IOSR Journal of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 26, Issue 4, Series 4 (April. 2021) 33-40 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-2604043340 www.iosrjournals.org 33 |Page Awareness and Use of Search Engines for Information Retrieval by Lecturers of Universities in Bauchi State Abdulkarim Abdullahi Department Of General Studies Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare Bauchi State, Nigeria Aliyu Nasiru Muhammad Abu Ali Library Aminu Saleh College Of Education Azare Bauchi State, Nigeria Margaret Abosede Amao Abu Ali Library Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare Bauchi State, Nigeria ABSTRACT This study investigates the awareness and use of search engines for information retrieval by lecturers of universities in Bauchi state. Quantitative research methodology through cross sectional survey design was adopted for the study to assess the level of awareness and use of search engines for information retrieval by lecturers of universities in Bauchi state. The respondents of the study were 200 lecturers in both universities in Bauchi state. While descriptive and inferential statistics using percentages through the use of SPSS 20.0 version were used for the data analysis. The results reveal that many lecturers are aware and used search engines daily to pave ways to access information on internet. Google scholar, Chrome and Firefox are the most used search engines among lecturers of Universities in Bauchi state. The study also reveals that lecturers are well skilled in the use of search engines because most of the respondents in the study reveal that their competence in the use of search engines, the study also reveals that there are sufficient ICT infrastructures to support the use of search engines in both universities, it is also reveals that, problem of network failure, lack of information retrieval skills, insufficient power and low network bandwidth are problem hindering the use of search engines in the institutions. It is also recommended that lecturers should be provided with updated or new ICT infrastructures that will aid the use of search engines for Research and academic purpose. Also stable power should be provided to ease the problem of power outbreak while using search engines which seriously affects most of the respondents negatively. The study contributes to knowledge in such a way that it improves upon the use of search engines for information retrieval in universities by stating what is needed for the search engines to function effectively, to bridge on the issue and this geographical zone, it shed more light on the importance of search engines to lecturers and to the entire educational system --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 29-03-2021 Date of Acceptance: 12-04-2021 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION Search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. It is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on computer system, such as internet, inside a corporate or proprietary network. It is a kind of information retrieval program and it has two major tasks: Searching through the billions of keywords recorded in the index to find information that match the query sent by the user and ranking retrieved records in order of importance so that the user can choose the most relevant. Search engines serve as source of information to researchers particularly lecturers in higher institutions of learning. They are the vehicles through which researchers can access past and current research publications and help to narrow and refine a search for tracing relevant information. Lecturers can also access information on various courses in the institution through these search engines. This will make them have different information resources and materials for their lectures and research work. Search engines also provide easy access to some reference materials like: gazettes, journals, conference proceeding, magazines and newspapers. Search engines provide e-print in details and other types of digital works by authors in an academic department, schools or institutions which comprise of electronic thesis and dissertations and presentations by authors of different