Innovation : journal of appropriate librarianship and information work in Southern Africa - Volume VOL, Issue 41, December 2010

This issue of Innovation returns to the much researched and published concept and activity of information literacy. It is 36 years since Paul Zurkowski used the phrase 'information literacy' when he was president of the Information Industry Association. In the published literature since then, 'information literacy' has become the most popular of the range of terminologies employed to describe user education, library instruction and library literacy to name but a few activities that libraries in particular, engage in (Pinto, Cordon and Diaz 2010: 3-19). In a report to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Zurkowski (1974: 1) wrote about the permeation of information literacy through all spheres of society, formal and informal. He referred to the search for information as an internalised process driven by particular needs and circumstances:

This article considers the origins and essence of human rights, the requirement that people should have access to information in order to participate in society and develop their human capacity, and the relationship between information and freedom of choice. Information literacy and the right of access to information are interrelated and interconnected. Human freedom implies not only the ability to choose (formal freedom) but also the choices people are able to make (material freedom). It is argued that information literacy, and specifically the ability to evaluate, and benefit from, information, is essential to both formal and material freedom. It is furthermore seen as part of the positive dimension of the right of access to information, and as such implies that the state has a positive duty to protect and promote the right of its citizens to become information literate.

The article reports on an action research project to investigate the effectiveness of an information literacy intervention for first-year engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The intervention consisted of two workshops which aimed at teaching the students to find information relevant to their essays via the university's online public access catalogue (OPAC) and engineering databases and to reference and cite their sources. The project assessed students' information skills before and after the two workshops with the use of a questionnaire consisting of a set of questions based on some of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards. The research provides insight into how information literacy education at CPUT library can be improved. Its major recommendations are that more periods in the timetable must be allocated to information literacy education and that lecturers should recognise the educational role of librarians.

This article reviews efforts made by higher education institutions in Nigeria and Tanzania in transforming student learning through information literacy (IL). It examines the need for higher education institutions in the two countries to create the necessary foundations for strengthening information literacy programmes as a strategy for ensuring viable transformation in teaching and learning. The paper is based on a review of related literature and observations drawn from working experiences in higher education institutions in both countries. It examines some of the meaningful educational transformations taking place in higher education institutions in Nigeria and Tanzania and makes recommendations for better standards to be developed in terms of curriculum structure and design, teaching methods, outcome assessment and a review of institutional policies and goals in order to encourage active teaching and learning.

This article is based on a study which investigated the ability of law students to search the electronic databases of the University of Botswana (UB) Library and their perceptions of the Information Literacy course offered by the Library. The study population consisted of 362 undergraduate law students. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. The results showed that although some of the undergraduate law students did use the Library's electronic databases and benefited from the Information Literacy course offered by the Library, many of the students lacked the necessary legal research skills as regards use of electronic resources.

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the process that resulted in the compilation of draft national information literacy training guidelines for university libraries in South Africa, in pursuit of a national framework. At national level there has been little attempt to coordinate and develop a common core curriculum for information literacy training at university level. In November 2007 the Committee for Higher Education Librarians of South Africa (CHELSA) mandated the creation of a national framework for Information Literacy Training (ILT) for the 23 South African member universities. Data about existing information literacy programmes was gathered via surveys, webinars and written submissions from participants. CHELSA recommended the development of guidelines reflecting core competencies for an introductory level information literacy training programme in the first instance. The resultant information literacy guidelines are provided at the end of this article. The value of CHELSA's research is its contribution to the ongoing promotion of a common core curriculum for information literacy at university level in South Africa.

Information literacy and skills in Internet searching are important for teachers. There exists a large body of literature on information literacy in schools and universities and there are many guidelines and standards on information literacy. Little has, however, been published on information literacy training for teachers per se. Even less has been written on information literacy training for townships and rural communities in developing contexts where teachers may face special challenges. This article will argue that information literacy training for teachers in such communities can benefit from tailored planning influenced by Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Development (ICT4D) literature and taking into account factors such as relationship-building with a committed community; adaptation of the definition and standards for information literacy; and selecting appropriate methods and theories to support ongoing research. These suggestions came out of an United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) funded initiative by the Departments of Informatics and Information Science (University of Pretoria) to train teachers in information literacy in a township area close to Pretoria, South Africa.