Health Information Literacy As A Predictor Of Community Information Service Utilization Among Citizens In Public/National Libraries In South Western Nigeria

Abstract Public libraries are primarily established to meet the information needs of citizen at all levels. Obviously, one of such needs is health information. However, information poverty is so rampant in Nigeria consequent upon which people awareness about their health is low. This study therefore investigated health information literacy as a predictor of community information service utilization in public and national libraries in south western Nigeria. The descriptive research design was adopted. Simple random technique was used to distribute questionnaires to 40 respondents in each of 6 public and 4 national libraries in south western Nigeria. The total sample size was therefore 400. One questionnaire namely: Health Information Literacy and Community Information Service Utilization Questionnaire (HILCISUQ) (r = 0.88) was used. Findings revealed that health information literacy (r = 0.078) positively, and jointly predicted community information service utilization in public and national libraries of south western Nigeria. Besides, health information literacy was low ( =1.57). It was recommended that citizens should be educated on the need to be literate in respect of health information.