CHELSA draft guidelines on Information Literacy: paving the way to a South African national framework?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the process that resulted in the compilation of draft national information literacy training guidelines for university libraries in South Africa, in pursuit of a national framework. At national level there has been little attempt to coordinate and develop a common core curriculum for information literacy training at university level. In November 2007 the Committee for Higher Education Librarians of South Africa (CHELSA) mandated the creation of a national framework for Information Literacy Training (ILT) for the 23 South African member universities. Data about existing information literacy programmes was gathered via surveys, webinars and written submissions from participants. CHELSA recommended the development of guidelines reflecting core competencies for an introductory level information literacy training programme in the first instance. The resultant information literacy guidelines are provided at the end of this article. The value of CHELSA’s research is its contribution to the ongoing promotion of a common core curriculum for information literacy at university level in South Africa.