Assessing Information Seeking Situation of Agricultural Graduate Students in Zanjan University

The purpose of this study was measuring information seeking knowledge of agricultural graduate students and corresponding factors in Zanjan University. Survey methodology was implemented in this applied research. The statistical population consisted of graduate students in the College of Agriculture, University of Zanjan in 2012-2013 (N= 250). The sample size was estimated by using Cochran's formula (n=80). Samples were selected by stratified random method. The research tool was a questionnaire. Validity of the instrument was confirmed by a panel of faculty members and information science experts. Results showed that the mean score of information seeking knowledge of respondents was 7.09 on a scale of 0-20. Information seeking knowledge score of 88.8% of respondents was assessed as moderate to very poor. There was a significant relationship between internet use and information seeking knowledge. Seeking knowledge score of students participated in a library tour, was significantly higher than the students not participated in the tour. Analysis of variance showed that there was no significant difference between the seeking knowledge scores of students with different majors.