Assessment of instructional resources and methods for information literacy programmes in selected Universities in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Assessment of Instructional Resources and Methods for Information Literacy Programmes in Selected Universities in Southern Nigeria.  The research questions were: what are the instructional resources available and used for IL programs in Southern Nigerian universities?  & what are the instructional methods used for IL programs in Southern Nigerian universities? This study adopted a qualitative case studies method with nine universities selected in Southern Nigeria. Southern Nigeria is made up of South-East, South-South, and South- West geo-political zones. The selection was purposely done in a way that one federal university, one state university, and one private  university were selected from a geo-political zone; and efforts were made not to select more than one university from a state. The study  used a self-designed and validated checklist and interview guide as instruments for data collection. The checklists and the interview guide  were completed by coordinators of IL programs in the universities (that is, the academic librarians in charge of the IL program or  the university librarian in some cases). The findings of the study revealed that instructional resources and traditional face-to-face  teaching methods still abound in Southern Nigerian universities, especially for IL programs. This delivery method runs contrary to the  digital natives’ preference for digital technologies and applications, considering their continuous movement with hand-held devices and  active participation in the social media space. The study concludes that IL programs are usually targeted at enabling individuals to  become information literate, which requires adequate resources and appropriate instructional methods. The study, therefore,  recommends that adequate digital-based resources and applications should be deployed for IL programs in Southern Nigerian  Universities. In addition, contemporary teaching methods involving collaborative technologies, multimedia projectors, e-learning  applications, digital media platforms and blended learning strategies should be explored and adopted in implementing IL programs in  Southern Nigerian Universities.