Assessing Information Literacy Competencies of Fresh Students at Bauchi State University Gadau: Insights from the Library Environment (Published)
The purpose of this study is to understand the levels of freshers’ information literacy skills at Bauchi State University Gadau, Nigeria. This study was conducted using cross sectional survey research method A questionnaire developed was used for data collection, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages and frequencies that was described in chart formats. The target population in this study comprise of 3,236 freshers during the 2022/2023 academic session of Bauchi State University Gadau. Based on the simple random sampling method, the sample size is three hundred and forty-four (344) as determined by the statistical formulation provided by Yamane (1967). The findings showed that the freshers acquire information literacy skills during orientation, workshops or from course syllabus. the study also found that freshers at Bauchi State University Gadau do not have the proper understanding of the concept of information literacy and cannot identify credible sources of information. Thus, this study recommends that more formal training programmes concerning information literacy skills need to be integrated into freshers’ curriculum to support the students learning and can improve their understanding of the concept of information literacy skills.
Keywords: Information literacy, freshers, information literacy skills, understanding