Enhancing Information Literacy in Public Universities through Policy Frameworks
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Date
2022-11
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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Abstract
Information literacy is evolving as a basic human right in the digital world, which
promotes the social inclusion of all nations. The study sought to explore the role
policies play in the delivery of information literacy in public university libraries.
Using a semi-structured interview, the study sought to elicit the views of librarians
in Ghana’s top-most universities on their knowledge about instructional services
and availability of policy frameworks that guide the delivery of information literacy
in academic libraries. It was revealed that different models of information literacy
exist in academic libraries but librarians lacked a definite policy framework to
prosecute the information literacy agenda. The study fills the gap in available
literature on the role policy plays in information literacy, especially in developing
countries. Universities and other higher educational institutions will find the results
of this study useful in considering policies to guide the delivery of information
literacy in their libraries.
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Citation
Aviamu, Y. A. Ahenkorah-Marfo, M. and Taylor, J. (2022). Enhancing Information Literacy in Public Universities through Policy Frameworks EDLIB, Journal of Library and Information Science. Universities ….. https://doi.org/10.17509/edulib.v12i2.49677 pg. 153 Enhancing Information Literacy in Public Universities through Policy Frameworks Akwoyire Yaw Aviamu1, Michael Ahenkorah-Marfo2, Joseph Taylor3 1 Prempeh II Library,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 1 Corresponding author email : aviamus@gmail.com ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received: August 18, 2022 Revised: October 29, 2022 Accepted: November 23, 2022 Information literacy is evolving as a basic human right in the digital world, which promotes the social inclusion of all nations. The study sought to explore the role policies play in the delivery of information literacy in public university libraries. Using a semi-structured interview, the study sought to elicit the views of librarians in Ghana’s top-most universities on their knowledge about instructional services and availability of policy frameworks that guide the delivery of information literacy in academic libraries. It was revealed that different models of information literacy exist in academic libraries but librarians lacked a definite policy framework to prosecute the information literacy agenda. The study fills the gap in available literature on the role policy plays in information literacy, especially in developing countries. Universities and other higher educational institutions will find the results of this study useful in considering policies to guide the delivery of information literacy in their libraries. Keywords : Academic Libraries, Information Literacy, Information Policy, Library Skills This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International License. A. INTRODUCTION The acquisition of information literacy skills in society is critical to lifelong learning. Today, the consequences of reaching adulthood with limited information literacy skills are becoming increasingly severe. Individuals who are unprepared to participate in information-rich society are at an increasing disadvantage. This means that it is crucial to integrate information literacy skills education into basic and higher education effectively if students were to be full participants in tomorrow's workforce. Library users, especially students, need to achieve a level of information literacy that will allow them to find, access and use information to succeed in school, workplace, and in their personal lives (Fauziah & Lestari, 2018; Pangestika, 2018; Purwanti, Putra, & Hawa., 2018). Instruction in information literacy could be given in many and varied forms. The overarching aim is to equip students and researchers with skills needed to enhance the quality of research and expand career opportunities in the information economy. It can vary from search strategies to locating and accessing relevant information, use of the Boolean logic operators, skills to identify the legal and ethical issues relating to the use of information, and knowledge of citation and referencing, thus acknowledging other people’s work (Dewi, 2018; Rohmatin, 2014; Sumartini, 2016). Above all, information literacy is evolving as a basic human right in the digital world, which promotes the social inclusion of all nations. It is therefore imperative to research into what constitutes information literacy instruction in Ghanaian universities and further to this, the policies that guide instructions. Edulib 12 (2) (2022) 153-16