Personal Information Management Behaviors of University Faculty– Aspects of Print versus Electronic

Abstract

This study examined personal information crea tion and storage practices in digital and print media by faculty in selected universities in Ghana. A sample survey research design guided the research and quantitative data were collected from 235 faculty members of six universities inGhana.Qualitativedatawasalsocollectedfrom18willing faculty members,andwasguidedbyaninterviewschedule. Faculty reported that they created their information in an organizedmannerandthat they createdinformationmainly in digital formats compared with manual. The task at hand determined the information facility created and search words that are semantically related to the item are used in finding/re-finding electronic information. Faculty reported that they acquired theirinformation literacy personally,and information literacy explained re-finding of digital infor mation but not non-digital information. The demographic variables in the study did not explain finding/re-finding of stored information: gender (β = −0.113, p = 0.280) and age (β =0.038,p = 0.545). This study establishes clearly the pattern of information literacy activities for faculty in the universities in Ghana.