Library and Information Science (LIS) Students Competency in Evaluating Information and Information Resources in Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to assess the undergraduates’ competency to evaluate information and information resources for credible information. The study adopted descriptive survey method. A questionnaire tagged ‘Library and Information Science Students’ Competency in Evaluating Information Resources Questionnaire (LISSCEIRQ)’was designed to collect data from 806 undergraduates in seven universities offering Library and Information Science in the South-East and South-South regions, Nigeria. The study found that undergraduates in LIS verify the information they retrieve by checking the authors’ name and qualification before using it.  They also rated currency of the work, relevance of the content, scholarly/professional and overall quality of the information as important when evaluating information. It also emerged that the undergraduate students do not pay attention to elements such as the publisher, the author’s affiliation and cited references when determining good sources of information. The findings from the study will inform librarians and information literacy instructors on the skills undergraduates needed to enable them evaluate and use only credible information. It will also inform librarians, and library administrators to re-design their information literacy programmes to include competencies needed by students to evaluate information and information resources.