The contribution of the school librarian towards information literacy among school students- with special reference to selected national schools in the Gampaha district

Abstract

The people are engaged in lifelong education throughout their life time. In this process, the school education system has a major role to perform in formal education. The school library is the major centre for producing a high quality citizen to the society; also it enhances their knowledge, attitudes and skills. The major purpose of the school library is to fulfill the education and information needs of students as well as academic and non academic staff in the school. It is anticipated to develop the information skills of students by the school library which is an information and resource centre. For achieving a high quality education in the student centered education system it is essential to develop the information skills among students. In this context, a great contribution from the school librarian is expected. The main role of the school librarian is to contribute for achieving goals of the school. The school librarian has a responsibility to become a person who is skilled in creating a successful school programme for the students and teachers. The major purpose of this study was to identify the contribution of the school librarians with regard to the fulfillment of information literacy and to highlight the problems faced by the school librarians in developing information literacy among students. l;'he survey method was used as the research methodology of this study. Data was gathered using questionnaires and interviews. As the sample 5 national schools in the Gampaha district were taken out of 17 National schools. A total of 100 students were selected from A/L classes in commerce, arts and science from the above mentioned national schools. The analysis of the data revealed that the contribution of school librarians were not in a satisfactory level for developing the information skills of students and also it was revealed that the majority of students do not have the ability to gain information through prescribed sources. However the major problem was the inability of school librarians to help the students to access right sources at the right time. To overcome this situation it is recommended to initiate well organized information literacy programme among students and it is recommended to introduce training programmes for school librarians in information literacy awareness. Relationship between students and teachers should be improved further more.