The Role of Village Libraries to Improve Information Literacy in Rural Communities

Many efforts have been made to improve the quality of Indonesian society through reading habits. Information literacy movements are also carried out in rural areas. The library also took part in this activity. Many components already involved to enhance information literacy, but the results have not been maximized. The purposes of this study are to measure the level of information literacy in rural communities and to investigate the role of libraries to improve information literacy. The method was used quantitative method, whereby spreading questionnaires to the society in the village. The location was taken from three villages in Jombang – East Java, Indonesia, they are Tondowulan, Karanglo, and Padoroto. The Indicator of information literacy skill used indicator from UNESCO: Definition and articulation of information, Location and access of information, assesment of information, organization of information, use of information, and communication and ethical use of information. The results showed that overall the village community in Jombang did the definition and articulation of information needs, knew the location and how to access the information needed, assessed the information that had been found, organized the information that had been found, used information that had been found and stored and communicating and using information ethically. That means the village community already has a high level of literacy. In addition, the role of village libraries to improve information literacy in rural communities is to provide a place for a variety of positive activities such as basic live skills training, computer workshops, etc