ABSTRACT

The study investigated the awareness of career opportunities for library and information science students in Rivers State University. To achieve this study, three research objectives and three research questions in line with the objectives were developed. The study reviewed literatures based on conceptual review. The study adopted descriptive research survey design and the population of the study consisted of undergraduate students of Library and Information Science, Rivers State University. The simple size comprised of the entire population of 239 undergraduate Library and Information Science students across all levels. Census enumerative sampling technique was used to select the sample. The instrument for data collection is a self-constructed questionnaire carefully designed to elicit responses from respondents. The instrument was validated by the three experts in measurement and evaluation. The split half reliability method was used to determine the reliability and Spearman’s Brown statistics was used to determine the reliability coefficient which yielded a value of 0.86 and 0.80 respectively, thereby making the instruments reliable for data collection. The data obtained was analyzed using inferential statistics which included tables, percentage and mean. The findings revealed that; The career choices of Library and Information Science students in Rivers State University include; librarian, archivist, information architect, data analyst / information analyst, metadata specialist, curation specialist / museum curator, corporate, special or digital librarian, health science librarian, user experience (UX) Designer / usability specialist, and competitive intelligence analyst. Students displayed considerable awareness of both traditional and modern career paths in LIS. The study concluded that effective strategies to raise awareness and understanding of the diverse career opportunities available in Library and Information Science to students include; curriculum enhancement, career counselling and mentorship programmes, internships. The study recommends amongst others that; The LIS curriculum should be continuously updated to reflect emerging trends in information technology.

Keywords: Awareness, Career Opportunities, Library, Information, Students.