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Information Literacy Skills among Faculty Members of Mizoram University: An

Evaluation

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 Information Literacy Skills among Faculty Members of
Mizoram University: An Evaluation
F. Chanchinmawia*, Manoj Kumar Verma**and Naveen Kumar Soni

* Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, Mizoram University

Aizawl-796004, Email: chanchinafanai@gmail.com
**Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Mizoram University
Aizawl-796004, Email: manojdlis@mzu.edu.in
***Scientist-D, Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Brig SK
Mazumdar Road, Delhi, INDIA- 110054. Email: navinsoni22@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The present study is an attempt to see Information Literacy Skills among Faculty Members of
Mizoram University. Information literacy comprises the skills to recognize information needs
and to locate, apply, evaluate and create information within educational and communal context.
A structured questionnaire was designed and randomly circulated to 155 faculty members for
data collection, out of which 136(87.4%) filled questionnaire was received for data analysis. In
general, it was found that faculty members had adequate skills in handling information for their
fundamentals needs. Majority of the faculties were aware with the fundamental background of
library and facilitate to access information through print and electronic forms but improvements
are required in handling information particularly in the evaluation of electronic sources. This
study urges the inclusion of an information literacy program for the short-term course among the
faculty members.

Keywords: Information, Information literacy, User study, ICT Skills, Mizoram University.

INTRODUCTION:
Information is one of the most significant resources for the academic community. The
information which we seek is based on learning and research activity. Usually, there is a very
limited source of information like books, journals, serials, thesis etc. but due to the existence of
Information Communication Technology, numbers of information is available in a variety of
forms and formats and information sources is now a combination of print, electronic and
multimedia. The present information society has changed the developments in information
creation, consolidation, and dissemination. The users need to have some skills to access the
information source, which has changed the information seeking behavior. All these details create
challenges for individuals in accessing and retrieving information efficiently, sifting and
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Pre-print of Paper published in 3rd DLA-SRFLIS Summit-2019 on- “Digital Age Strategies in Information
Management for Sustainable Librarianship”. Singh KP et.al (Eds), jointly organized by Delhi Library
Association and SRFFLIS, New Delhi on 19-20 April, 2019; New Delhi: DLA, pp-94-102
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evaluating its authenticity, validity, and reliability for its effective use. Thus, there arises the
need for information literacy (IL), which encourages critical thinking and judgment about the
whole range of information.
One can be information literate when he is able to identify his information need and locate,
evaluate and use the information effectively. An information literate person knows to use the
information in the most efficient and ethical way. The growth and development of ICT required
us to face new challenges to solve an information problem. Generally, the information explosion
has shaped anxiety among information users on how to decrease the information overload and
use information in a more proficient way to complete the task in the least period of time. The
issue of development and advancement of information society and promoting a learning society
has given rise to information literacy as the center of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning
empowers people, networks, and countries to attain their objective.

INFORMATION LITERACY:
Information Literacy may be defined very simply as "the ability to access, evaluate and use
information from a variety of sources." Information literacy is a skill, ability, expertise,
capability and competency of a person that makes him able to find the right information from the
right source (Mahadev and Prasad, 2016)1. It basically knows information about information and
the source of information. Information Literacy is not only a machine for Information
dispensing; we can claim it as a skilled navigator of a complex landscape. A person equipped
with all the necessary skills for handling information enable to enrich himself and his
environment with most sophisticating information needs. (Chanchinmawia and Verma, 2018)2.

Information literacy comprises the competencies to recognize information needs and to locate,
evaluate, apply and create information within cultural and social contexts. It is important to the
competitive advantage of individuals, enterprises especially small and medium enterprises,
regions and nations and provides the key to effective access, use and creation of content to
support economic development, education, health and human services, and all other aspects of
contemporary societies, and thereby provides the vital foundation for fulfilling the goals of the
Millennium Declaration and the World Summit on the Information Society. It further extends
beyond current technologies to encompass learning, critical thinking and interpretative skills
across professional boundaries and empowers individuals and communities (Chanchinmawia and
Verma, 2017)3. Information literacy forms the basis of lifelong learning which is common to all
disciplines, to all learning environments and to all levels of education. It enables learners to find
the right information from authentic sources and extend their investigations, become more self-
directed and assume greater control over their own learning. It has become the responsibility of
higher education to make the students as lifelong learners (Kelvin, 2014)4. Faculties are expected
to be well-informed and continuously grow higher in their career ladder as individuals.
Information literacy plays a vital role in fostering this growth and helps faculties to become
independent and lifelong learners.
DEFINITION OF INFORMATION LITERACY:
According to the American Library Association (1989)5 “Information literacy is a set of abilities
requiring individuals’ to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate,
evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”
Webber (2010)6 has defined information literacy for the 21st century as “the adoption of
appropriate information behavior to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information
well fitted to information needs, leading to the wise and ethical use of information in society”
CILIP (2013)7 defines IL as “Information Literacy knows when and why you need information,
where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.”

Figure-1: Concept of Information Literacy

(Source: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/38843615510801062/

WHY INFORMATION LITERACY IS ESSENTIAL TO LIBRARIES

Giving the correct information to the opportune individual at the ideal time in the correct way is
the way to progress for any foundation or association. Library experts with the skill important
ought to have the capacity to find, recover and use information keeping in mind the end goal:
1. It enables simple access to information assets in all organizations while assuming liability
for its money and pertinence
2. It identifies and gains the materials of general significance
3. It organized those materials in an effortlessly available way
4. It trains staff to access and endeavor important information assets in the best way;
5. It takes the lead in raising the levels of information education inside the association.
6. Information education abilities enable library and information experts to make, create, and
deal with a library or information unit.

MIZORAM UNIVERSITY
Mizoram University is a central university located in the North East Region of India. It was
established on July 2, 2001, by the Mizoram University Act (2000) of the Parliament of India.
The objectives of the university are "to disseminate and advance knowledge by providing
instructional and research facilities in such branches of learning as it may deem fit, to make
provisions for integrated courses in humanities, natural and physical sciences, social sciences,
forestry and other allied disciplines in the educational programmes of the University; to take
suitable measures for promoting innovations in teaching-disciplinary studies and research; to
educate and train manpower in the development of the state of Mizoram; and to pay special
notice to the improvement of the social and economic conditions and welfare of the people of
that State, their intellectual, academic and cultural development". Keeping these objectives in
sight, Mizoram University has embarked on different programmes for academic and
administrative expansion.
At present, there are 35 academic departments under eight schools with total 210 teaching
faculty members. The central library of Mizoram University has a collection of 1,06,658 Books,
378 Ph.D. theses, 303 M. Phil dissertations, 336 master degree dissertations/project work, 11,364
Bound volumes of journals, 242 current Journals and 20 General magazines (5 English, 14 Mizo,
and 1 Hindi). Total 7,506 numbers of e-journals have been provided by 22 publishers through e-
ShodhSindhu, Consortium for Higher Education. Also, Library has been subscribing IEEE All-
Society Periodicals Package (ASPP), giving access to the IEEE core collection of engineering,
electronics, and computer science periodicals since 2015-16 (source: https://mzu.edu.in)8.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Zahid and Shoeb (2010)9 revealed that digital media literacy is related to the capability to use a
computer, social media, and the Internet, and people with high levels of digital media literacy are
more regular social affairs and are more fluent to express their opinions. Regha (2011)10
attempted to bring out a consistent tool to assess information literacy competency. This study
was set in the Indian environment and attempted to review information literacy competency
among the full-time research scholars of the University of Madras and its affiliated colleges. It is
revealed from the study that majority of the respondents have high levels of information
management competency and respondents doing Doctor of Philosophy have a superior mean
score of information literacy competency compared to the candidates doing Master of
Philosophy. Eyal (2012)11 detailed the main functions of a teacher in a digital environment and
focus on the skills, abilities, and perceptions essential of the teacher in the digital environment
with esteem to assessment, and will demonstrate the importance of adapting the different
technologies to the different assessment purposes and define the term “Digital assessment
literacy” is based on a doctoral thesis that explained the relationship between the technological
environment and the teaching, learning, and assessment processes in online courses. Vasudevan
(2012)12 revealed that the information literacy capabilities of postgraduate students and faculty of
University of Kerala are comparatively low and hence they are not in the position to use the
potential of online databases and index. Also, they have to develop remedial measures in the
form of information literacy training sections to improve their capabilities. This will positively
affect the research capabilities and the production in the long run. Devendra Singh (2013)13
examined various lessons initiatives taken for positive impact upon the ILC of PG students and
found acceptable along with the significant difference between the first and second-year
students. Results of the paper differentiate between the first and second year students in the light
of five information literacy (IL) standards all along with other considerations. Lata and Sharma
(2013)14 examined the IL skills of the faculty and students of postgraduate institute of medical
education and research, Chandigarh, and Pt. B.D. Sharma University of health science, Rohtak
and depict that majority of the faculty and students rated their skills high in accessing
information in print and electronic format and comparison to students, the faculty members of
both the medical colleges were more familiar with the bibliographical tools. Verma and Rajiv
(2013)15 elaborate information literacy in an academic environment in Indian perspective and
tinted the librarian’s role in IL program in academic institutions. Islam and Rahman (2014)16
examine the information literacy competency (ILC) of the arts faculty students at the University
of Dhaka, Bangladesh and conclude their strengths and weaknesses and it originated that
students had limited skills in the area of information literacy and the reasons behind it is not
discussed at length in their academic course curriculum. Joint and Wallis (2015)17 revealed the
dynamic role of associations for the library and information profession in a diversity of countries
worldwide gives a sign of how the profession should use its own national association. Tridib
(2017)18 revealed that information literacy is the only solution for the development of any socio-
economically disadvantaged community and regular IL program should be organized by the
public libraries in regular interval.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:
The objectives of the present study are:
1. To identify the competency level of information literacy among faculty members of
Mizoram University
2. To identify areas of strengths and weakness in information literacy skills among the faculty
members
3. To analyze the frequency and purpose of library visit
4. To assess the ability of respondents in acquiring, organizing, evaluating and using
Information effectively
5. To identify the ability to use ICT for information communication by the respondents

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study mainly focuses on Information Literacy skills of faculty members of Mizoram
University to identify, locate, search, access, retrieve and using information from both print and
electronic sources of information to fulfill the information needs. The scope of the present study
is further limited to only Faculty members of Mizoram University.

METHODOLOGY:
For a collection of data for the study, the survey method of research was used. A structured
questionnaire was prepared and randomly distributed to 155 Faculty members of Mizoram
University to obtain required information with regards measure their information literacy
competency and total 136 (87.4%) filled questionnaire were received from respondents for data
analysis and draw the result of the study.

DATA ANALYSIS:
Analysis of respondents
Personal profile of the respondents has been studied in term of age, and gender and the details
have been presented in this section.
Table-1: Age wise analysis of respondents
Age Group Faculty Members Percent
below 25 yrs -
between 26-35yrs 8 5.88%
between 36-45 75 55.14%
46 year above 53 38.97%
Total 136 100%

It is observed that majority of the Faculty members belongs to the age group of between 36-45
years, which constitute (55.14%) of the respondents, followed by the age group 46 year above
(38.97%), and 26-35 year (5.88%). It was observed that the majority (55.14%) of the Faculty
members is matured and belongs to the age group of 36-45. There are no respondents below 25
years of age among the faculty members.
Table-2: Gender wise analysis of respondents
Gender Frequency Percent
Female 41 30.14%
Male 95 69.85%
Total 136 100%

Gender wise distribution of Respondents analysis of Faculty members, it was resolved that
majority of respondents (69.85%) were male and (30.14%) were female respondents. It is
evident from the table that the majority of the faculty members are male.

Frequency to visit library

The frequency of library visit was a parameter to measure the utilization of library resources as
well as the satisfaction of users about library collection and services. The analysis of responses
about the frequency of visits made to the college library reveals interesting finding. Table-3
shows the respondents frequency to visit the library and after analysis, it resolved that majority
of respondents (66.17%) of the faculties visited library occasionally and 20.58% of them visited
on monthly basis. Only 8.82% faculty members visited the library weekly. None of the single
faculty members visited the library for a daily purpose. It is apparent from the analysis that
faculty members visited library occasionally or according to their need of information and they
are not a regular user of the library.

Table-3: Frequency to visit library

 Frequency to Visit Library Faculty Members
(N=136)
Daily -
Weekly 12(8.82%)
Monthly 28(20.58%)
Occasionally 96(66.17%)
Total 136(100%)

Familiarity with information literacy

It is clearly noticed that information literacy is a necessary proficiency that is useful in every
aspect of a person life for faculties; it may lead to independent and faculties’ centric learning,
rather than dependence. In order to find out the respondents' familiarity with information
Literacy, they were asked to give their opinion whether they are familiar with Information
Literacy and shown in table-4. After analysis, it resolved that (93.38%) respondents are familiar
whereas (6.61%) are not familiar with Information Literacy concept.

Table-4: Familiarity with information literacy

Familiarity Faculty Members (N=136)
Yes 127(93.38%)
No 9(6.61%)
Total 136(100%)

Finding current information

In order to find out the respondents' level of awareness with finding the most current
information, the respondents were asked to opt for the most appropriate answer for finding out
their level in finding the current information. Table-5 depict that majority of the faculty members
(94.85%) opted the correct answer ‘journal’ to locate the most current information, followed by
(3.67%) of opted for Book, only (1.47%) of the faculty members opted for an encyclopedia. also,
none opted for Bibliography. Since the majority of the respondent chooses the correct answer
journal, we can say that the respondents are aware with choosing the current information source.
Table-5: Finding current information
Source Faculty Members (N=136)
Book 5(3.67%)
Journal 129(94.85%)
Encyclopedia 2(1.47%)
Bibliography -
Total 136(100%)

Use of library catalogue

Having knowledge of the catalogue is very essential, it saves the time and giving them the right
time to choose the right choices. In order to know the awareness regarding the use of Library
catalogue the respondents were given four options, i.e. Govt. publication, videos, Books, and
Articles. The respondents were asked to mention the sources that cannot be found by using the
library catalogue. Table-6 shows that 91.17% faculty members opted for an article, which cannot
be found by using the library catalogue. Follow by (5.88%) opted for the answer Videos and
(2.94%) opted for Govt. Publication. It was revealed that majority of the respondents are aware
of the use of Library catalogue. Because majority (91.17%) knows the correct answer that cannot
be found using Library catalogue.
Table-6: Use of the library catalogue
Source Faculty Members (N=136)
Govt. publication 4(2.94%)
Videos 8(5.88%)
Books -
Articles 124(91.17%)
Total 136(100%)

Knowledge about peer review articles

It is very important for the academic community to be aware of peer review meaning and
concept to improve their research output capability. To know the awareness and understanding
about peer review articles a question was asked from respondents to distinguish between the peer
review article and their response shown in Table-7. The analysis depicts that all the faculty
members opted for the correct explanation for the definition of peer review articles. All the
respondents are aware of the statement peer review articles.
Table-7: Peer review article
Source Faculty Member (N=136)
An article that was presented at a conference to a group -
of fellow.
An article that has been evaluated by other researchers
in the same or the related field for assessment of 136(100%)
scientific being accepted for publication.
An article that has been posted on the personal website -
for other researchers to read and review.

Rating Internet literacy skills

Internet Literacy skill is one of the most powerful tools to access, evaluate and disseminate
information. Table-8 show respondents skills about Internet literacy skills and reveals that
majority of the faculty members rated their skills high in web browsing, writing and sending e-
mail, and to attached a file to an email message. Also, the majority of the faculty members rated
their skills average in copy, download scholarly article and to search in the Web OPAC. This
clearly shows that majority of the respondents have good Internet literacy skills.

Table-8: Internet literacy skills

Internet Skills Level Faculty Members (N=136)
Web browsing High 72(52.94%)
 Average 64(47.05%)
Low -
Copy/download High 65(47.79%)
files from Internet Average 71(52.20%)
Low -
Write and send e- High 72(52.94%)
mail Average 64(47.05%)
Low -
Attached a file to High 69(50.73%)
email message Average 67(49.26%)
Low -
Download High 34(40%)
scholarly article Average 72(52.94%)
from Internet Low 30(22.05)
High 25(18.38%)
Search in the Web Average 106(77.94%)
OPAC Low 5(3.67%)

Tools used for accessing Internet

To access the Internet, a variety of machine has been used by faculties as per their convenience,
availability, friendly use, easy handling and sometimes, the speed of internet also depend on the
equipment used to access information. Table-9 shows respondents prefer to use the machine as a
tool to access the Internet and reveals that a maximum number of respondents used Smartphone
and desktop computer for accessing the Internet. Follow by 99(72.79%) of the faculty used a
laptop to access the Internet. Whereas only 19(13.97%) of faculty members use a tablet for
accessing the Internet. It was found that the use of Smartphone and Desktop Computer was the
most convenient way to access internet among faculty members of Mizoram University. A
maximum number of the respondents use for their daily life to search and make use Information
in the most beneficial way.
Table-9: Tools used for accessing the Internet
(Respondents given more than one option)
Tools Faculty Members
Desktop Computer 136(100%)
Laptop 99(72.79%)
Tablet 19(13.97%)
Smart Phone 136(100%)

Competencies to access information in different format

In order to find out the respondents skill in access information in a different format, the
respondents were asked to give their level of accessing skill for print and electronic formats.
Table-10 shows that 65.44% faculty members rated their skills high; follow by 34.55% faculty
members who rated their skills average in accessing information in print format. It was also
depicted that 60.29% faculties rated their skills high in accessing information in electronic
format, followed by 36.76% faculties with average skills whereas 2.94%faculty members rated
their skills low in accessing information in electronic format.
Table-10: Access Information in Different Formats
Format Level Faculty Members (N=136)
Print High 89(65.44%)
Average 47(34.55%)
Low -
Electronic High 82(60.29%)
Average 50(36.76%)
Low 4(2.94%)

MAJOR FINDINGS:
1. None of the respondents are below 25 years of age, the majority of the respondents (55.14%)
are matured and belongs to the age group of 36-45. Majority of respondents (69.85%) were
male and (30.14%) were female respondents.
2. Majority of respondents (66.17%) of the faculty members visited library occasionally and
(20.58%) of them visited on the weekly and monthly basis. None of the faculty members
visited the library for a daily purpose.
3. Majority of the faculty members are familiar with the word information literacy. Majority of
them are found to be having acceptable search capabilities to find out their required
documents from the library.
4. All the respondents are aware of peer review articles.
5. Respondents having sufficient literacy to find out current information, search capability on
the broader topic, library catalogue and catalogue search capability.
6. Majority of respondents having an average level of Internet skills in writing and sending
email, search in the web OPAC and download the scholarly article from the Internet. Overall
respondents are having good Internet literacy.
7. All the respondents used Smartphone and Desktop Computer for accessing the Internet.
Follow by (72.79%) Laptop and (13.97%) tablet for accessing the Internet
8. Respondents having good skills and competency to handle print and electronic sources.

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