INFORMATION LITERACY STANDARDS OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES OF NAIROBI AND THARAKA-NITHI COUNTIES, KENYA

Abstract

Information literacy is described as a set of abilities that require individuals to recognize when information is needed and locate, evaluate, and use the needed information effectively (American Library Association, 2018). Information literacy skills are essential to secondary school students in developing countries such as Kenya. A preliminary investigation by the researcher revealed that many secondary schools in Kenya have poor literacy standards and have no room for information literacy programs for their students, despite the fact that secondary school education is transitional to university education. This study assessed the information literacy standards of school libraries in Nairobi and Tharaka-Nithi Counties. The study selected Nairobi and Tharaka-Nithi counties, which represent urban (Nairobi) and rural populations (Tharaka-Nithi). Data was collected using questionnaires. Systematic sampling was used to select 30 secondary schools (20 schools from Nairobi and 10 from Tharaka-Nithi) out of 304 secondary schools, while stratified random sampling was used to classify the students into four strata (Form 1-4). A total of 385 students were sampled (255 from Nairobi and 130 from Tharaka-Nithi. The results show that more needs to be done towards improving the libraries so that the students can be encouraged to visit them frequently. Secondary school libraries do not have apart from books various formats of information resources that would be more appealing to the students. Secondary school libraries should incorporate in their collection a variety of formats of information resources that are more captivating than books.