Information literacy skills training has, especially over the last decade, become a core function of academic libraries and librarians throughout the world. The growing number of expensive electronic information sources that libraries subscribe to makes it essential for them to justify this expense by ensuring that their users are effectively trained in how to use the databases. The University of South Africa, as a large distance education institution, has a significant amount of remotely situated students, which makes proper information literacy skills training even more important, since this then empowers them to use the library's resources wherever they are. The University of South Africa (Unisa) Library has its main campus in Muckleneuk, Pretoria. Over the past decade or more, information literacy skills training has been a core function of this library, and has proved to be very successful. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the different types of training conducted by the Unisa Library, both for staff and students, looking specifically at how (training methods, format of material etc), for whom (target groups) and by whom (trainers/presenters) the various types of training are conducted, and the frequency of the different types of training. Training of this kind, particularly since it usually involves large groups of staff and/or students, obviously presents Unisa's librarians with many challenges as well as opportunities. Among the challenges are the following: • Staff perceptions and attitudes ie in terms of library staff • Inadequate resources for training large groups • Large numbers of remote students- online training material is not yet fully formulated and implemented • The more disadvantaged clients usually do not have access to computers at home or work- this detracts from the long-term success of training • Cultural diversity • Differing levels of computer and information literacy • Branch libraries have been traditionally disadvantaged in terms of resources, staff and training opportunities On the positive side, some of the opportunities for information literacy skills training at the Unisa Library are as follows: ∎ Training leads to more self-sufficient and empowered clients ∎ The library's training venue at its main campus in Pretoria, the Electronic Learning Centre, was revamped in 2006, which means that it now has better resources and equipment with which to conduct training ∎ There is a great opportunity to develop and motivate staff to become active participants in information literacy skills training ∎ More involvement of the branches in the training of library users will empower them and enable them to market themselves better to their clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]