Postgraduate Students in University of Jos

This study examined the relationship between participation in user education programmes and the information-seeking behaviour of postgraduate students at the University of Jos, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria. Postgraduate students engage in high-level research requiring sophisticated information-seeking strategies, and user education is expected to sharpen these strategies. A mixed-methods design was employed, and data were gathered from 280 postgraduate students who had attended at least one user education session, supplemented by qualitative interviews with instruction librarians. Findings showed that postgraduate students who participated in multiple user education sessions demonstrated broader and more systematic information-seeking behaviour compared to those who attended a single session. Students noted that sessions covering advanced database search strategies were particularly beneficial. However, participation rates were low due to scheduling conflicts with academic obligations and a perception among some supervisors that library instruction was peripheral to research training. The study recommended that user education be integrated into postgraduate orientation and into the formal supervisory process. Keywords: user education, information-seeking behaviour, postgraduate students, University of Jos, academic library.