EDUPEDIA247

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study Every year, successful secondary school graduate students move from one place to another to pursue tertiary level education. Students transferring to collegesand universities are increasing as the number and capacity of higher institutions in the country is growing. Entering higher institution is often seen as an exciting time. However, it can also be a challenging time for students who may have moved away from their social support base and are learning to adapt to a new environment. As a freshman enters university this is a transformative time in their life where they will be figuring out who they are and how to take care of themselves. Students will use this first year away at university in a new environment to try to figure this out. This is all part of the adjustment process they will face as they enter higher institution. This adjustment process is extremely significant because according to research how a student adjusts during

CHAPTER ONE 1.1    Introduction Communication plays a crucial role in functioning of reference unit effectively in the library. Consciously it involves sharing of ideas, feelings, thoughts, and many other things that humans share. In fact, what the reference unit requires mainly is communication. It is an inseparable, essential and continuous process just like the circulatory system in the human body. Ojomo (2004) defined communication as the process of sharing ideas, feelings, thoughts and messages with others.  While Rothwell (2001) also sees communication as a transactional process of sharing meaning with others. Kemoni (2004) citing Ojiambo avers that communication involves the giving and receiving of information, signals or messages by talk, gestures and writing. As a result, communication effectiveness becomes a very vital factor in determining the efficiency with which reference unit performs as a whole. When two or more people are in the same place and are aware of each other