Technology Acceptance Model as a predictor of using information system' to acquire information literacy skills

1. Overview of Information Literacy (IL) The concept of information literacy skills have been widely discussed by professional bodies such as the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL, 2011) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, 2011) American Association of School Librarians (1998) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, 2008) The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) (2006:17) described information literacy as the ability to identify when information is needed, ability to carry out a specific task or for problem solving purposes, cost efficiently search for information, organise or reorganise sources of information, interpret, analyze and retrieve necessary information, appraise the accuracy and reliability of the information, and observe the ethical use of information sources. IFLA (2006:7) distinguishes the Information Literacy concept from other aspects of literacy like computer literacy, network literacy, digital literacy, information technology literacy and media literacy although these types of literacy are quite related. UNESCO (2004) considered Information Literacy as all activities concerned with teaching and learning regarding the whole variety of information sources and formats. UNESCO (2004) notes that to be information literate, an individual must be equipped with the why, when, and how to apply all IL tools and develop the ability to think decisively about the information they provide. According to the Scottish Information Literacy Project (2013) Information Literacy is the panacea for promoting problem solving abilities, especially those problems that comes with the use of modern facilities channel towards accessing information. The document further shows that IL helps to equip scholars with critical thinking skills, ability to seek answers to critical questions, ability to find information from various sources, form intelligent opinions, and evaluate sources of information for informed judgement necessary for decision making. Information Literacy is important for a number of reasons especially to educators. According to SILP (2013) it helps in promoting problem solving ability, helps critical thinking, boosts the ability to ask questions and seek logical answers, find information, shape opinion, and evaluate sources of information. For an individual, being information literate is imperative in order to be a functional member of the society. Therefore, a government is expected to integrate the knowledge of Information Literacy into academic programmes so as to make people become more productive and equipped as functional global citizens of the 21st century (Rodney Wellington, 2014:75) Lincoln (2011: 4) observed that Information Literacy is essential because of the plethora of readily accessible information and that people are expected to acquire appropriate skills befitting the twenty first century to locate, evaluate, analyze and put to effective use information from various sources. The knowledge of Information Literacy is a must for everyone because it will determine the level of success at every professional level and is a key component of education. Davis, Lundstrom and Martin (2011:17) cautioned that there may be misconceptions among the modern generation who are information savvy that because they've grown up in an environment driven by technology that they are information literate, but ability to you modern information gadget does not mean being information literate. The knowledge of Information Literacy is important because access to information is driven by technology which must be learnt for an individual to be a competent information user (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2010; Mordini 2007:544) Juutinen, Huovinen and Yalaho (2011) emphasise that embracing technology can help in improvement of people's lives. Information Literacy is an essential skill that is utilitarian in nature because of the beneficial effect it has on a large number of those who embrace the knowledge.