Abstract:
The influx of emerging technologies has challenged the way in which the information
literacy (IL) concept is defined in the 21st century, e.g. the construct of IL has evolved and
expanded to include digital literacy and media literacy. Most higher education institutions
in countries such as South Africa and Tanzania regard IL as an optional skill, rather than
an essential requirement for working efficiently. Because of limited collaboration between
academics and librarians, it has been noted that library tutorials and IL activities are not
sufficiently preparing students for the academic programmes at the University of Venda
(UNIVEN). The limited or lack of collaboration between academics and librarians impact
on many aspects such as academic programmes, library IL programmes, and students’
IL skills. For example, without collaboration, academics and librarians remain uncertain
of the important aspects of IL to include into academic programmes to improve IL skills
of students. This has culminated to less-effective IL programmes hence studies continue
to report that in Africa IL programmes do not seem to be yielding significant results as
both undergraduate and postgraduate students continue to show limited or lack of IL skills
particularly in South Africa and Tanzania. Notwithstanding the limited or lack of IL skills
among students, the integration of IL into academic programmes is not always a priority.
In the context of the foregoing argument, this study explored the opportunities and
challenges of integrating IL as a credit-bearing module into academic programmes of firstyear level at the UNIVEN. This investigation was regarded as critical, in that most firstyear students at the UNIVEN are from historically disadvantaged schools, which means
that some of them have not been exposed to libraries and academic writing learning
activities before they registered at the UNIVEN.
This study adopted the Information Literacy Integrated Model (ILIM) and the Association
of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) IL standards as the conceptual framework.
The ILIM was regarded as useful in terms of accommodating the research objectives of
the study. The IL learning outcomes, based on ACRL IL standards, stipulate that a literate
student should be able to (i) find the information needed; (ii) evaluate information sources;
and (iii) use the information for a specific purpose in an ethical manner.
The convergent research design adopted for the study involved both the quantitative and
qualitative research approaches. The following sampling methods were used: (i)
purposive sampling to select seven deans of schools, three early adopter academics and
six information librarians; (ii) stratified random sampling to select 40 non-adopter
academics from eight schools and 60 adopter students. The study used online
questionnaires to collect data from the adopter students, the non-adopter academics,
deans of schools, early adopter academics and information librarians. The latest version
of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Google Forms were used to
analyse the collected data.
The research findings showed that the UNIVEN has not been left behind as it has
incorporated some aspects of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
standards in its IL programmes such as educating library users how to access, retrieve
and evaluate information from the online library databases. For example, the early
adopter students displayed improved academic literacy skills, compared to their nonadopter counterparts. It is apparent that, the content of the IL programmes does to a
certain extent, provide the students with the appropriate skills for the digital information
era. The research findings also revealed that the content covered in the existing IL
programmes at UNIVEN equipped students with the skills to access information, evaluate
information sources, use information effectively, understand legal issues surrounding the
use of information, and access and use information ethically. However, the concern was
that the IL programmes were not offered to all university students. In addition, it was found
that the venues for IL instruction and the human resources for teaching IL were
inadequate. A further challenge was the lack of collaboration between academics and
librarians vis-à-vis IL instruction.
The study recommends that the UNIVEN should: (i) develop strategies for IL programme
awareness aimed at non-adopter academics and the university community in general; (ii)
that a collaborative approach is used to improve the IL programme in line with
technological trends; (iii) that university management should source funds from government and private stakeholders to use for the development of the infrastructure and
resources – such as venues for IL instruction and emerging technologies suitable for
offering IL programmes – at all levels of study; (iv) that the IL Integration Model (ILIM)
and the ACRL standards are adopted for the integration of IL as a credit-bearing module
in all first-year level academic programmes; and (v) finally, that the ILIM and ACRL
standards should be used as a strategy to enhance the existing IL programmes.
The current IL programmes are fragmented, as the UNIVEN library and the UNIVEN
schools such as Law, Management and Nutrition, run their first-year students’ IL
programmes independently. Therefore, the study recommends that the UNIVEN should
develop a well-planned IL programme that will be integrated into first-year students’
courses or degrees. The planning needs to involve all relevant stakeholders, such as
UNIVEN executive management, academics, librarians and student representatives. The
well-planned IL programme needs to be developed in line with technological trends.
Because South Africa has not developed its IL standards, the IL programme can be
developed in line with the IL Integration Model (ILIM) and the ACRL standards, which
were adopted for this study.
In terms of further research, it is recommended to focus on the value and efficiency of the
content of IL programmes offered in historically disadvantaged universities in South
Africa. Such future research should take cognisance of the contextual needs of first-year
undergraduate students. Piloting the IL programme prior to actual implementation may assist in establishing loopholes that may fixing.