Information Literacy Competencies among School Librarians in Malaysia

In many countries, including Malaysia, school librarians are entrusted with the delivery of information literacy education to both teachers and students. However, the extent of school librarians' own information literacy skills and capabilities is not well understood. Accordingly, this paper examines (1) the level of self-assessed information literacy skills among school librarians and (2) the perceived need for these school librarians to have information literacy skills. Employing a self-administered postal survey of school librarians in two Malaysian states (Selangor and Pahang), the study indicates that urban school librarians are better trained than their rural counterparts. The urban respondents also self-assessed their information literacy skills at a higher level than the rural respondents. There was some variation in responses depending on in-service training and length of professional experience. The results reveal that the respondents are information literate, but need further training and exposure to information literacy. However, there is presently little encouragement for them to acquire additional skills training in information literacy or other areas of school librarianship. This research is limited to school librarians in two districts and may not be generalisable to all school librarians in Malaysia. As the study relies on self-assessment and reporting regarding information literacy skills, future research could seek to test librarians' information literacy skills by means of external evaluation.