Abstract:
The new Constitution, promulgation in 2010, provides for an active participation of
County Women Representatives CWR) in the various legislative functions in Kenya‘s
National Assembly. In information driven Parliament, effective performance of their
legislative roles depends, in part, on the levels of information literacy of legislators.
However, presently, their degree of information literacy has not been empirically
established. This has made it difficult for Parliamentary library planners to enhance
active use of the existing wealth of information resources. Therefore, the aim of the
study was to evaluate the level of information literacy of CWR and, to suggest the
ways in which their information literacy skills can be enhanced. The objectives of the
study were: to assess the legislators knowledge of information resources and services;
to determine the ability to search and retrieve needed information; to analyse their
information seeking and retrieval challenges and, to suggest ways in which their
levels of information literacy can be enhanced. The study population consisted of 47
County Women Representatives from which a sample size of 40 representatives was
selected. Quantitative research approach and survey research design was employed.
Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. The study was informed
by SCONUL Model (2011). Data was analysed using SPSS and presented in tables,
charts and figures. The found out that County Women Representatives lacked
adequate information literacy skills. The research concluded that there was urgent
need to put in place strategies that could enhance information literacy levels of the
women representatives. Further, the study proposed the need to design an information
literacy programme capable of empowering County Women Representatives with the
skills to search, access, retrieve and use diverse information resources available in the
Parliamentary library.
