By the USIU-Africa Library Office

Information Literacy (IL) refers to a set of characteristics that a student who has been transformed into a "wise information consumer" and "lifelong learner" embodies. Its aspects range from using information technologies, evaluating information obtained from physical and online resources to the ethical use of information and information technologies. The primary goal of IL is to get students to think critically about the information they encounter, and build in them the ability to use that information to create new knowledge.

When you are information literate, you know when you have an information need, how to locate and access appropriate sources; you are able to use these resources effectively while applying the information critically and ethically; and you can determine if the need has been met.

The training has covered such topics as Information Sources, Evaluating Sources of Information as well as Citing and Referencing. More recently topics of interest like misinformation, citation management and publishing are part of information literacy training.

Information literacy training at USIU-Africa takes all manner of forms depending on the needs of students and faculty. The commonest is where a librarian is invited to your class to talk about an aspect or aspects of IL. There are instances where such a session is followed by an individual or group of students that feels the need for further training and approaches the librarian. Another means to IL training is where the Instruction Librarian prepares a schedule which is shared by the community. Individual trainings are also possible. All you need to do is to request a training through any of our channels of communication. A librarian will take it up, contact you and agree on what is to be covered, the timing and medium – virtual or face to face. When training is one on one, it is personalized and can be said to have more gains especially for the trainee. If you are interested in being part of these trainings this semester, you can register here.