Contribution of Information Literacy Programmes to the Academic and Research Purpose for Postgraduate Students at Kibabii University Library, Bungoma County, Kenya
Authors: Peninnah Naibei & Dr. Ben Wekalao Namande
Abstract – Universities play twofold roles that are most important and these are research and academic obligations. Libraries in these institutions help them to realize these obligations and in this regard they are investing heavily in e-resources and information communication technologies. The success of any university may be judged by the research academic output and independent learning by the students. These are however possible with those students who are information literate. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of information literacy programmes mounted at Kibabii University Library in supporting academic and research cause of the University. Descriptive research design was adopted in the study. The target population was 650 postgraduates and 23 professional library staff. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the study respondents who comprised 65 postgraduates and 23 university library staff. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. The analysis of the collected data was done using descriptive statistics and the computer based Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings were presented using figures, tables and charts. The collected and analyzed data was discussed and inferences made that resulted in a report. The findings indicated that information literacy programmes are available, though not all are well established; information literacy programmes are not integrated in the university curriculum, Library staff and postgraduates had requisite information literacy skills and competencies, information literacy training was done mainly during orientation of new students, information literacy programmes had many contributions which included; conducting better research, improved research skills, improved skills on evaluation of information resources, improved development of thinking skills through deeper learning, ease of evaluating internet information and ease of access and retrieval of information in the library. The perception of postgraduate students wasn’t good, The study recommends that more information literacy programmes be established, training of postgraduate students should be done continuously, staff be trained regularly on different aspects of information literacy, information literacy programmes be incorporated in the university curriculum, library management to create awareness on information literacy programmes in the university.
Keywords - Information, Information literacy, Literacy skills, programmes, Lifelong learning.
DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.26761/ijrls.7.2.2021.1407
Cite This Article As: Naibei, P. & Namande, B.W. (2021). Contribution of Information Literacy Programmes to the Academic and Research Purpose for Postgraduate Students at Kibabii University Library, Bungoma County, Kenya. International Journal of Research in Library Science (IJRLS),7(2) 170-182. www.ijrls.in
Copyright © 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.
Publication Date: 24 June 2021