The awareness and application of multimedia tools for information literacy instruction at an African university

What is it about?

The mere presence of multimedia and technology in the 4th Industrial Revolution will remain meaningless without leveraging its advantages to improve our traditional practices. In the past few years, the presence and use of technology and other multimedia tools have received attention in library literature with some arguing that these tools can assist to enhance librarians’ instructional practices. The main aim of this study was to determine academic librarians’ awareness and application of multimedia content for information literacy (IL) instruction at the North-West University in South Africa. This study employed both the survey and focus group interviews to gather data. The results of this study show that despite the majority of librarians being aware of the existence and benefits of multimedia tools that can complement their traditional instructional practices, very few actually apply the tools for IL instructional practices. Among the multimedia tools that the librarians often use for the IL instruction, LibGuides were the most favorable because of their ease of use. The main reasons for not using the multimedia tools cited by librarians include the lack of infrastructure and insufficient skills. This study recommended the reskilling of librarians by training them in the use of multimedia tools for information literacy instruction.

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