Perceived Information Literacy Skills among University Students at AzadJammu&Kashmir

The present study was conducted with an aim to determine the perceived information literacy skills among university students at Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A survey research design was used to collect data from the participants. The population of this study was post-graduate students enrolled in public sector universities of AJ&K. A convenience sampling technique was used to collect the data. A statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-20) was used for the analysis of data. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation, and the inferential statistic was used to determine relationships among variables. The result of the study found that the majority of the respondents have ability to recognize, understand, locate, evaluate, use, communicate, and manage required information (M=3.77). However, few of them were facing difficulties, while using digital information resources due to poor ICT skills (M=3.62). The results of the study also revealed that a good number of information resources were available in university libraries but they were not properly utilized due to a lack of information literacy skills (M=3.56). Lack of information literacy training and workshops were the main barriers faced by respondents while acquiring information literacy skills (M=3.56). Moreover, it was found that a statistically significant relationship (P= .000) exists between the age of the respondents and their information literacy skills. This shows that the age of the respondents and information literacy skills were correlated with each other. The significance value (P=.001) indicated that the gender of the respondents and their level of information literacy skills were also correlated. Further, the statistical value (P=. 218) indicated that the level of degree and information literacy skills of respondents were not correlated