An Assessment of Information Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students at the United States International University- Africa

Abstract

This paper is based on an assessment of information literacy skills of undergraduate students at United States International University Africa (USIU-Africa). The practice of annual assessment of course effectiveness and proposed interventions are aimed at supporting the learning processes for instructors and improving their practice. The study involved final year student from all departments in the university. The study sought to find out whether at their final year, students had acquired the necessary skills requiring them to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. The students did an information literacy test to assess their competence. The data was analyzed statistically. Findings show that students' use of the library and its resources are low with most of them largely relying on search engines such as Google as the main sources of information. The study makes a number of recommendations among them introducing information literacy education and digital information skills as a taught undergraduate course in the university.