P84: Prevalence of Information Seeking Anxiety in University Students

Information seeking anxiety can be interpreted as the fear and/or apprehension of searching for information resources during the information seeking process. The current study aims to determine the prevalence and correlates of the information seeking anxiety among a group of graduate students. The target population of the study comprised 11000 postgraduate students enrolled in various graduate programs at a research intensive university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Using stratified random sampling method, a sample of 365 students was drawn from the population. Participants were asked to complete the 38-item information seeking anxiety scale (ISAS) which was developed and validated by the researcher. Results of the study revealed that different levels (low, mild, moderate and severe) of information seeking anxiety were reported to have experienced by 96.5% of the studied students. Therefore, results show that information seeking anxiety is a prevalent phenomenon among university students Based on the mean score for various sub-scales of the information seeking anxiety scale (ISAS), the “barriers associated with libraries” dimension was found to be the most important source of information seeking anxiety. Moreover, among the various demographic factors, gender, level of study, age and frequency of library use were found to be correlates of the information seeking anxiety. Conversely, no associations were found between various subscales of the information seeking anxiety and nationality, information literacy skills instruction received, academic major and frequency of the internet use. The relatively high prevalence of information seeking anxiety among students strongly suggests the need for increased awareness of this phenomenon. By being aware of the prevalence of anxiety and characteristics of students who are at-risk, librarians and administrators will be in a better position to provide services and instructions which is the most effective to reduce levels of anxiety and, thus, prepare students to be more successful in their research activities.