PREVALENCE OF LIBRARY ANXIETY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS

This study aimed to explore the frequency of library anxiety among the medical students (first year to fourth year) of Khyber Medical College (KMC), one of the oldest medical institutes of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Out of 1500 populations of the study, data were collected from 306 students using a convenient sampling technique. The AQAK library anxiety instrument was used to measure the respondents’ library anxiety level and significance differences with respect to respondents’ gender and their level/year of study. The study found that the respondents’ library anxiety level with respect to ‘‘library staff’ were little higher than the ‘user knowledge’. This study also reported that no significance difference was found between the male and female students with respect to library anxiety. However, the library anxiety mean score for the first-year students were little higher than the final year students. This study has not only filled a gap in the literature with respect to examining the library anxiety of medical students in the study context, but would also help the competent authority and medical librarians to formulate effective strategic plan to overcome the library anxiety level among the medical students, improve library services and provide users education