Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Library and Information Studies)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/12413

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Browsing by Author "Faculty of Arts"

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    Information literacy of incoming undergraduate Arts students at the University of the Western Cape: assessment of competencies and proficiencies
    (University of the Western Cape, 2007) King, Lizette; Fredericks, G.H.; Dept. of Library and information Science; Faculty of Arts
    The majority of incoming undergraduate Arts students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) come from South African historically disadvantaged black schools. Because of enormous varying secondary school experiences and competencies as well as a lack of exposure to school and public libraries, students are deprived of the basic information skills. Without these crucial skills, students will find it difficult to cope successfully with their academic courses and measure up to the demands of employers. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: what are incoming Arts students' previous experiences with libraries and information technology? What are incoming undersgraduate Arts students information skills, competencies and proficiency? Is the Library Science 121 (Arts information Literacy) course sufficient for teaching information literacy and to address deficiencies? A pen and paper questionnaire based on the Information Literacy Standard by the American Library Association to assess the information literacy level of incoming Arts students was designed by the Department of Library and Information Science, the University Library and the Digital Academic Learning Division. This was utilized to assess the exposure to information literacy training at school level, computer and public library skills as well as their level of information literacy of incoming undergraduate Arts students. As a post-test, the questionnaire was completed by students after completing the information literacy course, Library Science 121. To determine the impact of formal training compared to initiatives within disciplines, the results of the post- and control tests were compared. Data was gathered over a period of three years. Of the 483 incoming Arts students 22.2% owned their own computers. Of the rest 39.5% had other means to get assess to computers. In total 16.5% of students used the World Wide Web to find information. Only 23.2% attended secondary schools with school libraries and 10.4% of these students received information literacy education. Of all the students, 20.7% were members of a public library of which 41.0% visited the library every few months mainly for photocopying. Of the thirty three questions asked to test information literacy, in only 7 the percentage of students in the pre- and control groups who have chosen the correct answer was higher than the incorrect options – indicating an unacceptable low level of information literacy. Students performed significantly better in the post-test. It is an indication that formal information literacy education is essential for incoming Arts students at the UWC. Results were used to identity deficiencies in information literacy levels, to produce benchmarks for assessing information literacy at the university and to produce a theoretical framework for structured cumulative information literacy initiatives within new envisaged foundation programs. Curricular changes to keep pace with current trends and needs were made. Data gathered will be used to communicate to the Arts Faculty the need for formal information literacy training for all incoming Arts students at the UWC and to incorporate information literacy in student learning outcomes as well as in the assessment policy.
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    Information retrieval interaction and the undergraduate student at historically disadvantaged higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa: a cognitive approach
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Davis, Gavin Rapheal; Fredericks, G.H.; Underwood, P.G.; Dept. of Library and information Science; Faculty of Arts
    Summary: Although South Africa has been a democracy since 1994, one of the key issues still facing the country is the development of skills in its people. There are still underlying problems that are quite prevalent in terms of the development of important skills, particularly information literacy skills of especially black South African students at tertiary institutions. It is not easy to understand the significance of information literacy if one does not take into account the student’s awareness level and his/her understanding of the concept of information. Unfortunately academics and librarians alike at times base many of their judgements on assumptions that need to be addressed. One of these assumptions is the computer literacy level of students, often viewed synonymously with information literacy. Although computer literacy is an important skill for searching electronic information sources, including online databases and the Internet, the researcher’s argument is that this is not enough to overcome conceptual and cognitive problems relating to information – seeking. Computer literacy is a component of information literacy. Students need to know when information is needed; identify the information needed to address a problem; evaluate the needed information; organize the information meaningfully and use the information to address the problem identified. Almost all of the students in this study encountered the library and computers for the first time when they came to the University of the Western Cape and the former Peninsula Technikon. Their search behaviour bears testimony to their lack of information searching skills. The study was conducted within the framework of Belkin’s anomalous state of knowledge (ASK) theory. Belkin’s premise is that searchers for information approach Information retrieval systems with some anomaly. According to Belkin this anomaly and user’s perception of the problem changes with each interaction between user and information retrieval mechanism. For this reason, he argues, information retrieval (IR) systems need to be designed to be iterative and interactive. The significance of this interaction is later identified as an integrated, dynamic whole aimed at retrieving information for helping the user manage a problem. It was found in this study that students experienced various states or manifested certain behavioural patterns. Searches were also found to be more cyclical than linear. So, although Belkin’s theory had some significance in this study, student search patterns were more complex. The researcher puts forward certain recommendations to address the problem. The end of apartheid brought about new challenges especially for institutions of higher learning. Both the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and former Peninsula Technikon (PENTECH) as institutions catering for especially the historically disadvantaged student need to adapt but at the same time maintain high standards in terms of student development. The merger between the former PENTECH and the Cape Technikon (CAPETECH) to form the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) puts further challenges on the academics and librarians at CPUT. This also calls for a stronger sense of commitment from librarians, academics and information communication technology (ICT) specialists before appropriate information technology systems can be designed or subscribed to.
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    The management of academic libraries: a comparative study of the University of the Western Cape Library and Dhaka University Library
    (University of the Western Cape, 2006) Chowdhury, Salma; Fredericks, G.H; Dept. of Library and information Science; Faculty of Arts
    This research project is a comparative study of management of two university libraries (University of the Western Cape and Dhaka University) from two different countries (South Africa and Bangladesh). This research was to identify and document how the functions of management are applied in both libraries. A sample of the two university libraries’ users, librarians, and library staff were taken. The questionnaire, interview, observation and documentary sources of information were major methods of data collection. In order to provide a brief presentation on how the management functions were applied at other university libraries, a description of how some university libraries in the U.K, U.S.A, Eastern countries and Africa are given. The findings of the study revealed that the problem of inadequate financial support is true for both University libraries, and is the major cause amongst other weaknesses. Both libraries still use a large percentage of non-professional staff and the library service is in desperate need of personnel. However, the observed difference between DUL and UWCL in this comparative study was significant. Services offered in both libraries differ in some cases such as: Consortia, Inter library loans, OPAC, CD-search, e-journals and multimedia. These areas still need to be developed at DUL. UWC have the most of these facilities. Although it needs to improve on aspects such as e-journals, access to data-bases and open access on the Internet.