Information needs and constraints of access to educational information in the Fort Beaufort Education District

Types of educational information needed by learners, their level of access and librarians’ supportive roles in learning are pertinent to the attainment of quality education. This study seeks to identify the types of educational information needed by high school learners and the barriers of access. The study is underpinned by the jurisprudential theory of freedom of speech augmented by the theory of access to establish the reality of access. The study adopted a mixed methods approach to obtain data from 331 grade 12 learners, 29 teachers and 3 librarians. The findings reveal that information on requirements for admission into university, subjects taught at school, and career guidance were the most needed by learners. Access challenges include inadequate information resources and the absence of and/or non-functional school libraries. Recommendations include the adequate provision of educational information, information literacy education, employment of qualified librarians by education authorities as well as provision of functional school libraries and information technology tools. The study has shown a need to further examine, in a more rigorous way, the coping strategies of teachers and learners in information-poor communities.Keywords: educational information; high school learners; information access; information literacy education; information needs; information resources; information technology tools; school librarie

Corporate social responsibility as a drive to community development and poverty reduction: A stakeholder approach to development in Zimbabwe

Background: The emergence of a ‘Southern’ discourse of corporate social responsibility (CSR) highlight the crucial issues of poverty reduction, infrastructure development and the broader questions of social provisioning and community development.   Aim: This study builds on existing knowledge to reveal how CSR has become a drive or aid in the community development discourse and poverty reduction mechanisms. This was done through the analysis of major CSR projects by Zimplats mining company.   Setting: The study was carried out in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Zimbabwe, which is in a rural setting.   Method: The study employed a triangulated design, with data collected using a mini-survey, focus groups and in-depth interviews.   Results: The key findings are that the fundamental roles of CSR have been to link it to addressing under-development and poverty reduction issues in developing countries.   Conclusion: Through distributional CSR activities, the mining company was able to address the health, educational, employment and water needs of the local people

Decreasing reliance of indigenous knowledge systems in rural households; the case of Khambashe, Eastern Cape, South Africa

The gradual waning of indigenous knowledge systems represents the basis for major rethinking towards harnessing indigenous epistemology that can potentially alleviate food shortages in rural households. This article seeks to determine the factors, if any, accounting for the attrition of the gendered indigenous knowledge in food production systems in Khambashe rural households. The Foucauldian postmodern theory extended by African feminism was utilised to explore the patterns of power between gender and knowledge systems. Gender and knowledge in food production processes are embedded in systematised knowledge and gender relations. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative and quantitative research design was used in order to gain a full grasp of the various constraints that hinder utilisation of indigenous knowledge in preventing or reducing the impact of food scarcity in rural households. Chief among the identified constraints in Khambashe are the marginalisation of local knowledge by hegemonic Western science and discriminatory traditional practices. African epistemologies with the potential of improving the lives of Africans should be revisited and rebuilt

Utilisation of Library Information Resources among Generation Z Students: Facts and Fiction

Generation Z was the foremost generation to have prevalent access to the Internet from an early age. Technology has strongly influenced this generation in terms of communication, education and consequently their academic information behaviour. With the next generation of scholars already being trained, in a decade, most of the researchers will be mainly digital natives. This study sought to establish the library information resources use pattern in relation to users’ preferred information media in order to render better academic information services to library users. A total of 390 respondents were surveyed at the Nelson Mandela University and the University of Fort Hare using quantitative and qualitative methods. Most of the respondents, 82.3%, were aged between 18 and 23 years; while the average library use time was two hours daily. The most utilised library resource is the Wi-Fi with e-books and e-journals found to be lowly utilised. Records from the E-librarians revealed that undergraduate students account for no more than 6% of total users of electronic databases with 62.3% of the respondents preferring print information resources. Better understanding of library users’ demographics and information media preference is essential in proving the right kind of information services to Generation Z library users

Education exclusion and inclusion: Policy and implementation in South Africa and India

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