Development of information literacy (IL) skills of undergraduates enables them to pursue their higher studies more effectively and make them effective life-long learners. This has become necessary as most of the students have the habit of getting the knowledge component from either in the school or at an external class. In order to assess reading habits and ICT skills etc. of the students admitted to the University, two consecutive surveys carried out in 2007 and 2008 and summary of the findings are given. It also narrates the efforts taken to offer an IL skills development programme for undergraduate students with the outline of the syllabus prepared. The pilot project conducted in 2008 was not successful and probable reasons and future plans are discussed.Keywords: Information literacy, User education, Higher education, University of KelaniyaJournal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka, Vol.13 (Special Issue). 2009 5-22

Bibliometric analysis is used by an increasing number of researchers in the field of Library and Information Sciences (LIS). University libraries, which spend large amounts of fund annually to acquire information sources, face enormous problems related to the selection and the weeding out of publications. To minimize or overcome these problems, bibliometric studies are often used by librarians. The objective of the study is to ascertain bibliometric features visible in the field of Library and Information Sciences. For this purpose, 50 theses submitted for the Master of LIS degree (MLS) of the University of Colombo and 20 theses submitted for the Master of Social Science in LIS (MSSc) of the University of Kelaniya were analyzed. From those 70 theses, a total of 4,901 citations were extracted using the lists of references and bibliographies provided as the main source of primary data. These citations were cross classified and tabulated according to a number of variables. It was revealed that books were the most heavily used source material, accounting for 39% of citations, while journals category coming next with 34% of citations. Most heavily used book was the "Organizational Behavior" by Robbins, (2001). "College and Research Libraries" is found to be the most heavily used journal. Within the span of 11 year study period, 485 journals were cited. A total of 1, 664 citations originated from these journals. The journal "College and Research Libraries" ranks as the first in the core journals list with 66 citations. "Library news" which ranks the second place accounts for 52 citations. The mean half-life of all citations is almost 9 years, while the mean half-life for journals and books are 7 years and 13 years, respectively. Findings of the study are in conformity with the previously reported research findings, which also reports that books as the main source material for research studies in LIS fields.

University libraries in Sri Lanka functioned without any formal coordination during the initial period of 1942 to 1986. However, due to the intervention of His Excellency the President, Mr. J.R. Jayewardene in his capacity as the Minister of Higher Education, a coordination mechanism evolved in the form of a Standing Sub-Committee of the University Grants Commission. This was named the 'Inter University Committee of Librarians' (IUCL) and renamed as the 'Standing Committee of Libraries and Information Sciences' (SCOLIS) in March, 2003. The IUCL / SCOLIS was instrumental in airing the need to improve library infrastructure, manpower resources, funding, dialogue with the teaching staff, ICT facilities and a host of other issues. Above anything else, it acted as the main communication channel between the University Librarians and the UGC. The foregoing discussion provides a brief overview of this aspect.