Information Literacy Competency of Secondary School Students of Owerri West, South East, Nigeria

The study investigated information literacy competency of secondary school students in Owerri West, South East of Nigeria. The crux of the paper is to ascertain the level of information literacy knowledge and skills of the students, and their practical ability to effectively utilize information knowledge and skills. Further investigation was carried out to find out strategies employed by the students to meet their information needs. The survey research design was adopted for the study. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sample size of 300 students across all the years of studies, from two secondary schools in Owerri West. Three hundred copies of questionnaire were administered with a return rate of 85%. For data analysis, the study adopted frequency counts, simple percentage and mean scores. There was also the use of illustrations and data visualization in the study. The findings revealed that the respondents possess low level of information literacy skills. Their practical ability to effectively utilize information literacy skills was found to be on the average. This was revealed through the responses on information literacy skills. The responses were significantly low in the areas of evaluating information, distinguishing sources of information and formulating search strategies.