Bridging the digital divide: Integrating information literacy instruction to empower distance learners – a five-year systematic literature review (2020–2025)

The rapid expansion of digital and distance learning modalities has intensified the need for robust information literacy (IL) competencies among higher education students. This 5-year systematic literature review (2020–2025) synthesises 87 peer-reviewed studies to explore how IL instruction can bridge the digital divide and empower distance learners. Findings reveal that distance learners face critical challenges in advanced information search, evaluation, and academic use of digital content. Enablers of IL success include embedded librarianship, scaffolded IL instruction, inquiry-based learning, and discipline-specific IL integration. On the contrary, constraints relate to limited IL policies, weak faculty–librarian collaboration, poor ICT infrastructure, and low learner self-efficacy. The review concludes that integrating IL instruction into distance learning curricula is essential for learner empowerment, academic success, and lifelong learning. The study recommends institutional IL policies, structured collaborations, improved ICT resources, and sustained assessment frameworks to enhance IL outcomes in digital learning environments. Finally, a conceptual model for integrating IL into distance education is proposed, illustrating how inputs, processes, outputs, and learner outcomes interact to reduce the digital divide among learners and leading to enhanced quality of distance education.