Informationskompetens och användarundervisning i en sydafrikansk universitetskontext
InformationskompetensAnvändarundervisningSydafrikaInternationaliseringGlobaliseringSocial och kulturellKontextSociokulturellt perspektivKulturdimensioner
The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study howuniversity librarians in a South African context relate to theconcept of information literacy. We investigated differencesand similarities in approaches to user education andinformation literacy. We have based our study on thefollowing research questions: What are the prerequisites foruser education at the University of the Western Cape? Howdo these prerequisites influence librarians' approaches toinformation literacy and user education at the University ofthe Western Cape? We have used a sociocultural theoreticalperspective and Hofstede's cultural dimensions in orderto pay particular attention to the cultural and social contextof user education. Six semi-structured qualitative interviewswithin the context of a two-week field study were carriedout with nine librarians.In the analysis several factors emerged which in interactioninfluenced user education: the students' qualifications, thelibrarians? collaboration with teachers and the librarians?approach to information literacy and user education. Theresult shows that although the librarians at the University ofthe Western Cape are aware of different theoreticalperspectives on information literacy the social context inparticular influences their focus in user education. Ourconclusion is that information literacy must be understood inthe light of social and cultural practices, while at the sametime keeping pace with the effects of increasingglobalization and internationalization in higher education.