AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES

This research was carried out to investigate the “Availability,Accessibility and Utilization of Information Resources and Services to Prison Inmates in North Central States of Nigeria”. To achieve the objectives of the study, five research questions were formulated and answered. Survey method was adopted for the study while a structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Two hundred and twenty nine (229) were used as sample size for the study from a population of two thousand two hundred and eighty eight (2288).

Data collected were analyzed descriptively. The respondents were asked questions on the information resources and services in prisons, access to information resources and services, utilization of information resources and services, satisfaction with information resources and services and information needs of inmates.The data were presented in frequency tables and percentages. The findings revealed that the information resources and services were made available to inmates. It was discovered that books, newspapers and dictionaries (84.3%, 67.0%, 61.4 %,) respectively were the most available information resources. Furthermore the available information services were exhibition and display, lending services and library orientation/user education (45.9%, 47.0%, 42.2%) respectively. However, the study revealed that not all of these resources and services were fully utilized by inmates.

The study also revealed that inmates all have information needs which are to be met through the provision of information resources. The study concluded that the Nigerian prisons are more of custodians than rehabilitation and reformation because majority of the inmates were not satisfied with the information resources and services due to the inadequate attention given to library services. One of the main recommendations made by the study is that there is a need to make information resources and services availableandaccessible to prison inmates to enhance rehabilitation and reformation, which is the main objective for establishing libraries in prisons.