Information Needs of Learning at Emzamweni High School, Inadi, South Africa

A Preliminary Report of an Assessment Linked to the CHESP Community-based Learning Model

Abstract

This paper reports on the information needs of learners in the Emzamweni High School in Inadi near Pietermaritzburg Msunduzi in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A preliminary report, it presents the outcomes of a survey based on the critical incident approach. Students in the Post Graduate Diploma in Information Studies Programme conducted interviews over a two year period from 2001 to 2002. The students were enrolled for an exemplar in the Community Higher Education Service Partnerships project in community based learning at University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The project was hence an exercise in training student researchers and is useful for what it revealed about the critical nature of the needs of these learners.