The teaching of information literacy skills in Botswana’s Community Secondary Schools

A study of Gaborone region

Abstract

The study investigated the teaching of information literacy skills in select Junior Community Secondary Schools (CJSS) situated in the city of Gaborone, Botswana. Data were gathered from a sample of ten teacher librarians via face-to-face interviews with the aid of a five-question interview schedule. The key findings of the study were: (1) respondents had varying interpretations of. what constituted information literacy skills, (2) a variety of skills were taught under the rubric information literacy skills; (3) by and large, the teaching of information literacy skills was done by teacher-librarians and subject librarians, (4) the main approaches in teaching information literacy skills involved library orientation and the use of the English Language Period, and (5) respondents cited the three challenges, namely, the absence of an office dedicated to school libraries, an exam oriented curriculum and shrinking financial resources.