A study of factors affecting the information literacy of graduate students in Birjand University and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

The present research, employing survey method, studied the extent to which 4 factors of “graduate student's background”, “libraries of the university”, “faculty staff”, and “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities of the university” impact the information literacy of graduate students in Birjand University as well as Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The results showed a significant difference between the levels of influence for each factor. By means of a Likert-type scale, 2 factors of “graduate student's background” and “ICT facilities of the university” were evaluated to be as influential on student's information literacy at a medium to high level; the factor “faculty staff” proved to be influential at a medium level, and the factor “libraries of the university” at a low to medium level. Statistical test of the hypotheses revealed that only for the impact of the “faculty staff” on the information literacy of students, there was a significant difference between the subject areas; none of the other factors proved to be significantly different in these regards. Also, in regards with student's background features and its impact on information literacy, there was a significant difference between graduate and doctoral candidates. In terms of “students’ background features”, comparison of the Mean ranks showed no significant difference between Ferdowsi and Birjand universities, however, the differences in terms of other 3 factors were statistically significant.