By Rodney Malesi and Azenath Ateka

We live in an era where we are witnessing exponential growth in data and information. This growth, however, does not in any way imply that those who need information have all the skills needed to make effective use of the huge amounts of data and information produced every day. Academic libraries all over the world, including USIU-Africa’s library, have responded to this skill gap by providing information literacy programs.

Information literacy is the set of skills needed to identify an information need, locate sources of information, retrieve, analyze, and use information. Over the years, the library has equipped students and other library users with these skills through library-initiated instruction programs and various degree-focused courses taught at USIU-Africa.

The trainings provided are focused on teaching one how to use the online catalogue; how to access and use eResources; how to use information ethically; how to communicate with other scholars and researchers through publishing, among other emerging themes in information access, use, sharing, and repackaging.

These trainings are offered regularly, and this semester’s trainings have been scheduled to run from Wednesday, 29 July to Wednesday, 5 August 2020. The link for registration is https://usiu-ke.libwizard.com/f/Librarytraining. Several students have benefited from these sessions in the past, transforming to not only effective and efficient information users but also into independent lifelong learners.

Register in advance for any of these sessions using the link provided above.

Scholarly Research, Communication and Publishing

Friday, July 31, 3:00pm - 5:00 pm

Tuesday, August 4, 3:00pm - 5:00 pm

Online Database Searching and Retrieval

Wednesday, July 29, 3:00pm - 5:00 pm

Saturday, August 1, 9:00 am- 11:00 am

Citation and Referencing Styles

Monday, August 3, 3:00pm- 5:00 pm

Wednesday, August 5, 11:00am- 1:00 pm?

For queries and suggestions, please write to askalibarian@usiu.ac.ke