Investigating foreign students’ perceptions of their information literacy competencies

Abstract

The present study investigated foreign students’ perceptions of their information literacy competencies in Iranian universities in order to identify the weaknesses and strengths so that libraries can meet the information needs of the students. A survey method using a questionnaire was deployed for assessing foreign students’ perceptions of information literacy competencies in Iranian universities. A total of 335 students participated in the study. The research community is all foreign students of Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch, and Razi University who were studying in 2022. The findings showed that the actual average understanding of information needs, information seeking, information evaluation, information storage and retrieval, and communication and dissemination of information was lower than the theoretical average. The results of the present study reveal the areas of strength and weakness of information literacy skills among foreign students in Iranian universities. Thus, this study, gives libraries the knowledge of how to provide their services and helps them make decisions about how to develop the services for these students.