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such exorbitant prices, time, computer illiteracy, poor roads and cultural
taboos.
Other authors such as Krikelas (1983:6-7) argue that information seeking
begins when an individual perceives that the current state of possessed
knowledge is less than that needed to deal with some problem. Ocholla
(1999: 120) on the other hand denotes that seeking is an expression of
want, demand, need or requirement that entails looking for or fetching an
item of information.
Kuhlthau (2005:2; 1991:1) brings in a new and holistic understanding to
information seeking when she describes it as a process of seeking meaning,
and not just finding and reproducing information, and that the person in the
process of seeking Information is concerned with the task to be
accomplished, the time allotted, personal interest, and the amount of
information available.
Chang (1989: 20) proposes that information seeking behavior can be
affected by contextual variables such as the user's organization type,
positional variables such as the type of work performed, and personal
variables such as age and the level of education. Chang also observes that
as the first step in seeking information, most people are in favor of oral
communication.
In so far as information use is concerned, Dervin and Nilan (1986), define
information use as ways in which people put answers to questions to work.
Additionally, Chang (1989:30) observes that the key elements and process
of human information behavior can be conceptualized in the following ways:
(i) Information use is the destination of a process starting from a user
with an information need going through information seeking,
gathering, and evaluation stages.
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