IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p3807-d778049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Information Literacy Abilities: A Case Study of Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Bibi Abida Hussain

    (School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Si Li

    (School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Ahmed Alsanad

    (STC’s Artificial Intelligence Chair, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bibi Abida Hussain & Si Li & Ahmed Alsanad, 2022. "Assessment of Information Literacy Abilities: A Case Study of Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3807-:d:778049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3807/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3807/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yating Li & Ye Chen & Qiyu Wang, 2021. "Evolution and diffusion of information literacy topics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4195-4224, May.
    2. Taghreed Alqudsi-ghabra & Elham Al-Dousari, 2014. "Internet Use Among Incoming Undergraduate Students of Kuwait University," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(02), pages 1-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Jianhui & Ruan, Xinfeng & Zhang, Jin E., 2022. "The price of COVID-19-induced uncertainty in the options market," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3807-:d:778049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.