خلاصة:
This study examined important information resources and format inclination of information resources utilized by science and technology (S&T) researchers as they acquire information in the course of their projects. The study institute was “Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in Nigeria”. The study employed the research design of mixed methods. Questionnaires were utilized for S&T researchers and interview engagements with professional librarians in order to collect data. One hundred and fourteen copies were received for the questionnaires distributed to S&T researchers. All the professional librarians (five) working in the institute’s library were acceptably interviewed. The S&T researchers uncovered that the journal was the information resource most important to them. The preferred format for information resources was the combination of print and non-print resources. We recommend that both print and electronic versions of information resources should be provided for the researchers by the institute’s administrators. Further studies are required on expansion and changes in S&T researchers’ information resource preferences in order to adequately tackle their contemporary and prospective need for information.
ملخص الجهاز:
Users of information tend to search for information that is identified by them to be contextually applicable to their situation and as a result they logically utilize available information resources within their reach and expertize (Wang, Sarkar & Shah, 2017; Nwachukwu, Abdulsalami & Salami, 2014; Agarwal, Xu & Poo, 2011).
Unfortunately, no study has been reported in the professional literature on the important and preferred format of information resources required by S&T researchers of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in Nigeria.
Examples of information resources found in the institute's library include books, directories, journals, standards, research reports, seminal papers, abstracts, video recordings, and so on.
Methodology This paper employed mixed methods research (MMR) pattern which involved the mixture of quantitative and qualitative research approaches so that the research results can be triangulated (Kelle, Kuhberger & Bernhard, 2019; Bangi, 2018; Neuman, 2014; Yeasmin & Rahman, 2012).
The results concur with Vilar, Juznic & Bartol (2012) and Bobick & Berard (2011) who showed that researchers intensively use formal resources but they also occasionally use informal resources at varying levels.
(2012) who stated that the journal article was the most important information resource used by science and technology researchers.
Contrariwise, during the interviews, the professional librarians reported that science and technology (S&T) researchers utilized books above all information resources.
Inconsistency lies from the results of S&T researchers which point to the information resource that appeared most in the reference orders in that it was not provided by the institute's library.
(
, 
, 
)
