FEDERAL UNIVERSITY
DUTSINMA KATSINA
STATE
GST 122 LECTURE NOTE
COURSE TITLE: USE OF LIBRARY, STUDY SKILLS AND
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
COURSE CODE: GST 122
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
• To enable students explore both specific and general information
resources.
• To enable students form and develop basis for life-long learning.
• To enable students assume greater control over their learning and
develop a metacognitive approach to learning.
• To make students conscious of the explicit actions required for
gathering, analyzing and using information.
COURSE OUTLINES /CONTENTS
WEEK 1: Conceptual definition of information, interdisciplinary nature of
information, characteristics of information, roles of library and librarians in
providing information etc.
WEEK 2: Definition of a system, information system and its types within
the context of library, brief history of library, types of library, Conventional
and modern library, Library and education, Library and information
services.
WEEK 3: Information resources, types and examples; print and online
resources e.g. electronic bulletin boards, library websites ,e-books, e-
journals, databases, CD ROM/Disc etc.
WEEK 4: Information retrieval tools/devices; manual retrieval tools e.g
card catalogue, book index, abstract, almanacs, yearbook, bibliography,
biography etc. Online retrieval tools e.g. search engines, meta search
engines, OPAC, website addresses etc.
1
,WEEK 5: Evaluation of information resources; criteria for evaluating print
resources, criteria for evaluating online resources.
WEEK 6: Information Search Processes –; ISP model by Carol Khulthau.
WEEK 7: Organisation of library resources in academic library;
organisation by function and structure.
WEEK 8: Citation, Referencing and Bibliography.
WEEK 9: Ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding the use of
information e.g. Plagiarism, copyright and patent laws etc.
WEEK 10: Rules and regulations guiding the use of conventional library.
2
,LECTURE 1
1.0 DEFINITION OF INFORMATION
Information is an important component in any endeavour. Indeed many
researchers have regarded information as the fourth economic resource after
land, labour and capital. Stonier (1991) highlighted the importance of
information by stating that “information is the most important factor in modern
production system as opposed to land, labour and capital because if one
possessed enough information one could reduce the requirements of land,
labour and capital”.
Information means many things to different people, to some people,
information is news, while others refer to information as facts, and to others it
is data. Information is however used interchangeably as news, facts, data and
knowledge. Information can be regarded as; process, knowledge and thing.
Information is a process when it involves transmitting information from a
source to a recipient. It is knowledge when it is performing the role of
imparting knowledge to an individual and where it reduces uncertainty. It is a
thing when it becomes a physical object such as data or documents, for
example books. From the above, it is apparent that information has several
meanings and dimensions but we shall look at information within the context of
librarianship. Information in librarianship is regarded as a recorded knowledge
i.e information in a documented formats, be it print or electronic and library is
the institution responsible for acquisition, process, organization, retrieval and
dissemination of this recorded knowledge both in print(s) and electronic(s).
3
, Libraries serve as repositories of knowledge and librarians are the custodians of
knowledge. Below are some of the definitions given by experts;
• Information is the act of telling or imparting knowledge.
• Information is knowledge acquired from another.
• Information is knowledge you can convey to others.
• Information is facts communicated or learned for useful purpose.
• Information is data interpreted to be useful.
• Information is facts and figures.
• Information is the ‘lifeblood of 21st century society’.
• Information resolves uncertainty and it is used in decision making.
1.1 Information as an Interdisciplinary Concept
Almost every scientific discipline today uses the concept of information within
its own context and with regard to specific phenomena. Can a common
meaning for this term be derived, or do we have to agree with the skeptical
view expressed by Bogdan (1994, p. 53)?
My skepticism about a definitive analysis of information acknowledges the
infamous versatility of information. The notion of information has been taken
to characterize a measure of physical organization (or decrease in entropy), a
pattern of communication between source and receiver, a form of control and
feedback, the probability of a message being transmitted over a communication
channel, the content of a cognitive state, the meaning of a linguistic form, or
the reduction of an uncertainty.
These concepts of information are defined in various theories such as physics,
thermodynamics, communication theory, cybernetics, statistical information
theory, psychology, inductive logic, and so on. There seems to be no unique
idea of information upon which these various concepts converge and hence no
proprietary theory of information.
A broad philosophical debate continues as to whether the concept should
address a knowledge process including, as a necessary condition, a human
knower or, at the very least, an interpretative system, or whether it should
exclude mental states and user-related intentions and be considered as
4
DUTSINMA KATSINA
STATE
GST 122 LECTURE NOTE
COURSE TITLE: USE OF LIBRARY, STUDY SKILLS AND
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
COURSE CODE: GST 122
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
• To enable students explore both specific and general information
resources.
• To enable students form and develop basis for life-long learning.
• To enable students assume greater control over their learning and
develop a metacognitive approach to learning.
• To make students conscious of the explicit actions required for
gathering, analyzing and using information.
COURSE OUTLINES /CONTENTS
WEEK 1: Conceptual definition of information, interdisciplinary nature of
information, characteristics of information, roles of library and librarians in
providing information etc.
WEEK 2: Definition of a system, information system and its types within
the context of library, brief history of library, types of library, Conventional
and modern library, Library and education, Library and information
services.
WEEK 3: Information resources, types and examples; print and online
resources e.g. electronic bulletin boards, library websites ,e-books, e-
journals, databases, CD ROM/Disc etc.
WEEK 4: Information retrieval tools/devices; manual retrieval tools e.g
card catalogue, book index, abstract, almanacs, yearbook, bibliography,
biography etc. Online retrieval tools e.g. search engines, meta search
engines, OPAC, website addresses etc.
1
,WEEK 5: Evaluation of information resources; criteria for evaluating print
resources, criteria for evaluating online resources.
WEEK 6: Information Search Processes –; ISP model by Carol Khulthau.
WEEK 7: Organisation of library resources in academic library;
organisation by function and structure.
WEEK 8: Citation, Referencing and Bibliography.
WEEK 9: Ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding the use of
information e.g. Plagiarism, copyright and patent laws etc.
WEEK 10: Rules and regulations guiding the use of conventional library.
2
,LECTURE 1
1.0 DEFINITION OF INFORMATION
Information is an important component in any endeavour. Indeed many
researchers have regarded information as the fourth economic resource after
land, labour and capital. Stonier (1991) highlighted the importance of
information by stating that “information is the most important factor in modern
production system as opposed to land, labour and capital because if one
possessed enough information one could reduce the requirements of land,
labour and capital”.
Information means many things to different people, to some people,
information is news, while others refer to information as facts, and to others it
is data. Information is however used interchangeably as news, facts, data and
knowledge. Information can be regarded as; process, knowledge and thing.
Information is a process when it involves transmitting information from a
source to a recipient. It is knowledge when it is performing the role of
imparting knowledge to an individual and where it reduces uncertainty. It is a
thing when it becomes a physical object such as data or documents, for
example books. From the above, it is apparent that information has several
meanings and dimensions but we shall look at information within the context of
librarianship. Information in librarianship is regarded as a recorded knowledge
i.e information in a documented formats, be it print or electronic and library is
the institution responsible for acquisition, process, organization, retrieval and
dissemination of this recorded knowledge both in print(s) and electronic(s).
3
, Libraries serve as repositories of knowledge and librarians are the custodians of
knowledge. Below are some of the definitions given by experts;
• Information is the act of telling or imparting knowledge.
• Information is knowledge acquired from another.
• Information is knowledge you can convey to others.
• Information is facts communicated or learned for useful purpose.
• Information is data interpreted to be useful.
• Information is facts and figures.
• Information is the ‘lifeblood of 21st century society’.
• Information resolves uncertainty and it is used in decision making.
1.1 Information as an Interdisciplinary Concept
Almost every scientific discipline today uses the concept of information within
its own context and with regard to specific phenomena. Can a common
meaning for this term be derived, or do we have to agree with the skeptical
view expressed by Bogdan (1994, p. 53)?
My skepticism about a definitive analysis of information acknowledges the
infamous versatility of information. The notion of information has been taken
to characterize a measure of physical organization (or decrease in entropy), a
pattern of communication between source and receiver, a form of control and
feedback, the probability of a message being transmitted over a communication
channel, the content of a cognitive state, the meaning of a linguistic form, or
the reduction of an uncertainty.
These concepts of information are defined in various theories such as physics,
thermodynamics, communication theory, cybernetics, statistical information
theory, psychology, inductive logic, and so on. There seems to be no unique
idea of information upon which these various concepts converge and hence no
proprietary theory of information.
A broad philosophical debate continues as to whether the concept should
address a knowledge process including, as a necessary condition, a human
knower or, at the very least, an interpretative system, or whether it should
exclude mental states and user-related intentions and be considered as
4
