Digital Literacy Skills: A Study

 

Dr. Harish Kumar Sahu

Sr. Assistant Professor, School of Studies in Library and Information Science, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) India.

 

ABSTRACT:

This paper is to discuss the findings on digital literacy skills among students of the school of studies in library and information science, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. For the purpose of data collection, 51 questionnaires were distributed. The findings reveal that majority of users 32 (62.74%) are of female respondents, 26 (50.98%) greater part of respondents use digital resources daily. It is also clear that highest numbers of 28 (54.90%) respondents are using digital resources to prepare course materials for study in the field.

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION:

All e-Learners must be given the opportunity to be developed and enhance their skills in finding and using information. This not only ensures that they can fully exploit information resources for their E-learning course, but also provides them with a life skill and with mechanisms for updating their knowledge after the course has ended. It is important to work with your librarians to embed information literacy training into delivery of support for the course. Computer is very important because they are applied in almost all the fields in the Modern Era.

 

2.    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The following objectives of the study are:

·       To find out the frequency of use of digital resources.

·       To identify the purpose of using digital resources.

 

 

3.    METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY:

The present study was conducted in the school of studies in library and information science, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. For collecting of data from the respondents’ questionnaire was administered. 51 questionnaires were distributed among the students.

 

4.       RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

 

Table 1: Demographic Information

Variable	Category	Frequency (N=51)	%
Sex	Male	19 (MLIS 4+BLIS 15)	37.25
	Female	32 (Both 16+16)	62.74
Age	21-23	47	92.15
	24-26	4	7.84
Education Level	B. Lib. and I. Sc.	31	60.78
	M. Lib. and I. Sc.	20	39.21

 

 

The demographic profiles of user’s reveals sex, age group and education level which is summarized below that the total 51 users are differently designated in the categories of Library and Information Science students 31 (60.78%), B. Lib. and I. Sc. and 20 (39.21%) M. Lib. and I. Sc. The majority of users 32 (62.74%) are of female followed by 19 (37.25%) male. The age wise break up depict that 47 (92.15%) users belong to age group of 21-23 years’ followed by 4 (7.84%) users the age group of 24-26.

 

Table 2 Frequently of Use of digital resources

Use	Frequency	%
Daily	26	50.98
Once in a two days	10	19.60
Once in a week	9	17.64
Occasionally	6	11.76
Total	51	100

 

 

The frequency of use of digital resources in Table 2 shows that the largest group of students used digital resources daily 26 (50.98%) followed by once in a two days 10 (19.60%), once in a week 9 (17.64%) and occasionally 6 (11.76%). It is clear from the table 2 that a greater part of students 26 (50.98%) use digital resources daily.

 

Table 3: Purpose of using digital resources

Purpose	Frequency	%
To prepare course material for study	28	54.90
To update subject knowledge	23	45.09
Total	51	100

 

 

The analysis of purpose of using digital resources is given in figure 3. Data reveals that the purpose of using digital resources to prepare course materials for study 28 (54.90%) followed by to update subject knowledge 23 (45.09%). It expose that highest number of respondents 28 (54.90%) are using digital resources to prepare course materials for study in the field.

 

Table 4: Preferred Location to access digital resources

Location	Frequency	%
Library	16	31.37
Hostel	7	13.72
Home	28	54.90
Total	51	100

 

 

Respondents were asked to state their preferred location to access digital resources from figure 4. It is clear that home 28 (54.90%) followed by library 16 (31.37%) and hostel 7 (13.72%). Mostly preferred location to access digital resources was in the home 28 (54.90%).

 

Table 5: Types of digital information resources used

Information sources	Frequency	%
E-Books	26	25
E- journal	41	39.42
E- Newspapers	37	35.57
Total	104	100

(Multiple answers permitted)

 

Figure 5: Types of digital information resources used

 

The preferences stated by the users on various types of digital resources are as follows, most of the respondents used e-journal 41 (39.42%) followed by e-newspapers 37 (35.57%) and e-books 26 (25%). The findings show that the large number of the respondents used e-journals and e-newspapers, while the e-books used by very less as illustrated in figure 5.

 

5.       CONCLUSION AND FINDING:

·       The result of the study shows that the majority of users 32 (62.74%) are of female respondents.

·       It is clear from the study that majority of students 26 (50.98%) used digital resources daily.

·       It expose that highest number of respondents 28 (54.90%) are using digital resources to prepare course materials for study in the field.

·       It indicates that the mostly preferred location to access digital resources was in the home 28 (54.90%).

·       The findings show that the large number of the respondents used e-journals and e-newspapers, while the e-books used by very less as illustrated in Table 5.

 

6.       REFERENCES:

1.      Pratap, R V and Singh, Kunwar. “Digital Literacy skills among students and research scholars of the Law school, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India: a study” (2018).International journal of Next Generation Library and Technologies , 4 (1), pp. 1-11. www.ijnglt.com.

2.      Maharana, Bulu and Mishra, Champeswar. "A Survey of Digital Information Literacy of Faculty at Sambalpur University" (2007). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 144. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/144.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Received on 08.01.2019         Modified on 14.01.2019

Accepted on 04.02.2019      ©AandV Publications All right reserved