Information Needs of Publishing Personnel in Kenya

This study sought to find out the information needs and information seeking behaviour of publishing personnel in a typical Kenyan book publishing firm, the Longhorn (K) Ltd. The study identified the problems that publishing personnel encounter in their work situation in their endeavour to satisfy their information needs and also suggested possible solutions to some of the problems. Understanding of the information needs and information seeking behaviour of publishing personnel might be helpful in designing better information systems for them. The study employed mainly a qualitative case study approach. An interview schedule was used to guide the researcher in data collection in face-to-face personal interviews with the respondents. Observation and documentary sources were used to complement interviews in data collection. On average, the interview sessions lasted between half to one hour. Altogether, forty two (42) members of staff engaged in work related to publishing were interviewed and the data carefully recorded and analysed. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in analysing data collected from the respondents.