Abstract:
In every institution, organization and the world at large, information is vital for decision
making, reduction of uncertainty and question answering. Therefore, it is cardinal that an
individual possesses information literacy skills that will enable him or her to recognize when
information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use the needed information
effectively as indispensable skills for the 21st Century and beyond. Therefore, this study was
designed to assess information literacy skills among fourth year Library and Information
Science students at the University of Zambia. Areas of focus of the study were to determine
the level of knowledge on information literacy skills among fourth year Library and
Information Science students, as well as to identify the commonly used information search
strategies and finally to identify the student’s areas of strength and weakness in information
literacy skills. Data was collected from 80 conveniently sampled or selected fourth year library
and information science students for the 2018/2019 academic year using self-administered
questionnaires. Out of the 80 questionnaires distributed, 73 questionnaires were returned giving
a response rate of 91%. The results showed that most of the fourth-year library and information
science students at the University of Zambia had an idea of what information literacy is about.
However, upon examination of the students by giving them questions, it was observed that the
majority had poor information literacy skills. On the search strategies the respondents indicated
that they were most familiar with open-ended searching and over half of the students were also
able to check for the accuracy of information they retrieved. Most of the respondents had
problems in organising information, a few said that they had problems in presentation and
identifying when information was needed. Therefore, the study concluded that presentation and
identification of information were the respondent’s possible areas of strength because only a
few acknowledged having challenges in these skills. Finally, the study recommended that the
library and information science faculty should re-introduce LIS9045, a purely information
literacy course as a compulsory course from second year to fourth in order to advance students
information literacy skills.
