STUDY ON AWARENESS AND COMPETENCIES OF INFOPRENEURSHIP AMONG PROSPECTIVE GRADUATES OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE, HASSAN USMAN KATSINA POLYTECHNIC, KATSINA

Abstract

The advent of information and communication technology in libraries and information profession more especially information entrepreneurship has introduced a new digital working environment to retrieve and disseminate reliable information services to clienteles. This paper therefore, studies awareness and competencies of infopreneurship among prospective graduates of library and information science, Hassan Usman Katsina polytechnic, Katsina. Objectives of the study were to determine the level of awareness and understanding of infopreneurship; to identify specific skills and competencies possess. Directed cross-sectional survey research design was adopted and the instrument used was questionnaire. The study population consisted of 297 students, drawn based on Kriejcie and Morgan's table. Out of 215 questionnaires distributed to participants, One hundred and eighty four (184) duly completed were retrieving given a response rate of 85.58%. A five point Likert-scale type of questionnaire was developed with a response options: SD=strongly disagree (1), D= disagree (2), UD=undecided (3), A=Agree (4), and SA=strongly agree (5). The data collected were coded and analyzed using tables and charts. The arithmetic mean was used to answer the research objectives.  The decision rule is to consider any average score equal to or greater than 3.00 agreed upon and any average score less than 3.00 not agreed upon. The findings revealed that students have limited awareness of infopreneurship and lack core infopreneurship competencies. It recommended that integrate infopreneurship education into LIS curricula; organize workshops, conferences and seminars; motivate students to share their experiences on marketing and innovation; encourage interdisciplinary research and collaboration relate to infopreneurship and finally consider demographics factors in designing infopreneurship training and support programs among others.