Listen to this article

Introduction

The coronary heart of records literacy is contained within definitions used to explain it. Z Library traditionally librarians have given ‘library induction’ or ‘library capabilities training’ in a restricted function. Library users need to recognize wherein the catalogue is, what the services are, and most importantly wherein the enquiry desk is. This is not to reduce the price of conventional library induction; however libraries and records also are converting.

The provision of statistics through a library in a conventional form has gone thru radical changes. Already in most library and information firms staffs are adjusting their services with the availability of new media and get admission to to facts provision inside these establishments. Hence librarians are speaking about social inclusion, possibility, lifestyle-lengthy learning, records society and self improvement.

A plethora of definitions for facts literacy abound in books, journal papers and the net. A number of those definitions center at the activities of facts literacy i.e. figuring out the talents wished for a success literate functioning. Other definitions are based on the attitude of a records literate man or woman i.E. Seeking to outline the concept of records literacy. Deriving therefore a unmarried definition is a complex procedure of accumulating together a fixed of ideas as to what might be, need to be, or can be considered part of information literacy.

As an example Weber and Johnson (2002) defined facts literacy as the adoption of appropriate records behavior to gain, via something channel or medium, data nicely suited for statistics wishes, together with important awareness of the significance of clever and moral use of information in society. The yank library affiliation (2003) defined statistics literacy as a hard and fast of abilities had to discover, retrieve, analyze, and use data. At the same time as clip (2004) defined statistics literacy as knowing whilst and why one wishes information, in which to locate it, and the way to examine, use and speak it in a moral way. Succinctly these definitions imply that statistics literacy calls for no longer handiest understanding however also abilities in:

• recognizing when statistics is needed;
• Assets to be had;
• finding facts;
• evaluating information;
• The use of facts;
• Ethics and obligation of use of records;
• The way to communicate or percentage facts;
• A way to manage information;

Given consequently the form of definitions and implied explanation facts literacy is a cluster of abilities that and person can rent to cope with, and to take advantage of the extraordinary quantity of information which surrounds us in our day by day life and paintings.

Shape of the Education System

Sierra Leone’s contemporary educational system is composed of six years of formal primary education, 3 years of junior secondary faculty (jss), 3 years senior secondary college (sass) and 4 years of tertiary training-6-3-three-four. (The professor gbamanja commission’s record of 2010 endorsed an extra year for sss to become 6-3-for-4). The legit age for primary college pupils is between six and 11 years.

All students on the cease of sophistication six are required to take and skip the national primary school examinations designed by using the west African examinations council (waec) to allow them proceed to the secondary faculty divided into junior secondary faculty(jss) and senior secondary college (sss). Each component has a very last examination: the primary training certificate examinations (bece) for the jss, and the West African senior secondary college certificate examinations (wassce) for sss, each conducted by means of weak. A hit applicants of waste are admitted to tertiary institutions based on some of subjects handed (gosl,1995)

The curriculum of primary faculties emphasizes communiqué competence and the capacity to recognize and manipulate numbers. At the jss degree, the curriculum is trendy and comprehensive, encompassing the entire variety of know-how, attitudes and abilities in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domain names.

The middle subjects of English, mathematics, technological know-how and social research are compulsory for all scholars. On the sss degree, the curriculum is decided by way of its nature (preferred or professional), or its particular goals. Pupils are offered a fixed of center (obligatory) topics with elective subjects based totally on their specialization. Coaching is guided by way of the teaching syllabuses and prompted via the external examinations that scholars are required to take on the three/ four-yr route. English is the language of preparation (gosl, 1995).

Literacy in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone as it is in most parts of the developing world literacy involves one’s capacity to study, write and numeracy. It’s far the potential to feature successfully in existence contexts. A literate person is related to the possession of talents and understanding and the way those can be applied inside his nearby environment.

For instance a literate character is assumed as a way to practice chemical fertilizer to his vegetation, fill in a loans shape, determine proper dosage of medicine, calculate cash cropping value and profits, glean facts from a newspaper, and make out a financial institution deposit slip and information instructions and simple human rights.