A study of the reading interests of graduates on national service scheme in Ghana

Abstract

A highly educated person, such as a university graduate, is normally expected to continue to read on diverse subjects as a desirable lifelong activity. Any such person who deviates from this behaviour is considered to have transformed into an aliterate. Against this background, using the survey design and the random sampling technique, this study sought to find out if fresh graduates of tertiary institutions are reading immediately out of school or are already exhibiting signs of heading towards aliteracy. Graduates of Ghanaian tertiary institutions who graduated in 2009 and were serving the nation under the Ghana National Service Scheme formed the population of the study. Two hundred copies of a designed questionnaire were distributed to such graduates serving at the University of Ghana between June and July 2010, out of which 167 usable copies were returned for a response rate of 83.5%. The study found out that the majority of the respondents were still reading, and also perceived reading as essential for lifelong learning. However, it does not appear that they placed as much premium on reading as they did in school. The paper calls on academic libraries to pay attention to providing resources and services to improve the leisurely reading habits of their students, alongside academic reading requirements, so that students leave the university with acquired and cultivated habits of reading outside of academic requirements and settings.