Racial differences in library anxiety among graduate students

Abstract

This study compared the five subscale scores and total scale scores of the Library Anxiety Scale from 135 Caucasian‐American and 45 African‐American graduate students. Findings indicated that the Caucasian‐American sample reported significantly higher levels of library anxiety associated with three of the five subscales than did the African‐American sample. A canonical discriminant analysis also revealed significant differences between the two racial groups, with Caucasian‐American graduate students reporting significantly higher levels of library anxiety associated with the same three subscales than their African‐American counterparts. These findings suggest that race appears to be a predictor of library anxiety levels. The implications of the findings on academic library services and future research are discussed.