Current status of information literacy instruction practices in medical libraries of Pakistan

Abstract

Medical librarians need to develop educational partnerships with faculty for integrating IL instruction into the mainstream curriculum.

Teaching information literacy skills to medical students: perceptions of health sciences librarians

“…Most of the students enrolled in the health sciences schools in Pakistan hardly have any library experience, due to the absence of information services at higher secondary level. Moreover, health sciences librarians offer a preliminary level of IL instruction to students in health sciences schools in Pakistan (Ameen & Ullah, 2016;Ullah & Ameen, 2014a, 2014b; therefore, the IL skills of students could not be developed to the satisfactory level. Baro et al (2011) also reported the lack of IL skills among health sciences students in Nigeria, another developing country.…”

“…This paper is the second part of a two phase, sequential mixed method study, aimed to identify strategies for the effective implementation of IL instruction for medical students, studying medicine at undergraduate and postgraduate level in medical schools and universities of Pakistan. The quantitative (first phase) findings were presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy held in 2014, and the paper has been published in the conference proceedings (Ullah & Ameen, 2014a, 2014b). The questionnaire survey (first phase) has revealed that health sciences librarians in Pakistan rated the IL skills of their medical students as inadequate.…”

“…The vast majority of librarians opined that both health sciences librarians and faculty should design the IL instruction curriculum in coordination. However, their opinion was divided regarding involvement of health sciences faculty in the delivery of IL instruction to medical students (Ullah & Ameen, 2014a, 2014b).…”

International trends in health science librarianship part 12: South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)

“…They identified seven key competencies, relating to user education, where most working librarians require training. A recent national study of information literacy (IL) instruction practices in medical libraries revealed that IL instruction was mostly provided to new students and first time users as and when requested . Only a small number of institutions claimed to have integrated IL instruction into the curriculum without the collaboration of their medical faculty.…”

“…A recent national study of information literacy (IL) instruction practices in medical libraries revealed that IL instruction was mostly provided to new students and first time users as and when requested. 4 Only a small number of institutions claimed to have integrated IL instruction into the curriculum without the collaboration of their medical faculty. Face to face instruction, group-or individual-based, conducted at the reference desk, computer lab or lecture hall were the most common delivery methods.…”