This paper is a citation analyses that assesses references of theses submitted to the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1997 to 2007 The results revealed that journals are cited more than other information resources, and online resources cited were very rarely from 1997-2005, but increased from 2006 and 2007. College and Research Libraries is the most cited journal. The major subject area covered in their research is library management/administration; user studies, information communication technology, and collection development while bibliometrics, preservation, special and public libraries were less commonly researched

Echezona, R. I.

Okafor, V. N.

Ukwoma, Scholastica C.

English

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
7-2011 
Information Sources Used by Postgraduate Students in Library 
and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations 
R. I. Echezona 
University of Nigeria Nsukka, ifeomaechzona@yahoo.com 
V. N. Okafor 
University of Nigeria Nsukka, vickaforn@yahoo.com 
Scholastica C. Ukwoma 
University of Nigeria Nsukka, stica2004@yahoo.com 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac 
 Part of the Library and Information Science Commons 
Echezona, R. I.; Okafor, V. N.; and Ukwoma, Scholastica C., "Information Sources Used by Postgraduate 
Students in Library and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations" (2011). Library 
Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 559. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/559 
 http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/
Library Philosophy and Practice 2011
ISSN 1522-0222
Information Sources Used by
Postgraduate Students in
Library and Information
Science: A Citation Analysis
of Dissertations
R.I. Echezona, PhD
Principal Librarian
V.N. Okafor, PhD
S.C. Ukwoma
Nnamdi Azikiwe Library
University of Nigeria Nsukka
Introduction
Academic libraries are struggling with diminishing funds for acquisition of library
materials. The price of books continues to rise, which has forced many libraries to
cut back on purchasing. Academic libraries are faced with the problems of meeting
the information needs of researchers in  different fields of study. This ugly trend
affects learning and research in our academic institutions, and leaves researchers
with few resources. Online resources can help alleviate these problems; however,
there is a limit to the quantity and quality of information that one can easily access.
Some electronic materials require subscription fees that may not be within the
reach of the users. Librarians must have a clear understanding of information
needs and information resources used by researchers. One way to do this is
by analysing theses to discover what materials are cited most by researchers. This
will enable librarians to provide these materials and encourage learning and
research. This can be done through citation analysis. The result of the analysis will
help librarians base the acquisition of library materials on facts not on opinion.
Citation analysis is a tool for measuring library collection use. It has been applied
in the evaluation of journal collections, for deciding whether to  acquire, continue,
or discontinue the subscription (Smith 1981). Citation analysis is an aspect of
bibliometrics, which studies the references used in documents. Citation analysis
involves counting how many times a paper or researcher is cited, assuming that
influential scientists and important works are cited more often than others. Citation
analysis was developed in information science as a tool to identify core sets of
articles, authors, or journals in particular fields
(http://sherlock.ischool.berkeley.edu/asis96/node4.html)
The study was carried out to find out what journals were most cited, the major
subject areas covered in the research, and the extent to which different library and
information science resources were cited by postgraduate students in the
Department of Library and Information Science. Citation analysis can be used to
determine information sources used by doctoral students in their research projects
(Kuruppu and Moore, 2008).
Researchers need access to many different kinds and formats of information,
including books, journals, etc. The type of information sources used and their
currency are necessary for both research and for national development. The poor
economic situation and devaluation of the currency make it difficult to acquire the
much needed resources to keep our resources up to date. The Internet  has
contributed to the provision and spread of information, information are accessed
irrespective of time and location. Majority of the information we access are current
and up-to-date. Publishing in the Internet is quite easy. It is much faster and
easier than with print publication. These are all recent innovations that have come
in to easy the problem of accessibility of information materials, all it involves is to
sit down at a computer and navigate from one information source to another by
the click of the mouse. Information is power and there is need for it to be always
current and up to date. This can be achieved through the libraries performing their
functions in the provision of information.
The understanding of the information sources used by postgraduate students will
help the library to acquire regular and current journals and other information
sources needed by these researchers. Acquisition of needed information resources
leads to availability of required current information and will help students to
conduct effective research and sound comprehensive work. It is based on this
background that postgraduate theses submitted in the department of library and
information science University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), from 1997 to 2007 were
studied. UNN is the first federal university to start a postgraduate programme in
library and information science in south eastern Nigeria. It is also the first
indigenous university in Nigeria. It started its postgraduate programme in 1997,
since then it has graduated many students from both the masters and doctorate
degrees programmes.
Objectives of the Study
The broad purpose of the study is to examine the references used by
postgraduate researchers to identify the materials that are mostly needed in their
research work while specifically the study was designed to:
Analyze the extent of different library and information science resources
cited by postgraduate students in the Department of Library and Information
Science.
Ascertain the number of Internet resources cited.
Find the average number of citations per project.
Determine which library and information science journals are cited most
Discover the major subject areas
Scope of the Study
The study covered a period of eleven years, from 1997-2007. This was chosen
because it was when the Department of Library and Information Science began
postgraduate studies. The years covered help ensure a sufficient number of works
that have been assessed by external examiner.
Literature Review
Citation analysis is an unobtrusive research method that identifies core lists of
journals and monographs in a subject discipline (Kuruppu and Moore, 2008). The
usefulness of a discipline is measured by the amount and quality of research
completed in the  discipline (Onyancha 2007). Lancaster (1991) stated that
“research productivity and impact is measured through an analysis of the number
of publications produced and the quality of the sources in which the published
materials appears.” This implies that sources of citation are important in
determining the quality of a work. Journals are accorded importance because they
contain firsthand information. Sam (2008) reports that a majority of the items cited
were journals (44.5%), while books accounted for 32.5%. Gooden (2000) revealed
the same findings. Kuruuppu and Moore (2008) examined the information sources
used by doctoral students in agriculture and biological sciences, and found that
journals had 24,072 out of 29,894 citations (80.5%). Okafor and Ukwoma (2007)
discovered that journals are more frequently used than other resources. Tuńón
and Brydges (2005) reported that of the 69.6 references, 47.7 citations (68.7%) on
average were from periodicals. Nkiko and Adetoro (2007) discovered that out of
the 14,655 citations generated from 557 projects with an average citation of 26.3%
per project, monographs had 53.3%, journals 25.1%, online resources 7.7%,
followed by others and grey literature with 2.7%. LaBonte (2008) discovered that
out of 4,023 citations analyzed from 643 journals, 318 journals (49.5%) had one
citation, and one journal (Applied Physics Letters) had 267. The mean number of
citations per bibliography was 28.77, of which 90.2% was journals, 3.4 %
conference proceedings, and 6.4% other formats such as books, patents, and
personal communication. Omekwu and Popoola (1991) and Ogunleye (1996) found
that monographs are cited more than journals.
Megnigbeto in Nikiko and Adetoro (2008) studied citation of dissertations of library
and information science undergraduate students and discovered that the number
of citations to online resources was very low. Tuńón and Brydges (2005) had the
same findings.
The subject area of research is also an important consideration. Some studies
cover different types of library service. Sam (2008) discovered that academic
libraries were the subject area covered most. Aina(1999) discovered that the most
frequently covered area was professional education, with 12.3%, followed by
information technology at 8.5%.
Methodology
Citation analysis is the research method used in this study. As Aina (2002)
describes, references cited are systematically analysed to discover what journals
are cited by researchers in a discipline. The population of the study is all the
theses of masters and doctoral students of library and information science
students who graduated from 1997-2007. There were 79 theses available. All of
them were studied, with no sampling. The researchers consulted the theses and
use descriptive methods to collect the information needed. The data collected were
analyzed using percentages and means.
Results
Table1: Citation of Library Sources
Rank Information source No of citation Percentage of citation
1 Journals 2594 53.8
2 Books 1484 30.8
3 Conferences/workshops 330 6.9
4 Dissertations 210 4.4
5 Reports 91 1.9
6 Newspapers 57 1.2
7 On-line Resources 48 1.0
Total 4814 100.0
Of the 79 masters and PhD theses examined, 4,814 citations were recorded
Table 2: Online Resources Cited
Year cited No of citation Percentage
1997-2001 - 0
2002 5 12.2
2003 2 4.9
2004 1 2.4
2005 3 7.3
2006 9 22.0
2007 21 51.2
Total 41 100.0
Table 2 shows that from 1997-2001, no online information was cited. Online
resources were mostly cited in 2007. Out of 41 times that online resources were
cited in the 79 projects studied, 51.2% of them were cited in 2007, with 22% in
2006.
Table 3: Average Citations for Types Information Resources
Rank Information source No. of citation Average citation
1 Journals 2594 32.8
2 Books 1484 18.8
3 Conferences/workshops 330 4.2
4 Dissertation 210 2.8
5 Reports 91 1.2
6 Newspaper 57 0.7
7 Online resources 48 0.6
Table 4: Library and Information Science Journals Cited Most
Rank Journals Number of citation
1 College and Research libraries 178
2 African journal of library ,Archive and Information Science 155
3 Nigerian libraries 58
4 Journal of Academic Librarianship 52
5 Nigerbiblio 39
6 Microform Review 31
7 AACD Quarterly 28
8 International journal of information review 21
Major Areas of Research
The most popular research area between 1997-2007 was Library
management/administration (25.3%), followed by user studies (21.5%), Collection
development and library cooperation (8.9% respectively), academic libraries (6.3%),
school libraries, publishing, the book trade, and technical services (3.8%
respectively), preservation studies (2.5%), while bibliometrics, special libraries, and
public libraries scored 1.3% each.
Discussion
The 79 theses generated 4,814 citations. As shown in table 1, journal articles
(53.8%) were most cited of all the information sources by the postgraduate
students. This is in line with Sam (2008); Okafor and Ukwoma (2007), Gooden
(2000) who found  that researchers make reference to more journal articles than
other information sources in literature search. This can be attributed to the fact that
professional journals are major sources of information for academics to carry
out meaningful research. Books in all forms, including monographs and
encyclopedias were also frequently used (30.8%) but not most cited. This is not in
line with Omekwu and Popoola (1991), Ogunleye (1996), and Nkiko and Adetoro
(2008), who found that monographs are cited more than journals.
Online resources were cited least, as shown in Tables 1 and 2.This agrees with
Megnigbeto (2007) and Tuñón and Brydges (2008) who found that the percentage
of online resources is very low when compared with other information sources.
This may be because students are not familiar with online searching or a lack of
training and access to the Internet. Lack of access may be  non-availability, non-
affordability, or lack of power supply.
College and Research Libraries was the journal cited most (178 times). This has to
do with availability of the journals in the departmental library. African Journal of
Library, Archive, and Information Science was also cited, because it was available
and individuals usually have access to it.
Finally, the study revealed that library management and administration was the
most-researched topic, followed by user studies. This does not agree with Sam
(2008), who found that discovered that academic libraries were the most popular
subject area. Aina (1999) found that professional education was the most covered
subject. Areas like bibliometrics, special libraries, and public libraries were least
studied. Other areas with low coverage were school libraries, technical services,
publishing and book trade, and preservation.
Conclusion
The use of citation analysis for this study was to provide a better understanding of
the information used by postgraduate students in library and information science in
the University of Nigeria Nsukka. The study revealed that the students consulted
and used mostly journals in their research work, and the most-cited journal was
College and Research Libraries. This confirms one of the problems with citation
analysis: the fact that journals are cited most when they are available. The most-
cited journals were available in the departmental library. Citation analysis must be
used in combination with other methods for acquisition of library resources. The
study also revealed that online resources were poorly cited, which may be due to
lack of information literacy, cost, and inadequate power supply. The study is also
an insight into major subject areas in LIS which are most researched. Low
research areas may be due to lack of information and information sources in these
areas. It is eye-opening to the acquisitions librarian and the lecturers in the library
school.
Recommendations
There should be an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
laboratory in the department of Library and Information Science to enable
the students and lecturers to have access to online resources.
Information literacy should be part of the curriculum to enable use of open
access resources that are available.
The library management should collaborate with the department in
acquisition of the information sources that are  relevant for their studies,
especially the most cited journals and monographs.
Journal acquisition should be given priority, with subscriptions to journals in
library and information science.
There should be more awareness in the curriculum of areas of LIS such as
bibliometrics.
References
Aina, L.O., & Mooko, N.P. (1999). Research and publication patterns in library and
information science. Information Development 15 (2) p116
Aina, L.O., & Ajiferuke, I.S.Y (2002). Research methodologies in Information
science. In Aina, L.O. (Ed.) Research in information sciences: An African
perspective. Stirling-Horden. Ibadan
Burke, J. (1999). Intronet: A beginner’s guide to searching the Internet. Neal-
Schuman, New York.
Gooden, A.M. (2001). Citation analysis of chemistry dissertations: An Ohio State
University case study. http://www.ist/org/o1-fall/index.html. Accessed on 20/11/08
Kuruppu, P.U., & Moore, D.C. (2008). Information use by PhD students in
agriculture and biology: A dissertation citation analysis. Portal: Libraries and the
Academy, 8(4), 387-405.
Nkiko, C., & Adetoro, N. (2007). Pioneer bachelor degree: Citation analysis of
Covenant University Students’ Research projects. Library philosophy and Practice
Ogunleye, G.O. (1996). Undergraduates’ use of research literature: A
bibliographical citation analysis of science project reports accepted by a Nigerian
University 1981-1992. Library Bulletin 1(2).p58.
Okafor, V.N., & Ukwoma S.C. (2007). Availability and use of information resources
by academics in science and engineering faculties in Southern Nigerian
Universities. The Information Technologist 4(2) p 175.
Omekwu,C.O., & Popoola, S. (1998). Improving citation behavior of University
students in developing countries: A critical review of thesis literature at the
University of Ibadan. Library Bulletin 2(1&2) p 44-51
Onyancha, O.B. (2007). LIS research in Africa: How much is it worth? A critical
analysis of the literature, 1986-2006. In World Library & Information Congress: 73rd
IFLA General Conference 19-23 August 2007, Duban, South Africa.
http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla73/index.htm. accessed on 3/11/08
Sam, J. (2008). An analysis of papers published in the Ghana Library journal: A
bibliometric study. African Journal of Library, Archives & Information Science 18(1)
p55.
Smith, L. (1981). Citation analysis. Library Trends 30 summer. 83-106
Tuñón, J., & Brydges, B. (2005). Improving the quality of University Libraries
through citation mining and analysis using two new dissertation bibliometrics
assessment tools. In World Library & Information Congress: 71st IFLA General
Conference 14-18August 2005, Oslo, Norway
http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla71/programme.htm. Accessed on 20/11/08


Information Sources Used by Postgraduate Students in Library and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln 7-2011 Information Sources Used by Postgraduate Students in Library and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations R. I. Echezona University of Nigeria Nsukka, ifeomaechzona@yahoo.com V. N. Okafor University of Nigeria Nsukka, vickaforn@yahoo.com Scholastica C. Ukwoma University of Nigeria Nsukka, stica2004@yahoo.com Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac  Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Echezona, R. I.; Okafor, V. N.; and Ukwoma, Scholastica C., "Information Sources Used by Postgraduate Students in Library and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations" (2011). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 559. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/559  http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/Library Philosophy and Practice 2011ISSN 1522-0222Information Sources Used byPostgraduate Students inLibrary and InformationScience: A Citation Analysisof DissertationsR.I. Echezona, PhDPrincipal LibrarianV.N. Okafor, PhDS.C. UkwomaNnamdi Azikiwe LibraryUniversity of Nigeria NsukkaIntroductionAcademic libraries are struggling with diminishing funds for acquisition of librarymaterials. The price of books continues to rise, which has forced many libraries tocut back on purchasing. Academic libraries are faced with the problems of meetingthe information needs of researchers in  different fields of study. This ugly trendaffects learning and research in our academic institutions, and leaves researcherswith few resources. Online resources can help alleviate these problems; however,there is a limit to the quantity and quality of information that one can easily access.Some electronic materials require subscription fees that may not be within thereach of the users. Librarians must have a clear understanding of informationneeds and information resources used by researchers. One way to do this isby analysing theses to discover what materials are cited most by researchers. Thiswill enable librarians to provide these materials and encourage learning andresearch. This can be done through citation analysis. The result of the analysis willhelp librarians base the acquisition of library materials on facts not on opinion.Citation analysis is a tool for measuring library collection use. It has been appliedin the evaluation of journal collections, for deciding whether to  acquire, continue,or discontinue the subscription (Smith 1981). Citation analysis is an aspect ofbibliometrics, which studies the references used in documents. Citation analysisinvolves counting how many times a paper or researcher is cited, assuming thatinfluential scientists and important works are cited more often than others. Citationanalysis was developed in information science as a tool to identify core sets ofarticles, authors, or journals in particular fields(http://sherlock.ischool.berkeley.edu/asis96/node4.html)The study was carried out to find out what journals were most cited, the majorsubject areas covered in the research, and the extent to which different library andinformation science resources were cited by postgraduate students in theDepartment of Library and Information Science. Citation analysis can be used todetermine information sources used by doctoral students in their research projects(Kuruppu and Moore, 2008).Researchers need access to many different kinds and formats of information,including books, journals, etc. The type of information sources used and theircurrency are necessary for both research and for national development. The pooreconomic situation and devaluation of the currency make it difficult to acquire themuch needed resources to keep our resources up to date. The Internet  hascontributed to the provision and spread of information, information are accessedirrespective of time and location. Majority of the information we access are currentand up-to-date. Publishing in the Internet is quite easy. It is much faster andeasier than with print publication. These are all recent innovations that have comein to easy the problem of accessibility of information materials, all it involves is tosit down at a computer and navigate from one information source to another bythe click of the mouse. Information is power and there is need for it to be alwayscurrent and up to date. This can be achieved through the libraries performing theirfunctions in the provision of information.The understanding of the information sources used by postgraduate students willhelp the library to acquire regular and current journals and other informationsources needed by these researchers. Acquisition of needed information resourcesleads to availability of required current information and will help students toconduct effective research and sound comprehensive work. It is based on thisbackground that postgraduate theses submitted in the department of library andinformation science University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), from 1997 to 2007 werestudied. UNN is the first federal university to start a postgraduate programme inlibrary and information science in south eastern Nigeria. It is also the firstindigenous university in Nigeria. It started its postgraduate programme in 1997,since then it has graduated many students from both the masters and doctoratedegrees programmes.Objectives of the StudyThe broad purpose of the study is to examine the references used bypostgraduate researchers to identify the materials that are mostly needed in theirresearch work while specifically the study was designed to:Analyze the extent of different library and information science resourcescited by postgraduate students in the Department of Library and InformationScience.Ascertain the number of Internet resources cited.Find the average number of citations per project.Determine which library and information science journals are cited mostDiscover the major subject areasScope of the StudyThe study covered a period of eleven years, from 1997-2007. This was chosenbecause it was when the Department of Library and Information Science beganpostgraduate studies. The years covered help ensure a sufficient number of worksthat have been assessed by external examiner.Literature ReviewCitation analysis is an unobtrusive research method that identifies core lists ofjournals and monographs in a subject discipline (Kuruppu and Moore, 2008). Theusefulness of a discipline is measured by the amount and quality of researchcompleted in the  discipline (Onyancha 2007). Lancaster (1991) stated that“research productivity and impact is measured through an analysis of the numberof publications produced and the quality of the sources in which the publishedmaterials appears.” This implies that sources of citation are important indetermining the quality of a work. Journals are accorded importance because theycontain firsthand information. Sam (2008) reports that a majority of the items citedwere journals (44.5%), while books accounted for 32.5%. Gooden (2000) revealedthe same findings. Kuruuppu and Moore (2008) examined the information sourcesused by doctoral students in agriculture and biological sciences, and found thatjournals had 24,072 out of 29,894 citations (80.5%). Okafor and Ukwoma (2007)discovered that journals are more frequently used than other resources. Tuńónand Brydges (2005) reported that of the 69.6 references, 47.7 citations (68.7%) onaverage were from periodicals. Nkiko and Adetoro (2007) discovered that out ofthe 14,655 citations generated from 557 projects with an average citation of 26.3%per project, monographs had 53.3%, journals 25.1%, online resources 7.7%,followed by others and grey literature with 2.7%. LaBonte (2008) discovered thatout of 4,023 citations analyzed from 643 journals, 318 journals (49.5%) had onecitation, and one journal (Applied Physics Letters) had 267. The mean number ofcitations per bibliography was 28.77, of which 90.2% was journals, 3.4 %conference proceedings, and 6.4% other formats such as books, patents, andpersonal communication. Omekwu and Popoola (1991) and Ogunleye (1996) foundthat monographs are cited more than journals.Megnigbeto in Nikiko and Adetoro (2008) studied citation of dissertations of libraryand information science undergraduate students and discovered that the numberof citations to online resources was very low. Tuńón and Brydges (2005) had thesame findings.The subject area of research is also an important consideration. Some studiescover different types of library service. Sam (2008) discovered that academiclibraries were the subject area covered most. Aina(1999) discovered that the mostfrequently covered area was professional education, with 12.3%, followed byinformation technology at 8.5%.MethodologyCitation analysis is the research method used in this study. As Aina (2002)describes, references cited are systematically analysed to discover what journalsare cited by researchers in a discipline. The population of the study is all thetheses of masters and doctoral students of library and information sciencestudents who graduated from 1997-2007. There were 79 theses available. All ofthem were studied, with no sampling. The researchers consulted the theses anduse descriptive methods to collect the information needed. The data collected wereanalyzed using percentages and means.ResultsTable1: Citation of Library SourcesRank Information source No of citation Percentage of citation1 Journals 2594 53.82 Books 1484 30.83 Conferences/workshops 330 6.94 Dissertations 210 4.45 Reports 91 1.96 Newspapers 57 1.27 On-line Resources 48 1.0Total 4814 100.0Of the 79 masters and PhD theses examined, 4,814 citations were recordedTable 2: Online Resources CitedYear cited No of citation Percentage1997-2001 - 02002 5 12.22003 2 4.92004 1 2.42005 3 7.32006 9 22.02007 21 51.2Total 41 100.0Table 2 shows that from 1997-2001, no online information was cited. Onlineresources were mostly cited in 2007. Out of 41 times that online resources werecited in the 79 projects studied, 51.2% of them were cited in 2007, with 22% in2006.Table 3: Average Citations for Types Information ResourcesRank Information source No. of citation Average citation1 Journals 2594 32.82 Books 1484 18.83 Conferences/workshops 330 4.24 Dissertation 210 2.85 Reports 91 1.26 Newspaper 57 0.77 Online resources 48 0.6Table 4: Library and Information Science Journals Cited MostRank Journals Number of citation1 College and Research libraries 1782 African journal of library ,Archive and Information Science 1553 Nigerian libraries 584 Journal of Academic Librarianship 525 Nigerbiblio 396 Microform Review 317 AACD Quarterly 288 International journal of information review 21Major Areas of ResearchThe most popular research area between 1997-2007 was Librarymanagement/administration (25.3%), followed by user studies (21.5%), Collectiondevelopment and library cooperation (8.9% respectively), academic libraries (6.3%),school libraries, publishing, the book trade, and technical services (3.8%respectively), preservation studies (2.5%), while bibliometrics, special libraries, andpublic libraries scored 1.3% each.DiscussionThe 79 theses generated 4,814 citations. As shown in table 1, journal articles(53.8%) were most cited of all the information sources by the postgraduatestudents. This is in line with Sam (2008); Okafor and Ukwoma (2007), Gooden(2000) who found  that researchers make reference to more journal articles thanother information sources in literature search. This can be attributed to the fact thatprofessional journals are major sources of information for academics to carryout meaningful research. Books in all forms, including monographs andencyclopedias were also frequently used (30.8%) but not most cited. This is not inline with Omekwu and Popoola (1991), Ogunleye (1996), and Nkiko and Adetoro(2008), who found that monographs are cited more than journals.Online resources were cited least, as shown in Tables 1 and 2.This agrees withMegnigbeto (2007) and Tuñón and Brydges (2008) who found that the percentageof online resources is very low when compared with other information sources.This may be because students are not familiar with online searching or a lack oftraining and access to the Internet. Lack of access may be  non-availability, non-affordability, or lack of power supply.College and Research Libraries was the journal cited most (178 times). This has todo with availability of the journals in the departmental library. African Journal ofLibrary, Archive, and Information Science was also cited, because it was availableand individuals usually have access to it.Finally, the study revealed that library management and administration was themost-researched topic, followed by user studies. This does not agree with Sam(2008), who found that discovered that academic libraries were the most popularsubject area. Aina (1999) found that professional education was the most coveredsubject. Areas like bibliometrics, special libraries, and public libraries were leaststudied. Other areas with low coverage were school libraries, technical services,publishing and book trade, and preservation.ConclusionThe use of citation analysis for this study was to provide a better understanding ofthe information used by postgraduate students in library and information science inthe University of Nigeria Nsukka. The study revealed that the students consultedand used mostly journals in their research work, and the most-cited journal wasCollege and Research Libraries. This confirms one of the problems with citationanalysis: the fact that journals are cited most when they are available. The most-cited journals were available in the departmental library. Citation analysis must beused in combination with other methods for acquisition of library resources. Thestudy also revealed that online resources were poorly cited, which may be due tolack of information literacy, cost, and inadequate power supply. The study is alsoan insight into major subject areas in LIS which are most researched. Lowresearch areas may be due to lack of information and information sources in theseareas. It is eye-opening to the acquisitions librarian and the lecturers in the libraryschool.RecommendationsThere should be an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)laboratory in the department of Library and Information Science to enablethe students and lecturers to have access to online resources.Information literacy should be part of the curriculum to enable use of openaccess resources that are available.The library management should collaborate with the department inacquisition of the information sources that are  relevant for their studies,especially the most cited journals and monographs.Journal acquisition should be given priority, with subscriptions to journals inlibrary and information science.There should be more awareness in the curriculum of areas of LIS such asbibliometrics.ReferencesAina, L.O., & Mooko, N.P. (1999). Research and publication patterns in library andinformation science. Information Development 15 (2) p116Aina, L.O., & Ajiferuke, I.S.Y (2002). Research methodologies in Informationscience. In Aina, L.O. (Ed.) Research in information sciences: An Africanperspective. Stirling-Horden. IbadanBurke, J. (1999). Intronet: A beginner’s guide to searching the Internet. Neal-Schuman, New York.Gooden, A.M. (2001). Citation analysis of chemistry dissertations: An Ohio StateUniversity case study. http://www.ist/org/o1-fall/index.html. Accessed on 20/11/08Kuruppu, P.U., & Moore, D.C. (2008). Information use by PhD students inagriculture and biology: A dissertation citation analysis. Portal: Libraries and theAcademy, 8(4), 387-405.Nkiko, C., & Adetoro, N. (2007). Pioneer bachelor degree: Citation analysis ofCovenant University Students’ Research projects. Library philosophy and PracticeOgunleye, G.O. (1996). Undergraduates’ use of research literature: Abibliographical citation analysis of science project reports accepted by a NigerianUniversity 1981-1992. Library Bulletin 1(2).p58.Okafor, V.N., & Ukwoma S.C. (2007). Availability and use of information resourcesby academics in science and engineering faculties in Southern NigerianUniversities. The Information Technologist 4(2) p 175.Omekwu,C.O., & Popoola, S. (1998). Improving citation behavior of Universitystudents in developing countries: A critical review of thesis literature at theUniversity of Ibadan. Library Bulletin 2(1&2) p 44-51Onyancha, O.B. (2007). LIS research in Africa: How much is it worth? A criticalanalysis of the literature, 1986-2006. In World Library & Information Congress: 73rdIFLA General Conference 19-23 August 2007, Duban, South Africa.http://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla73/index.htm. accessed on 3/11/08Sam, J. (2008). An analysis of papers published in the Ghana Library journal: Abibliometric study. African Journal of Library, Archives & Information Science 18(1)p55.Smith, L. (1981). Citation analysis. Library Trends 30 summer. 83-106Tuñón, J., & Brydges, B. (2005). Improving the quality of University Librariesthrough citation mining and analysis using two new dissertation bibliometricsassessment tools. In World Library & Information Congress: 71st IFLA GeneralConference 14-18August 2005, Oslo, Norwayhttp://www.ifla.org/iv/ifla71/programme.htm. Accessed on 20/11/08

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Information Sources Used by Postgraduate Students in Library and Information Science: A Citation Analysis of Dissertations

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