Public Services Quarterly

ISSN: 1522-8959 (Print) 1522-9114 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wpsq20

The Student Connection: Thinking Critically on

Library Anxiety and Information Literacy

Zoe Blecher-Cohen

To cite this article: Zoe Blecher-Cohen (2019) The Student Connection: Thinking Critically
on Library Anxiety and Information Literacy, Public Services Quarterly, 15:4, 359-367, DOI:
10.1080/15228959.2019.1664361

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Public Services Quarterly, 15: 359–367, 2019
Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1522-8959 print/1522-9114 online
DOI: 10.1080/15228959.2019.1664361

FUTURE VOICES IN LIBRARY SERVICES

Miriam L. Matteson, Column Editor

Column description. The Future Voices in Public Services

column is a forum for graduate students in library and
information science programs to discuss key issues in academic
library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in
public service have to offer to academia, to tell us their visions
for the profession, or to share research being conducted in
library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those
entering our field, in both the United States and other countries.
Interested students in library and information science programs
are invited to contact Miriam L. Matteson, mmattes1@kent.edu.

The Student Connection: Thinking Critically

on Library Anxiety and Information Literacy

ZOE BLECHER-COHEN
Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University, Brookville,
NY, USA

If we wait for students to come to us, we’ve already failed them. In aca-
demic librarianship it’s common to talk about “meeting students where
they are at” and while that’s certainly an important practice, what about all
the students who aren’t even at the library or other outreach locations?

ß Zoe Blecher-Cohen
Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Column Editor: Miriam L. Matteson,
School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University, 274 E. First Ave.,
Columbus, OH 43201, USA. E-mail: mmattes1@kent.edu
Address correspondence to Zoe Blecher-Cohen, Palmer School of Library and Information
Science, Long Island University, 720 Northern Blvd, Brookville, NY 11548, USA. Email:
zbc210@nyu.edu

359
360 Future Voices in Public Services

What about all the students who don’t know about the resources and serv-
ices we are so willing to offer them? What about the students who just
don’t know what the library is for? What about the ones who are too
uncomfortable to go to the library or use our online resources?
The transition from high school to undergraduate life can be difficult
enough for students who are well prepared academically and socially – those
who are not as prepared may find themselves lost in a confusing sea of aca-
demic jargon while attempting entirely new types of assignments. These are
the exact students who might benefit the most from academic library services,
but unfortunately, the college library is often one of the sources of
their anxiety.
Library anxiety, first identified by Constance Mellon, was defined in
her 1986 paper as “a feeling that other students were competent at library
use while they alone were incompetent, that this lack of competence was
somehow shameful and must be kept hidden, and that asking questions
would lead to a revelation of their incompetence” (Mellon, 1986, pp. 163).
Her study found that 75 80% of students’ initial impressions of and reac-
tions to library usage were coded with language of fear and anxiety
(Mellon, 1986, pp. 162). Additional research has identified effective bar-
riers with library staff as the most prominent cause of student library anx-
iety (Blundell & Lambert, 2014; Head, 2013), showing the importance of
fostering positive connections with students as well as creating organized,
welcoming environments.
This is especially crucial in the first year of college since student use
of academic libraries is known to be highly correlated with future student
success and retention (Jameson, Natal, & Napp, 2019; Soria, Fransen, &
Nackerud, 2017a, 2017b). In addition, first-year and further undergraduate
use of academic libraries are highly correlated with and strongly predicted
by previous library use in high school settings (Whitmire, 2001). However,
studies have shown that students who are first-generation college students,
nonwhite, or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds make less use of
university library resources overall (Jiao & Onwuegbuzie, 1995; Soria,
Nackerud, & Peterson, 2015; Whitmire, 2001), and students who speak
English as a second language are more likely to have higher levels of
library anxiety (Sinnasamy & Karim, 2016).
If the students who are most likely to need our help aren’t interacting
with the library and its resources, all the excellent information literacy pro-
graming in the world won’t make a difference. And information literacy
intervention is sorely needed at the introductory undergraduate level –
studies show that graduating high school students score poorly on tests of
information literacy (Smith, Given, Julien, Ouellette, & Delong, 2013) and
that what skills they do learn in high school often don’t carry over to the
university setting (Saunders, Severyn, & Caron, 2017). In addition, access
 Future Voices in Public Services 361

to information literacy education at the primary school level often depends

on the availability and training of school media specialists which can vary
widely based on location and funding levels.
Anecdotally, professors I have spoken with have received citations and
bibliographies containing just URLs from first-year students, demonstrating
either a lack of understanding or motivation of the importance of creating a
proper citation. Good programing needs to address both concerns if we want
students to be self-motivated to continue improving their research and citation
skills. Especially for students who have had no meaningful connections with
libraries, it is important to emphasize the practical applications of the informa-
tion literacy skills we want them to learn. It is not enough to say “plagiarism is
bad, don’t do it” – this just leads to ever more creative methods of avoiding
plagiarism checkers and a sense of us versus them which is antithetical to our
work as academic librarians. If we take off our “librarian hats” and try to
empathize with students rather than judging them for things like using
Wikipedia or Google to do research, we can begin to build a better student-
centered support system.
It can be hard not to view students’ rejection of library resources as a
rejection of the library’s importance - and consequently our own import-
ance. As a current graduate student and an observer of many research
consultations at work, it is clear that students use what they know and are
comfortable with; the feeling of mastery being very important in their
choice of resource. The research process is inherently anxiety-inducing
(Papanastasiou & Zembylas, 2008) and students are known to overestimate
their information literacy skills (Gross & Latham, 2007), possibly a self-pro-
tecting measure that protects them from the critical shame aspect of library
anxiety. If we want students to embrace the use of library search functions
and databases, they need to be presented not as an intimidating, fancier
alternative to resources students already know how to use but as simply
an extension of those tools.
Therefore, the focus of our information literacy campaigns should not
be how to do research “properly” but how to research more effectively
and powerfully. We can’t force students to care about building information
literacy skills, but we can show them how those skills can be practically
applicable to their own lives. In addition, focusing on “correct” or “proper”
research implies that there is a wrong way to search (as opposed to sim-
ply less effective or efficient ones) and can, therefore, cause shame in
those students who never had the opportunity to learn research
skills before.
This shame, shown to be an important part of library anxiety by
McAfee, “ … is a painful and isolating experience, and most users who are
in these shame states believe they are the only ones with these feelings.
On a micro level, every library anxiety survey and outreach initiative is an
362 Future Voices in Public Services

effort to normalize shame and bring students out of isolation” (McAfee,

2018, p. 252). By changing our focus to the efficiency of the methods we
would like to teach, it allows for a more value neutral approach which also
addresses student motivation more directly. Most students are not motivated
by an inherent drive to improve their research skills, so focusing on “good”
or “proper” research techniques is an ineffective method of teaching.
If, instead, we try to think from a student perspective and recognize
that most of them have some research competencies simply from the cur-
rent ubiquity of digital information production and sharing (Mackey &
Jacobson, 2011) and more importantly, that students believe that they are
competent at researching (regardless of their actual abilities), it’s clear that
they have no need for “good” research skills. Explaining to students that
our methods can make their research more efficient and accurate, how-
ever, can potentially be a good draw. As people we often seek to do
things as quickly and easily as possible, so the idea of accomplishing
assignments more quickly and with less struggle would certainly appeal to
students. This shift in perspective turns using things like Boolean opera-
tors and citation management tools from additional work into potential
advantages. While the information literacy skills we want them to learn
would remain the same, focusing on their efficiency, effectiveness, and
applicability to everyday life would more directly address stu-
dent concerns.
While, as trained librarians, we may appreciate the inherent import-
ance of determining the authority and audience of a particular author, this
may not seem critical to students who might assume that all academic
writing is the same. However, if it is connected to current events and pop
culture using examples like Russian bots or internet trolls, we can demon-
strate more relatably that “authority is constructed and contextual,”
(American Library Association, 2015) one of the main frames for informa-
tion literacy. In addition to being more relatable, using concrete, real life
examples in teaching have been shown to reduce other types of situ-
ational anxieties (Wilson, 1998).
It is especially important that these tools and general research skills
are communicated effectively to first year students, particularly those
whose backgrounds have not afforded them the same education opportu-
nities as their peers. The feeling of shame which can be such a crippling
aspect of library anxiety is mainly predicated on the idea that one should
already have these skills and that others already do (Mellon, 1986, pp.
163). This idea evolves into a vicious cycle that prevents students from
getting the help that they need because they believe that asking questions
will reveal that shameful ignorance, so they don’t often reach out or take
advantage of important library resources.
 Future Voices in Public Services 363

This shame was apparent during my hours shadowing at the refer-

ence desk of my university, where students who did make it to the
desk would often preface questions with “I’m sorry … ” or “I know this
is stupid, but … ”. The librarians I shadowed who were most effective
at putting students at ease made the reference process a collaborative
one, not a one-way street of information dissemination. Often, they also
adopted a more casual register, aiming to match the way students were
speaking (or typing, with our virtual chat service) rather than maintain-
ing more formal vocabulary and speech patterns. This type of linguistic
matching is known to build rapport between individuals, thereby sub-
consciously promoting feelings of empathy and acceptance in reference
interviews (Stock, 2009). Since studies have consistently shown that a
crucial factor of library anxiety is “barriers with staff” (Blundell &
Lambert, 2014; Head, 2013; Mellon, 1986), these kinds of positive inter-
actions can help reduce future anxiety among those students who make
it to the reference desk.
For those students that have either too much anxiety or too little
motivation to come to the reference desk, we need to focus on productive
methods of outreach that appeal to their concerns and needs. While class-
room instruction has been the most common method of reaching first year
students, such teaching often occurs right at the beginning of their pro-
grams when they are still adjusting to university life. Since this transition is
already so fraught with anxiety and excitement, one-off instruction ses-
sions by librarians can get lost in the information deluge first years are
experiencing. Additionally, studies have shown that students generally pre-
fer the just-in-time method of learning (Daland, 2015), where teaching
occurs much closer in time to the actual research need and is, therefore,
more salient. While limited in adjusting classroom instruction timing, libra-
ries can aim to offer their basic research skills workshops slightly later in
the first semester when students are not overwhelmed by the demands of
orientation programing and settling in. These workshops are important for
reaching those students who are motivated to improve their skills but
would otherwise get lost in the transition period.
In order to reach those students who use the library website, if not
the physical library, one option is to prominently provide resources for
learning how to use various library systems. This can include not just
instructions on how to do a basic catalog search but how to read a call
number and, importantly, a glossary of terms. Confusing or niche
vocabulary can make an already intimidating system seem impenetrable
and can further cause vulnerable students to feel alienated (Johnston,
2019). By providing uni or multilingual glossaries (like the one created
by the Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee of the ACRL) and
simplifying the phrasing on library webpages, we can create more
364 Future Voices in Public Services

approachable and equitable interfaces which should help to reduce web-

based library anxiety.
To decrease anxiety in students who might physically go to the library
but are uncomfortable there or anxious about using its resources, promin-
ently displaying a “question board” could be useful. Although many libra-
ries provide FAQ pages online, these are not always easy to locate and,
importantly, cover what librarians think patrons need to know rather than
what students are necessarily concerned about. Students could submit
anonymous questions for this board which would then be posted with the
librarian's answer – while more labor intensive, this type of anonymous
public display shows students that they are not alone in their concerns.
Since library anxiety is predicated on this feeling of isolation, seeing that
other students have the same questions they do should help to alleviate
some of that worry.
Reducing these affective barriers to library usage is especially import-
ant in reaching incoming first-year students. First impressions make a sig-
nificant impact on how we feel about people and places, so a negative
first interaction with an academic library could cause students to avoid
using it in the future. While some may choose to study at libraries which
they are more familiar with, like a local public library (Antell, 2004), others
will simply end up not using library resources at all and make do with
Google or other internet options. Although using these alternatives is not
bad in and of itself, if students don’t have the information literacy skills
needed to accurately evaluate the resources they find, their research and
learning will suffer.
In trying to teach these all-important information literacy skills, we
have to consider how they are presented to students and whether or not
our instruction is actually addressing student concerns. This is especially
critical when attempting to reach first-year students who can easily slip
through the cracks - either due to their own ambivalence about libraries
and research or our own ineffective outreach. First-year students are at a
critical point in their academic careers and if we can engage them in
meaningful library instruction and promote their library usage, we can
help prepare them for future success. By designing programs that focus
on approaching these issues from the perspective of student concerns, we
can also mitigate some of the stress and possible shame associated with
the transition from high school to college and the interaction with new
environments, like the university library.
Another way to reach students in a less stressful environment is to
interact directly with them on a departmental basis. While this role is usu-
ally played by subject specialists who may do one-off field-specific instruc-
tion sessions and offer research consultations, an alternative connection
could be made by utilizing graduate students or advanced undergraduates
 Future Voices in Public Services 365

within the actual departments. By training interested students in basic

information literacy and research skills, they can serve as a front-line out-
reach program for the library and a point of reference for the services
it offers.
While many libraries now utilize student workers for first-level reference
desk interactions, a practice which has also been shown to increase student
comfort with approaching the desk (Brenza, Kowalsky, & Brush, 2015; Faix,
2014; Gratz & Gilbert, 2011), utilizing students within departments would
allow for a much wider impact than possible using a standard reference
model. Not only would students have higher availability than subject special-
ists, but they are also more likely to be familiar with the types of assignments
and research methods their peers encounter (Brenza, Kowalsky, & Brush,
2015, pp. 726). Practicality-wise, they are more likely to encounter other stu-
dents with questions, simply by being in the same physical locations and
classes, which creates more opportunities for reference interactions. In add-
ition, these student liaisons will have the opportunity to engage more deeply
with research methodology through training and interaction with their subject
specialist – making this type of embedded position especially ideal for
advanced undergraduates and early career graduate students.
Engaging and educating the modern university student, especially first
years, requires flexibility not only in programing but also in how we view
traditional structures and roles. Where does the library begin and end?
Who does the work of teaching information literacy skills and answering
questions? If we can expand beyond the librarian-student, faculty-student,
or librarian/faculty-student models to one that incorporates both other stu-
dents and other spaces, it is possible that we can reach a much wider
audience, including those students who have traditionally not been willing
or able to interact with libraries and library services.

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