Assessment of Information Literacy Abilities: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

This study aimed to assess undergraduate students’ Information Literacy (IL) abilities in Pakistan. A survey method was employed to collect the necessary data from the population. The participants consisted of students from the Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), COMSATS University Islamabad, Bahria University (BU) Islamabad, and the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology (FUUAST). The sample consisted of 200 students, randomly selected. A questionnaire was formulated and completed individually. The results produced an alarming result for the selected institutions, as about 52% of students reported that they never went to the library. A similar situation was found across the selected universities, though with BU surpassing other universities with respect to daily use of the library. The responses to the survey indicated students were in a poor position in terms of their ability to identify information sources. Furthermore, most item scores were less than two, indicating that students’ recognition and understanding of information sources was in a dangerously precarious condition. The findings also indicated that students’ ability to access and use information for assignments, tests, examinations, and the writing of research articles was extremely limited. This could have severe implications for their learning outcomes. According to our findings, students’ ability to implement technical best practice in academic work and research was extremely limited, as was their knowledge of and practice in providing appropriate credit to original authors. On the other hand, the students’ ability to use social media applications, such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, was relatively strong. We recommend that university libraries should be more involved in the educational process. This study should contribute considerably to the organization of different IL programs in universities to promote, develop, and improve students’ IL abilities.

Literacy in the Digital Age and Pakistani Youth

“…However, the students' proficiency with social networking platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn was rather high. They supported the prominent involvement of university libraries in the educational process (Hussain, Li, & Alsanad, 2022).…”

“…It improved their capacity for problem-solving, social communication, searching, detecting, and assessing (Khalid, Batool, Khalid, Saeed, & Zaidi, 2019). Moreover, Hussain, Li and Alsanad (2022) assessed that information literacy abilities in the undergraduate students of Pakistan. They evaluated that in Pakistan understanding and experience of the students of undergraduate level in giving proper acknowledgment to original authors was extremely limited, as was their capacity to apply technological best practices in academic work and research.…”

Information competency assessment of undergraduates: A Pakistani perspective

“…In contrast, Govindarajan and Dhanavandan (2018) claim that students have good information competency levels. Hussain et al (2022) detect that social sciences and humanities students demonstrate low information competency levels compared to science students. In their study, Pinto et al (2016) found that social sciences undergraduates are less competent.…”

Research on Information Literacy of Students in Independent Undergraduate Universities

“…They gave some innovative strategies and methods, such as the flipped classroom, by improving informational teaching from different knowledge disciplines at the university level. Hussain et al (2022) used the survey method to analyze undergraduate students' information literacy abilities in Pakistan; they indicated that students were in a poor position to identify information sources, and their ability to access and use the information for assignments, tests, and examinations was extremely limited. Chinese experts (Guo, 2019;Huang & Li, 2015;Zhang & Wei, 2016;Zhong & Zheng, 2017) studied the role of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in information literacy education in colleges and universities.…”