Abstract

This chapter investigates the digital literacy skills among Bachelor of Library and Information Science (BLIS) Students at the East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS), Makerere University. Objectives were to establish: the level of digital literacy among third-year students and attempts made by EASLIS to impart digital literacy skills to students; to identify challenges affecting digital literacy skills acquisition among students; and to recommend strategies for promoting digital literacy skills acquisition among the students. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used with a case study research design. Challenges affecting digital literacy skills acquisition that were identified by students and academic staff who participated in the study. The study proposed several strategies for improving digital literacy skills acquisition among BLIS students. It concluded that digital literacy skills among third-year BLIS students are inadequate in areas that require advanced skills in computing.

Keywords:ital literacy, information science, EASLIS, Makerere University.

Introduction

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased globally since the late 1980s, with computers playing an important role in different aspects of life. Today, computers are found in homes, offices, schools and in business. This has made people realize that in the information society, knowing how to use computers and other digital devices is an important life skill required by professionals for effective delivery of services in organizations worldwide.

The advancement of ICT has also provided information institutions with a variety of ways for collecting, organizing, storing, retrieving and disseminating information (Gunjal and Dhamdhere, 2013, 9). ICT facilitates global interconnectivity and faster exchange of information, hence the ability of organizations to use digital technology and communication networks appropriately to solve information problems for effective service delivery is important. These include being able to use ICT to research, collect, organize, evaluate and communicate information and the possession of a fundamental understanding of issues related to the access and ethical use of information (Haneefa and Abdul Shukkoor, 2010, 57).

As computers and the internet become more available, digital literacy skills have become important in all sectors. Digital literacy refers to the ability by individuals to understand and use information in a variety of formats from different sources presented in electronic form (Brown et al., 2016; JISC, 2015).