Information Literacy: An International State of the Art

H. References



VII. Sub-Saharan Africa

Information Literacy State-of-the Art Report

November, 2006
Babbakisi T. Fidzani

University of Botswana Library

[e-mail]


A. Introduction
This overview on development of Information Literacy (IL) in English speaking Sub- Saharan Africa countries is based on literature review. Tools for literature search included international databases such as EBSCO Host, Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Information Science Plus. An assessment of web presence of issues on information literacy in institutional web pages was carried out.
The concept of Information Literacy
The literature reveals that the concept of Information literacy appears in the different African countries. The developments are at different levels within countries and between countries. The more visible developments are at university level. These started in the 80’s with developments of user education programs which covered library orientation and bibliographic instruction to new university students. These students come from secondary schools where there were no libraries or where the library systems which existed were poorly developed Anwar (1981), Idiodi (2005). The rapid growth in computer networking and the use of computerized data bases to access information in African Universities Rosenberg (1997) necessitated more formalized information literacy programs to avoid as John Naisbitt put it ”drowning in information but starved for knowledge”.p24 due to the explosion of information brought about by the new information technologies.
The case studies on developments of information literacy programs in the Southern, Central and Southern African Countries covering eight countries Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe( Kiondo & Msuya) (2005) indicate institutional efforts on the developments of IL programs in different countries. This is also the case with Nigeria, Idiodi (2005).
The definition of IL widely adopted by these institutions is “having the ability to recognize when information is needed, then to be able to locate and evaluate the appropriate information and use it effectively that of the American Library Association (ALA) (1996). The ALA and the Australian standards have both been adapted by African University libraries in developing their IL programs. It is evident from the literature that the African countries reviewed did not re-invent the wheel but rather tap from existing well established IL programs.
These IL case studies revealed that”there is a general awareness about the meaning of information literacy and how it differs from library orientation and bibliographic instruction.” Diana Rosenberg pxi. The relationship of Information literacy to the concepts of information skills and information technology literacy is also understood as evidenced from the topics covered in different IL programs. Information skills acquisition is an aspect of information literacy and may be seen as the process of gaining the tools that assist the development of information literacy, in the same way that study skills aid the learning process this is evident in the different programs where information skills are taught as modules in an examinable Communication and study skills course or information skills modules as part of the Computer and Information skills.