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This chapter examines the efforts undertaken to restructure the legal education system in South Africa and Nigeria. It investigates the connection between contextual influences and professional development, particularly with respect to the concept of legal information literacy and the value of acquired educational skills in the context of legal practice. The chapter provides insights to the needs and challenges for graduate requirement for legal information literacy skills in the effort to ensure productivity in the legal education system in Africa. Data were obtained using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Outcomes from the study were supportive of the importance of information literacy as central to the development of professional competence. Findings also point to a need for greater collaboration between the legal education system and the legal profession in narrowing the gap between the teaching and practice of law specifically in the design and implementation of an information literacy framework for the legal education system.

This chapter analyzes the role of public libraries in providing access to information to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria. It examines some of the challenges experienced by the public library system in ensuring equitable access to information to such disadvantaged groups. It also looks at the concept of social exclusion in the context of public library services in Nigeria and how it can be tackled.

The study employed a survey method; data were collected through the administration of structured questionnaires to the study population.

Outcomes from the study point to a need for the development of a policy framework by the National Library of Nigeria and increased partnership between public libraries and other stakeholders in formulating more proactive strategies toward meeting the information needs of IDPs in the affected communities.

Implications from the findings of the study provide a basis by which more proactive measures can be taken toward intervention by public libraries and other stakeholders in the community.

Few studies on the public library in Nigeria have focused on addressing problems of disadvantaged groups in the society. This chapter has examined the fundamental role public libraries can play in confronting the social exclusion of IDPs and also provided useful insights to the nature of their information needs in their given context.

This chapter gives a general overview of the book, indicates the rich diversity of information literacy (IL) and information behaviour (IB) work carried out and is organised into four broad areas moving from the strategic to the highly contextualised. The four areas are specifically: strategic view; delivering information literacy education; the link between university and work; beyond higher education. The approach for each chapter is summarised. This chapter also examines the inter-related nature of the concepts of information literacy and information behaviour. It shows how these ideas are contextualised, theorised and researched. The authors argue that far from being conflicting approaches to the same problem of information capability, they are, in fact, complementary. Though these are epistemologically different both have much to offer in terms of explanation and also as tools for fostering information capability. The history of information literacy and information behaviour is overviewed and their inter-relation explored. It is argued that information literacy can be viewed as the practitioners’ model for delivering information capability whilst information behaviour, being more research focussed, explains it. A diagram is presented at the end of the chapter which helps to highlight and summarise the distinctions and similarities between IB and IL research.