Information Access and Library User Needs in Developing Countries

While high quality library and information services continue to thrive and strengthen economic and social development, much of the knowledge that exists on user’s needs and behaviors is fundamentally based on the results of users in English-speaking, western developed countries. Information Access and Library User Needs in Developing Countries highlights the struggles that developing countries face in terms of information gaps and information-seeking user behavior. The publication highlights ways in which users in developing countries can benefit from properly implementing LIS services. Researchers, academics, and practitioners interested in the design and delivery of information services will benefit from this collection of research.

Mohammed Nasser Al-Suqri is an assistant professor and the Head of the Department of Information Studies, Collage of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University. He received his Ph.D. in Library and Information Management from Emporia State University, School of Library and Information Management, Emporia, USA; a Masters degree in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute, School of Information and Library Science, New York, USA; and a Bachelors degree in Library and Information Science from Sultan Qaboos University, Department of Library and Information Science, Sultanate of Oman. Mohammed Nasser Al-Suqri conducts research in the area of user studies, knowledge management and sharing, information industries, impact of new technology on academic libraries, digital divide, digital libraries, and LIS education and collaboration in the Middle East.

Linda L. Lillard holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Education and an M.L.S. and Ph.D. in Library and Information Management from Emporia State University in Kansas. She was on faculty at University of Central Missouri, University of Kentucky, and Emporia State University before she came home to Pennsylvania to Clarion University. Dr. Lillards dissertation research was on the information seeking behaviors and information needs of people working in online environments, specifically eBay entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur herself on several occasions: Taos Candy Factory in Taos, New Mexico and Pak-n-Ship in Emporia, KS, Dr. Lillard has always been interested in the information needs of entrepreneurs. The advent of the online environment broadened her research interests to people working in an online environment and thus she has also studied embedded librarianship and worked with LIS students to embed them in online courses to assist other students with their information needs.

Dr. Naifa Eid Saleem is an assistance professor at the Department of information studies and the assistant dean of training and community services, Sultan Qaboos University. He has a BA in library science and documentation in 1993. In 2001 she obtained her MA in information management from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. She got her PhD from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom in 2006. Dr. Naifa areas of interests are: e- learning, research methodology, information seeking behavior. She published several articles in both Arabic and English in Refereed journals.