An evaluation of information literacy of postgraduate students of the National University of Lesotho (NUL)

Abstract

In this global information age many technological advances have changed approaches to education and the way libraries are managed. The massive increase of unfiltered information has resulted in high demands for information literacy programmes. Therefore, students need to be assisted throughout their learning process. The result of this change is the shift from teacher-centered type of learning to student-centered learning. The gap between the library and the classroom needs to be bridged by insisting on the use of information literacy skills and by promoting cooperation and collaboration of efforts between the teaching staff and the library. The learning organizations need to realize the need to embed information literacy within their curriculum to enhance quality education. The transformation requires libraries to embark on student learning and empower students with necessary information literacy skills. This issue of empowering students with necessary skills had become a motivating factor that drove me to carry out this research in order to find out the status and level of information literacy for postgraduate students of NUL. Information literacy standards were used as a measure. The study used a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A questionnaire was used as a main data collection instrument and the results were measured against the American Library Association (ALA) information literacy standards. Interviews were also conducted at NUL to supplement the main data collection instrument. Findings reflect a moderate to poor performance of a group of postgraduate and senior Law students who participated in this survey study. Findings from interviews provided evidence that NUL is aware of the concept of information literacy.