Personal Information Creation, Storage and Finding Behaviours of Faculty in Selected Universities in Ghana

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to examine personal information creation and storage by faculty in selected universities in Ghana. The study also examined the factors associated with information finding/re-finding experiences of the faculty in their personal electronic and print information spaces and the influence of computer literacy in this regard. Data was collected from 235 faculty members of six universities in Ghana using a questionnaire. Faculty reported that they created personal information in an organised manner, and in comparison, with print, they created electronic information the most, and based on task at hand. Respondents strongly agreed that they found electronic information better when the information item is in a folder and has a content that relates to the folder name. They self reported their computer literacy to be mainly intermediate level skill acquired mostly through workshops and personal efforts. The result shows a significant but marginal relationship between computer literacy and re-finding personal electronic information (df=1, B=0.238, p=0.001), but not finding/re-finding personal print information. Irrespective of demographic characteristics, strengthening computer literacy targeted at faculty will improve refinding of previously stored electronic information.