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The information age, where ICT is an essential tool for harnessing and disseminating information, has brought with it a number of very attractive innovations for libraries, such as the provision of information in electronic form, and the gradual move away from the just‐in‐case model, to the just‐in‐time service model, adopted by many libraries in the developed world. Many libraries in developing countries are still pondering the implications of going down the just‐in‐time route. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages for academic and research libraries, considers the experience of libraries in developed countries that have adopted the just‐in‐time model (using electronic resources) for services and draws lessons that academic and research libraries in developing countries can learn from.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why Africa's indigenous knowledge is not playing a more active and visible role in the knowledge economy and to the roles that academia and librarians must play for it to be so.

The paper's approach is to combine a literature review and discussion of the issues.

The importance of indigenous knowledge to development has been established over the years. Calls have been made for African universities to take indigenous knowledge into account in their teaching and research, and to view indigenous knowledge as valuable and as a way of addressing the view of Africa as a consumer of knowledge rather than a generator and contributor of knowledge. However, whilst there have been some initiatives in academia and in libraries to integrate indigenous knowledge into their activities, it has not been enough. The reasons are many and varied and stem largely from the globalizing and unifying nature of the world education system. However, this system does also offer an opportunity for African universities to distinguish themselves as African universities that have something different to offer the world.

The paper focuses on universities and libraries in Africa in general although Africa is a vast continent and there are differences in context.

Universities and libraries should look inward and find creative ways of integrating Western and indigenous knowledge systems in their teaching, research, engagement and information management.

The paper explores concrete ways that academia and libraries can address the matter of integrating indigenous knowledge into their activities to ensure recognition as being distinctively African.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings of the design and implementation of an online information literacy module to first‐year students at the University of Botswana.

The study population consisted of 103 first‐year students in the Department of Library and Information Studies. The population was divided into three equal groups of 34, 34 and 35, respectively, and each assigned a two‐hour slot in the smart computer laboratory weekly for five consecutive weeks, to cover five information literacy topics online. Each group was assigned a tutor who received assignments online and graded them. Each topic was followed by questions for students to answer.

Findings generally revealed that impartation of information literacy through the online mode could improve students' competencies perhaps more than the face‐to‐face instruction approach. Furthermore, respondents preferred a blended instruction approach to a single learning mode. Contrary to expectations, online instruction might not minimise the copying of each other's work among students to a great extent. Finally, online instruction does not necessarily reduce the amount of workload for staff and students, instead more time is needed to design and administer the course.

The study was limited to first year students in the LIS department. A similar study involving all departments in the University of Botswana would shed more light on the level of information literacy competency among first year students from a cross‐disciplinary perspective.

The major outcome of the study is a re‐usable online information literacy module. The study findings could also be useful in developing interventions to improve the design and delivery of online courses.

Information literacy is a key challenge facing educators all over the world. Case studies such as this provide unique and comparative experiences that advance existing knowledge. For the University of Botswana, the study provides a first insight into the impact of e‐learning on information literacy competency since the implementation WebCT in 2002.