Library Anxiety : in a Swedish Context

This Master’s thesis is the first to quantitatively study the prevalence of library anxiety at a Swedish university. Library anxiety is a concept describing the negative feelings students can experience when using the library. The study was conducted using web questionnaires sent out to 512 students at Växjö university. 38 % responded and the results were analysed with the help of, amongst other methods, correlation studies. The results were also compared to previous studies. The conclusion from the study was that the Swedish students didn’t seem to suffer from library anxiety to the same extent as students in previous international studies. It was estimated that around 5 % of the respondents suffered from library anxiety. The respondents were most anxious with respect to the information search process. To examine if any group of students suffered more library anxiety, several background questions were asked. It was found that the students’ library anxiety varied with respect to how often they visited the library and how long they had studied at Växjö university. Women were more likely to experience library anxiety than men regarding the library environment, while men were more anxious with respect to the information search process. Young respondents were more anxious than the older concerning the library staff, while the older ones were more library anxious regarding the library environment and the library’s technical resources. No connection was found between which department the respondent studied at and how much library anxiety he or she suffered.Uppsatsnivå: