Access to Scientific Information and Quality in Higher Education in the African Region: The Critical Role of Information Literacy.

Abstract

This paper examines first, why information literacy is a major factor in quality education in higher institutions of learning (HEIs) and crucial in the emerging knowledge society. Secondly, it examines literature to provide an overview of the current status of information literacy in the African region. Finally, it examines key challenges that universities in the region face and strategies they can adopt to ensure quality of learning outcomes through information literacy. The paper concludes that information literacy is a fundamental element of the survival skills required by young people in the knowledge economy of the twenty-first century. There is substantial development of information literacy in universities in the Sub-Saharan region although this development is uneven. The paper proposes a number of measures that can be undertaken to successfully implement information literacy programmes such as collaboration between academics and librarians collaborate in developing appropriate strategies for delivering information literacy training, integrating information literacy into the teaching and assessment process by establishing viable library services as an key component in the educational process.