The influence of basic needs on reading culture of library and information science students in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study explored the influence of basic needs on reading culture of library and information science students in Kwara State. It adopted a descriptive survey design. The population consisted of 3,249 students of three library and information science schools in Kwara State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique – stratified sampling and simple random – were used to select 296 respondents from the LIS schools in Kwara State University, Malete, Al-Hikmah University and Federal Polytechnic, Offa. Questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Findings showed that security, access to atmosphere, portable water and adequate safety strengthen students‘ sense of self-security, boost their emotional stability and their confidence to read. However, inadequate housing, inadequate/insufficient income and depression are the challenges that lack of basic needs posed to the reading culture of students. This study concluded that basic needs play crucial roles on reading culture of students because it strengthens their sense of self-security, boosts their emotional stability and boosts their confidence to read.