Information literacy skills and competencies of nursing students at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi

This paper reports the findings of a study on information literacy (IL) skills and competencies of nursing students at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi. This study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design. The population for this study was nursing students of Kamuzu University of Health Sciences. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online questionnaire that contained closed-and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of charts, graphs, and relative frequencies. Qualitative data, on the other hand, were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that nursing students received several IL programme offerings that included on-campus IL sessions organised by the library, curriculum-embedded IL programmes, and library instructional sessions. The findings further indicate that most students used Google as their primary source of information, while library subscription databases were minimally used. Besides wanting to learn the citation and referencing styles and how to avoid plagiarism, students wanted to learn how to find and evaluate information. The respondents recommended that IL skills be embedded in the nursing curriculum to make them more effective. This paper provides lessons to health-related institutions that may be planning on revamping their IL programme offerings to make them more relevant to students. The current study advocates for a more systematic approach in which IL should be part of the curriculum developed and offered by librarians in collaboration with faculty members