The prevailing models of information literacy education (ILE) are contextually grounded in Western social and intellectual structures. For the most part these models follow the taxonomy developed in the 1950s by Bloom, which has been adopted as appropriate for developing societies without considering the contexts from which they are derived, and in which they are being applied. For ILE to be meaningfully embedded in the educational fabric of a developing country, it is important to take account of a range of contextual variables that affect how and why individuals learn. Focusing on ILE through the lens of cultural contextuality, this paper addresses three questions in relation to ILE in developing countries: How do we defi ne information literacy in a developing country context? How do we best determine the educational objectives of information literacy education in a developing country context? How can cultural awareness improve information literacy education?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on a research project aimed at gaining an understanding of subject librarians' perceptions and promotion of institutional repositories as an information resource for their clients.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers used the five attributes of innovations and the change agent concept, both drawn from Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory, as the basis of semi‐structured interviews with nine librarians, spread equally across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences at three universities.FindingsThe researchers found that subject librarians have varying levels of knowledge about institutional repositories as an information resource and hold both positive and negative perceptions. The librarians perceived institutional repositories to be still underdeveloped, with greatest value for humanities clients and least value for science clients, offering little value to undergraduates, but a good resource for accessing theses.Research limitations/implicationsDue to their current perceptions of the value of institutional repositories, subject librarians are not yet promoting them as an information resource. If institutional repositories are to be successful, library managers must not only ensure that content is being input into the repositories, but also that they are being promoted to library clients as valuable information resources, so that the content is being accessed and used.Originality/valueWhile there has been much research in recent years about institutional repositories, the focus has been predominantly on issues related to motivating individuals to input content into them. This research shows that institutional repositories are not yet being perceived or promoted as a valuable information resource by academic subject librarians, who view them as having varying value to their clients.

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This paper presents an overview of one component of the preliminary findings from a research project that seeks to understand the various contextual factors influencing the management and preservation of digital cultural heritage resources (dPCh) in Ghana. Four main clusters of factors, i.e., attitudinal, resources, policy, and management factors, were identified as impacting on dPCh in Ghana. This paper focuses on attitudinal factors because increasing understanding of underlying attitudes and behaviours has the potential to inform meaningful and culturally appropriate strategies. The paper identifies attitudinal enablers and hindrances and concludes that the lack of interest by funders and policy makers in formal information management, and also in dPCh currently counters the enablers. Accordingly, information professionals and professional associations need to be proactive in their promotional efforts to bring about attitudinal changes to promote dPCh.

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