Promoting information literacy skills within the Bindura University community. An all-inclusive approach
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Conference Strand
Outreach and Partnership
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
Other
Community Partners involved in outreach and engagement activities centered around educating the masses
Location
Session 5 Papers
Relevance
In this era of information overload coupled with media and political heavy weights and pundits using their megaphones to spread information that is not credible. The need therefore for information, media and digital literacy has never been more critical than ever before in the history of humanity. Librarians and information professionals therefore have to be at the forefront of information/media/digital literacy at all levels so that our patrons could be able to make an informed decision based on verifiable information. Academic librarians by virtue of training faculty staff and students, also have to onerous task of training the local populace though collaborating with community outreach service providers.
Proposal
Teaching information/media/digital literacy to our students, faculty, staff and community users is core to the mission of the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). Though homogenous by race, we are a diverse academic community that strives to support inclusive excellence in our teaching, research and outreach endeavors.
One on one instructions to students, one shot classes in the libraries, is offered by faculty librarians or a la carte as needed, at the behest of faculty members for specific classes or research groups. We also have the semester long Communication module where we teach a section on Information Literacy.
Additionally, we offer specific training to primary/secondary school librarians and teacher librarians who run media literacy centers in their schools. They come in as a cohort for a specific period of time and return to their schools where we continue offering virtual support to enable them keep up to date and provide much needed services to their communities.
The challenges of “Information infrastructure” including cost of access to Internet, low bandwidth, low ICT skills, technophobia and technological determinism continue to mar our efforts. Despite these challenges, we forge ahead with quality services to our library users and patrons through inculcating critical information literacy skills to our diverse audience.
Presentation Description
Teaching information/media/digital literacy to our students, faculty, staff and community users is core to the mission of the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). Though homogenous by race, we are a diverse academic community that strives to support inclusive excellence in our teaching, research and outreach endeavors.
Keywords
Information literacy, digital literacy, library instruction, Library diversity equity and inclusion (DEI), BUSE Zimbabwe, Library extension services, mentorship programme
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Awasom, Innocent A., "Promoting information literacy skills within the Bindura University community. An all-inclusive approach" (2023). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 22.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2023/2023/22
Promoting information literacy skills within the Bindura University community. An all-inclusive approach
Session 5 Papers
Teaching information/media/digital literacy to our students, faculty, staff and community users is core to the mission of the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). Though homogenous by race, we are a diverse academic community that strives to support inclusive excellence in our teaching, research and outreach endeavors.
One on one instructions to students, one shot classes in the libraries, is offered by faculty librarians or a la carte as needed, at the behest of faculty members for specific classes or research groups. We also have the semester long Communication module where we teach a section on Information Literacy.
Additionally, we offer specific training to primary/secondary school librarians and teacher librarians who run media literacy centers in their schools. They come in as a cohort for a specific period of time and return to their schools where we continue offering virtual support to enable them keep up to date and provide much needed services to their communities.
The challenges of “Information infrastructure” including cost of access to Internet, low bandwidth, low ICT skills, technophobia and technological determinism continue to mar our efforts. Despite these challenges, we forge ahead with quality services to our library users and patrons through inculcating critical information literacy skills to our diverse audience.
