Media and Information Literacy Self-Efficacy of LIS Students in Bangladesh

Abstract

Media and information literacy (MIL) is one of the crucial factors to sustain in the age of information explosion. Particularly, LIS students need to be literate regarding media and information around them to provide authentic information in their future workplaces. The study aims to identify the MIL self-efficacy level of LIS students and the influence of demographics on this. The study adopted a quantitative approach to identify the MIL level of LIS students using a structured questionnaire. The data was collected from 337 LIS students from different public and private universities in Bangladesh using a convenience sampling technique. The study reveals that LIS students in Bangladesh rated their level of MIL as moderate, but at the same time, they are confident regarding their competence in accessing relevant resources using different media. It is also observed that LIS students’ MIL level is comparatively less in creation than other dimensions like access, evaluation, use, and understanding. The research also found significant differences between the students’ demographics and their MIL level. This is one of the first attempts in Bangladesh to analyze LIS students’ MIL self-efficacy level. The study can be broadened in the future to understand the factors affecting the MIL level of LIS students in Banglaesh by adopting a qualitative research strategy. In addition, the problems can also be identified from future studies which will provide a guideline to the respective LIS departments on how to improve the MIL level of the students.