Assessing Information Literacy Skills of undergraduate students at Huye Campus Library, University of Rwanda, Rwanda

Abstract

In the current information society, information literacy (IL) is increasingly being regarded as an essential lifelong learning skill. To university students, it enables them to identify, locate, select, evaluate, use and communicate information thus become independent learners. However the state of these skills among Huye Campus students has never been investigated to determine their competence level that would permit them to maximize the use of the information resources. Consequently, this study aimed at investigating the state of information literacy skills among undergraduate students of Huye Campus, University of Rwanda with the view of proposing strategies to improve the information literacy skills offered to the students. The objectives were to: establish the current information literacy competencies of undergraduate students of Huye Campus, appraise the IL activities at Huye Campus for undergraduate, identify the skills that library staff possess in delivery of IL activities, examine the existing infrastructure that supports the delivery of information literacy skills at Huye Campus, establish the challenges experienced by Huye Campus in executing IL activities, suggest strategies for enforcing and improving information literacy activities at Huye Campus. The Association of College Research Library (ACRL) model complimented with the Seven Faces of Information Literacy was used to inform the study. A survey within a case study research design was adopted. A sample of 377 students, 19 key informants was respectively drawn from a population of 10,182 students and 405 staff. Data was collected using questionnaires for students and face to face interviews for key informants. All data was quantified and analyzed descriptively. The findings revealed that the majority of the students were inadequate in IL competencies except in two competencies where they were fairly adequate; IL activities were below standard; there were no integrated Information Literacy course in the curriculum and not able use information technology in various information literacy activities. The study further found that IL activities were not uniformly offered across all schools; competency levels of librarians were inadequate; ICT facilities and other IL infrastructure were not fully utilized for effective support of IL activities and there were no policies that govern directly the delivery of IL activities. In its conclusion, the study notes that the information literacy skills of undergraduate students at Huye Campus is low and that Huye campus has the potential to grow from its current average status of IL performance. The study recommends that concerted efforts should be exerted to increase the competency level of IL skills among library users by creating IL programmes, training staff, and increasing ICT infrastructure. Further, an information literacy policy should be developed and amalgamated into its wide academic mandates in the form of strategic plans, curriculum development, academic assessment measures and staff training. The library should engage in aggressive advocacy program in order to win both campus-wide and nation-wide support in IL.