Role of University Libraries in Enhancing Information Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students in Bangladesh

Abstract

This is the era of information. Without information, none can move ahead in todays’ world. To make prosper in life, one has to be information literate. One can gather information from many sources; university library is one of them. Thus, this study mainly explores the impact of university library role on the level of information literacy skill of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh. Besides, this study examines the level of students’ information literacy skill, and the level of university library role. This study also identifies the major constraints of achieving information literacy skill by the students, and the ways to eradicate those constraints. To achieve these objectives, this study uses primary data collected from 417 students and 26 library professionals from 13 universities of Bangladesh. To find out the level of students’ information literacy skill, this study uses a newly constructed index named Information Literacy Skill Index (ILSI). On the other hand, to find out the level of university library role, this study uses a newly constructed index named Role of Library Index (RLI). Finally, a linear regression estimated through OLS method is used to find out the impact of university library role on students’ information literacy skill. Besides, Kendall’s Co-efficient of Concordance test is used to identify the major constraints of achieving information literacy skill by the students. This study finds that majority of the students (56.35 percent) had the upper semi-skilled level of information literacy skill while only 25.18 percent students had the higher level of information literacy skill. It is also found that the mean information literacy skill was higher of the private university students than public university students although this mean difference was statistically insignificant. This study also finds that majority of the students (47.48 percent) received the average level of university library role for enhancing their information literacy skill while only 11.27 percent students received the higher level of library role or services. The mean role of library reflects that libraries of private universities played a better role than that of public universities although this difference was not statistically significant. Age, gender, discipline of study, level of computer performance, level of Internet using skill, participation in any program, and role of library statistically significantly impacted on the level of information literacy skill of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh. More specifically, the level of information literacy skill of a student may be increased by 0.0558 if the role of library is increased by one. Analyzing the rating given by the students, “present structure of academic programs” was found as the top constraint of achieving information literacy skill by the students among the given 10 constraints while “lecture mode of class is not effective enough to help students to achieve practical information skills” as the bottom constraint. On the other hand, “introducing students with library and information use early through orientation program” was found as the top strategy to eradicate the constraints of achieving information literacy skill by the students among given nine strategies while “integrating IL as a course in the curriculum” as the bottom strategy. Therefore, the researcher of this study calls for the faculties, library professionals, policymakers, and government and non-government organizations to utilize the model planning suggested by the study in enhancing the level of information literacy skill of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh.