Study of information literacy skills behind the prison wall in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study explores and recognizes the information literacy skills and the information resources used by the Sri Lankan prisoners. This study was carried out in the Welikada Prison, which is also known as the Magazine Prison: a maximum-security prison, as well as the largest prison in Sri Lanka. The survey research design was employed in the study, equipped with a simple questionnaire as the instrument. The subjects of the study were 80 male prisoners who were selected on the basis of random sampling method. The study gave birth to a number of findings with utmost importance, in relation to the information literacy skills of the inmates. Some of the major findings recommend that the prison administrators should have and maintain an effective collaboration with the prison library officers, while stressing the need of introducing a library hour for the inmates, facilitating them with adequate information sources and creating a conducive environment with in the prison walls, in order to promote the access to information sources and encourage the inmates to use the information literacy skills and available resources for their betterment.