Information Literacy Competencies among Postgraduate Students of Business & Development Studies and Agriculture & Environment Faculties of Gulu University: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Information Literacy Competency (ILC) is fundamental knowledge that makes a learner fitfor-purpose when it comes to accessing, and using information in academic environments. Such competencies are especially useful to the postgraduate level students who undertakeresearch work involving complex information-seeking processes. The aim of this researchwas to examine the Information Literacy Competencies of the postgraduate students in the Faculties of Business & Development Studies and Agriculture & Environment in order to determine the information competencies of individuals during their academic learningprocess. The study was guided by four objectives: to identify postgraduate students’information needs, assess the information literacy programs available, evaluate students information literacy competency and identify obstacles incurred in attaining information literacy competency. The study used a case study research design focusing on postgraduate students from three faculties at Gulu University, namely, Health & Allied Sciences, Business & the Social Sciences and Education & Arts. A total of 188 participants filled questionnaires and 8 library staff were interviewed (qualitative data). The findings revealed that students in both faculties have similar information literacy needs, including conducting legal and ethical research, sources and formulating research on academic databases. There was better understanding of the ILC training among Agriculture & Environment studentsthan among Business & Development Studies students, however the latter group of students appeared to be more skilled in terms of source location, evaluation of sources and information usage. Some of the common challenges towards achieving ILC include; lack of skilled human resource that plays a major role in offering adequate training to the students; slow interconnectivity and scarce e-resources. The study concludes that there is no ILC framework at Gulu University. The researcher therefore, recommends: adoption of the proposed Information literacy Competence framework, Improvement in ICT infrastructure, Continuous Professional Development trainings and embedding IL training as a core unit in the curriculum in the different faculties.