1. Medical Librarians’ Perceptions Towards the Importance of Information Literacy Skills Midrar Ullah Librarian & LSO Army Medical College, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Rawalpindi. Dr Kanwal Ameen Chairperson, Department of Library and Information Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore

2. Introduction From user education to Information Literacy (IL) instruction 2008 - First time IL was included in the curriculum of LIS, University of the Punjab. 2009 - HEC included “IL instruction” in the curriculum of LIS for BS 4-year program. The first significant, award winning writing with the term of IL in local perspective was by Kanwal and Gorman (2009).

3. Definition of IL The ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize, and effectively create, use and communicate information to address an issue or a problem" (Wijetunge & Alahakoon, 2005, p.31).

4. Objectives of the Study To find out medical librarians' perceptions towards the importance of information literacy skills. To obtain the empirical findings that may support delivery of IL instruction.

5. Methodology Research method Development of instrument Population of the study Analysis of data

6. Response rate Out of 114 questionnaires distributed among the head librarians of academic medical institutions, 69 (60.5 %) useable questionnaires were returned after continuous follow-up efforts.

7. Demographic Information Gender Male52 (75.4 %) Female17 (24.6 %) Sector Public31 (44.9 %) Private38 (55.1 %) Type of Institution Medical College44 (63.8 %) Medical University11 (15.9 %) Postgraduate Medical Institute14 (20.3 %)

8. Results and Discussion

9. Public Sector Med Librarians RankIL SkillsMean 1 Accessing the needed information effectively and efficiently 4.40 2 Identifying relevant, authoritative and reliable information sources 4.39 3 Recognizing the need for information 4.33 4 Verifying the relevance and quality of information sources 4.29 5 Using information ethically and legally 4.19 6 Organizing information collected or generated in a logical way 4.13 7 Using the selected information effectively to accomplish a specific task 4.07 8 Evaluating the information critically 3.94

10. Private Sector Med Librarians RankIL SkillsMean 1 Identifying relevant, authoritative and reliable information sources 4.54 2 Accessing the needed information effectively and efficiently 4.45 3 Verifying the relevance and quality of information sources 4.32 4 Recognizing the need for information 4.32 5 Using information ethically and legally 4.18 6 Evaluating the information critically 4.11 7 Using the selected information effectively to accomplish a specific task 3.97 8 Organizing information collected or generated in a logical way 3.97

11. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that medical librarians in Pakistan overall rate information literacy skills as very important for their users. However, IL skill about evaluation of information by public sector librarians and IL skills about organizing and using information by private sector librarians were rated low (got mean score less than four).

12. References Ameen, K., & Gorman, G. E. (2009). Information and digital literacy: A stumbling block to development? A Pakistani perspective. Library Management, 30(1/2), 99-112. Wijetunge, P., & Alahakoon, U. P. (2005). Empowering 8: The Information Literacy model developed in Sri Lanka to underpin changing education paradigms of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Journal of Librarianship and Information Management, 1(1), 31-41.