International Association
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IASL Research Abstracts

IASL Research Abstracts: 185

Findings: In Botswana secondary schools, teacher librarians have varying interpretations of what constitutes information literacy skills and a variety of skills are taught under the rubric of information literacy skills. Challenges that exist to teaching information literacy skills are absence of an office dedicated to school libraries, an exam-oriented curriculum and shrinking financial resources.

Abstract: The study investigated the teaching of information literacy skills in selected junior community secondary schools in Gaborone, Botswana. In the Republic of Botswana, government has consciously embraced the information literacy skills movement via Vision 2016 and the Revised National Commission of Education, both of which echo the value of information in life-long learning. As a first step towards the broad of objective imparting information literacy skills, government has built a network of community junior secondary schools and each school boasts a dedicated school library. Most students that enter secondary schools lack basic information literacy skills, largely because the primary schools, from where they come do not possess school libraries. Data were gathered from a sample of ten teacher librarians using face to face interviews with the aid of a five-question interview schedule. Key findings are: a) teacher librarians have varying interpretations of what constitutes information literacy skills; b) a variety of skills are taught under the rubric of information literacy skills; c) teaching of information literacy skills is done primarily by teacher librarians and subject librarians; d) main approaches to teaching information literacy skills involves library orientation and the use of the English Language Period; and e) three challenges exist to teaching information literacy skills: absence of an office dedicated to school libraries, an exam-oriented curriculum and shrinking financial resources.

Issac, G.C. & Jorosi, B.N. (2006). The teaching of information literacy skills among junior school students: An exploratory survey of schools in the South East region of Botswana. In The Multiple Faces of Literacy: Reading, Knowing, Doing -- IASL Reports, 2006: Selected Papers from the 35th annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, and the Tenth International Forum on Research in School Librarianship, Lisbon, Portugal, 3-7 July 2006. Ana Bela Martins, Antonio Pina Falcao, Elsa Conde, Isabel Andrade, Manuele Barreto Nunes, Maria Jose Vitorino, editors. International Association of School Librarianship, Erie (PA), USA, 2006. ISBN: 978-1-890861-32-2.

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