Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Information literacy is a crucial component of developing life – long learning skills. Students need to be information literate to cope up with the challenges in further studies and future profession. The present study investigated the information literacy skills of engineering students of PSR Engineering College, Virudhunagar district, Tamilnadu State, India. It is descriptive survey method. 400 students were randomly selected. Data were collected using questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 17.0 was used to analyze the data so prepared. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been applied to the data. The results reveal that: The students are better skilled at identifying the concepts and terms related to the information they need ; knowing what they don’t know to identify and information gap; defining the scope of search questions clearly in appropriate language ; using a range of retrieval tools and resources and using a range of retrieval tools and resources effectively. They are least skilled at combining the existing information with original concept ; using new tools as they become available; identifying controlled vocabularies and taxonomies to aid in searching if appropriate ; identifying when the information need has not been met and critically appraising and evaluating their own findings and those of others. Majority of the respondents supported the induction of information literacy programmes on the use of internet and online databases.