Conference Attendance by Nigerian Library and Information Professionals

Abstract

Surveys patterns of conference attendance among LIS professionals in Nigeria. Through questionnaires, data were collected from 105 LIS personnel who attended the 43rd National Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Library Association (NLA) held at Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria on 9–15.July, 2005. Findings revealed: the personal characteristics of the respondents; that the respondents attend various conferences though a majority attend the NLA National Conferences only occasionally; most of them attend conferences in order to keep up-to-date with developments in the profession; most of them obtain conference information from websites; the main factors which determine conference attendance are the reputation of the organizers and early notification of conference date and venue; conference attendance results in improved productivity in the organization; lack of organizational funding for conference attendance is a problem for most of the respondents. In general, the results indicate that, for most respondents and their employing organizations, participating in conferences produces real benefits.