Towards an investigation of information literacy in South African studentsl

Abstract

To launch a major research project into the state of information literacy at the five institutions of tertiary education in the western Cape, the INFOLIT project of the Cape Library Co-operative (CALICO) appointed a Research Team to conduct the investigation. The first part of the investigation consisted of an attempt to obtain an operational definition of the concept 'information literacy'. This article presents an overview of key trends emanating from a review of the recent literature on information literacy, and discusses the results obtained by a series of focussed group interviews on the purpose and meaning of the concept. An operational definition of information literacy, appropriate to the South African tertiary education environment, is proposed.Die INFOLIT-projek van CALICO (Cape Library Co-operative) het onlangs 'n navorsingspan aangestel om inligting in te win oor die stand van inligtingsgeletterdheid aan die vyf inrigtings vir tersiere onderrig in the Wes-Kaap. Die eerste gedeelte van die ondersoek was 'n poging om 'n operasionele definisie daar te stel vir die begrip 'inligtingsgeletterdheid'. Hierdie artikel bied 'n blik op die belangrikste tendense wat spruit uit 'n oorsig oor die onlangse literatuur, en bespreek die resultate van 'n reeks fokusgroeponderhoude oor die doel en sin van die begrip 'inligtingsgeletterheid'. 'n Operasionele definisie, wat van toepassing is op Suid-Afrikaanse tersiere onderrig, word voorgestel.