A DIAGNOSIS OF INFORMATION LITERACY CORE COMPETENCY LEVELS OF RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS AT CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES IN DELHI

Abstract

The study diagnoses information literacy core competency (ILCC) levels of research scholars in Economics. The diagnosis is conducted on five parameters based on five ACRL Standards: Need, Access, Evaluation, Use, and Use Ethics of Information. The empirical data was collected through questionnaire method and analyzed. In the networked digital information landscape, researchers should possess a reasonably good level of ILCC for survivance in research and academia. The diagnosis reveals that there were large numbers of incompetent researchers. On selected parameters maximum incompetent researchers were 33% in information access, followed by 23.5% in information evaluation, 12.8% in information need, 10.7% in information use and the lowest of 8.5% in information use ethics. The findings call for urgent attention from all the stakeholders. The study also discusses the means and ways of promoting and enhancing the ILCC of researchers.

Keywords: ACRL Standards, Assessment, Core Competency, Information Literacy, Researchers in Economics, Survey.