Information Seeking Behavior of the Physically Challenged in some Selected Special Education School in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State:-Chidinma, Gracious O.

ABSTRACT

This study is an investigation of Information Seeking Behavior of the Physically Challenged Students in some selected Special Education School in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State. The study is aimed at investigating the information seeking behavior of the impaired students. Five research questions were formulated to guide the study. A total of 130 impaired studentfrom special education center for the Deaf and Mentally Challenged and special education schoolfor the blindformed the sample population ofthe study. The instrumentfor data collection were questionnaire. 130 copies of questionnaires were distributed out of which 74 copies were returned, representing 53.6% and 63 copies representing 46.4% were not .returned. To analyze the data, descriptive were employed which include percentage and mean to answer research questions. The analyzed data reveals that impaired student are faced with numerous challenges at the process ofsatisfying their information needs. The impaired students in both study source information for different purpose and the kind of information resources available are more of non-book resources which are not in a high rate of utilization are occasionally. At the expanse of satisfying their information need, they encounter a lot of barriers caused by their physical state. The government and libraries (public library) should provide competent personnel, adequate facilities to the schools and help in the development of certain creativity among the students. Conclusion and recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.