DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING INFORMATION LITERACY INITIATIVES: A CASE STUDY IN SAUDI ARABIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Abstract

In the constantly changing digital world, with information at their fingertips, it becomes more important than ever to equip students with critical thinking and necessary information literacy skills to meet their information needs effectively. This study reports the planning, process, and successful outcome of a workshop called “Information Literacy Program at Saudi Arab universities. The study has also discussed elements such as needs assessment, stakeholder identification and involvement, curriculum mapping, and analog and digital tools for this project in the University Library of Saudi Arab. This research relies on case studies, closely reading papers about Information Literacy in Saudi University Libraries, a literature review, and website reviews and interviews with the university librarians. Data analysis through summarizing the results with Excel tables, figures, and graphs. The results of this research are the state of Information Literacy (IL) in university libraries of Saudi Arabia, and specifically its application and planning. This article also seeks to shed light on the development and persistence of IL initiatives, using Saudi University's Information Literacy (IL) Program as a case study. Adoption of the IL program was full in only 4 university libraries. Nevertheless, 8 university libraries were partially implemented, and other universities have not implemented any IL program. The program serves as a point of reference for adopting IL into undergraduate and postgraduate programs that combine the best practices of international frameworks, such as the ACRL Framework, with those of local frameworks, such as the Saudi National Qualification Framework (NQF). This study examines new developments in IL education, discusses the obstacles to institutionalizing these programs, and offers some practical approaches for building sustainable IL within academia.