Library Anxiety of Law Students: A Study Utilizing the Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale

161 Pages·2015·0.67 MB·English

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies
1-1-2010
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Stacey L. Bowers
University of Denver
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Bowers, Stacey L., "Library Anxiety of Law Students: A Study Utilizing the Multidimensional Library Anxiety
Scale" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 766.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/766
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LIBRARY ANXIETY OF LAW STUDENTS: A STUDY UTILIZING THE

MULTIDIMENSIONAL LIBRARY ANXIETY SCALE

__________

A Dissertation
Presented to
the Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver

__________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

__________

by
Stacey L. Bowers
June, 2010
Advisor: Dr. Sylvia Hall-Ellis
©Copyright by Stacey L. Bowers 2010
All Rights Reserved
Author: Stacey L. Bowers
Title: LIBRARY ANXIETY OF LAW STUDENTS: A STUDY UTILIZING THE
MULTIDIMENSIONAL LIBRARY ANXIETY SCALE
Advisor: Dr. Sylvia Hall-Ellis
Degree Date: June, 2010
Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether law students experienced
library anxiety and, if so, which components contributed to that anxiety. The
Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale (MLAS) developed by Dr. Doris Van Kampen
was used to assess library anxiety levels of law students. The MLAS is a 53 question
Likert scale instrument that measures the construct of library anxiety. Participants in the
study were law students enrolled in a private midwestern university during the 2009-2010
academic year who completed the survey instrument.
Law students are a unique graduate school population who undergo an extremely
rigorous and competitive course of study, which often involves detailed legal research.
As a result, they frequently utilize the library, whether on-site or online. If law students
suffer from high levels of library anxiety, it could impact their ability to complete
assignments and achieve high academic excellence. Through better understanding of law
students’ library anxiety levels, law school educators and librarians may be in a position
to begin reducing or alleviating those anxieties.
Due to the fact that this was the first time the MLAS was used with law students
and only its second use, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The confirmatory
factor analysis resulted in an inadequate fit. As a result, a principal components analysis
was undertaken, which resulted in six components that were somewhat similar, but not
identical, to the prior research study using the MLAS instrument. The six identified
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components were named as follows: (i) general library and research anxiety
(LibResearch); (ii) comfort with technology and online access (TechOnline); (iii)
perceived value of the understanding how to use the library (ValueLib); (iv) comfort with
the library as a physical place (ComfortLib); (v) perceived value of using the library in-
person (LibInperson); and, (vi) comfort with the library staff (LibStaff).
The findings of this study indicated that law students exhibit moderate levels of
overall library anxiety and varying levels of library anxiety on the six components. In
particular, evening division law students had higher levels of library anxiety as it
pertained to comfort with the library staff. Also, law students who used the library in
person one or fewer times per semester encountered greater library anxiety as it pertained
to general library and research anxiety. Additionally, law students who used the library
online one or fewer times per semester had higher library anxiety related to comfort with
technology and online access. Results indicated that overall library anxiety and on the six
components did not differ based upon gender or year in law school. Lastly, library
anxiety on the six components did not differ based upon law students’ age or grade point
average ranges.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to extend special thanks to Dr. Sylvia Hall-Ellis for her unending
encouragement through this process and to my other committee members Dr. Kathy
Green, Dr. Edith King, and Professor Celia Taylor. I also would like to extend my
appreciation to the faculty and staff of the Morgridge College of Education. Additionally,
I would like to thank my colleagues at the Sturm College of Law for their support with
this undertaking.
I want to offer my thanks to Dr. Doris Van Kampen for her prior research in this
area and for allowing me to use the Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale.
I would like to express my love and gratitude to my husband, James Middleton,
who was incredibly supportive during this process and willing to quell my crazy
moments. I would also like to express my love to my parents and sisters, who supported
me on this path from afar. Without all of them, this dissertation would have never come
to fruition.
Lastly, I would like to thank my friends who were there to support and encourage
me when I needed it and to also celebrate with me.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
Introduction to the Problem .................................................................................... 1
Need for the study. ...................................................................................... 3
Theoretical framework. ............................................................................... 5
Research site details. ................................................................................... 6
Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................ 8
Research Questions ................................................................................................. 8
Limitations .............................................................................................................. 9
Assumptions ............................................................................................................ 9
Definition of Terms................................................................................................. 9
Summary of Chapter One ..................................................................................... 11
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ............................................................................ 12
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 12
Legal Research Skills and their Importance ......................................................... 12
The MacCrate Report. ............................................................................... 13
Legal research literature. ........................................................................... 15
Shift to online legal research..................................................................... 17
The Carnegie Foundation Report. ............................................................. 22
Library Anxiety Literature .................................................................................... 23
Information Search Process Model. .......................................................... 25
Development of the Library Anxiety Scale. ............................................. 27
Library anxiety research. .......................................................................... 28
Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale.................................................. 34
Further library anxiety research. ............................................................... 38
Summary of Chapter Two ..................................................................................... 38
Chapter Three: Methodology ............................................................................................ 40
Research Purpose and Questions .......................................................................... 40
Subjects ................................................................................................................. 41
Instrument ............................................................................................................. 42
Research Procedures ............................................................................................. 48
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 49
Summary of Chapter Three ................................................................................... 51
Chapter Four: Results ....................................................................................................... 52
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 52
Demographic Statistics ......................................................................................... 52
Data Screening ...................................................................................................... 54
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ............................................................................... 55
Principal Components Analysis ............................................................................ 57
Internal consistency. ................................................................................. 66
Research Questions and Analysis ......................................................................... 70
Question 1. ................................................................................................ 71
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Question 1a. .............................................................................................. 79
Question 1b. .............................................................................................. 81
Question 1c. .............................................................................................. 84
Question 1d. .............................................................................................. 86
Question 1e. .............................................................................................. 88
Question 1f. ............................................................................................... 90
Summary of Chapter 4 ........................................................................................ 103
Chapter Five: Conclusion ............................................................................................... 105
Summary of Research Findings .......................................................................... 105
Question 1 – what levels of library anxiety do law students exhibit? .... 106
Question 1a – what is the difference in library anxiety levels of male and
female law students? ............................................................................... 108
Question 1b – how much does the difference in library anxiety levels of
law students vary according to enrollment in the day or evening division?
................................................................................................................. 109
Question 1c – how does the level of library anxiety differ among first,
second, third, or fourth year law students? ............................................. 109
Question 1d – how much does the difference in library anxiety levels of
law students vary according to age? ....................................................... 110
Question 1e – how much does the difference in library anxiety levels of
law students vary according to a specific grade point average range? ... 111
Question 1f – how does the difference in library anxiety levels of law
students vary according to frequency of library use, both in-person and
online? ..................................................................................................... 112
Limitations of the Research ................................................................................ 114
Recommendations for Future Research .............................................................. 115
Summary of Chapter Five ................................................................................... 118
References ....................................................................................................................... 119
Appendix A ..................................................................................................................... 123
Appendix B ..................................................................................................................... 127
Appendix C ..................................................................................................................... 129
Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 130
Appendix E ..................................................................................................................... 132
Appendix F...................................................................................................................... 133
Appendix G ..................................................................................................................... 137
Appendix H ..................................................................................................................... 142
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Appendix I ...................................................................................................................... 144
Appendix J ...................................................................................................................... 145
Appendix K ..................................................................................................................... 146
Appendix L ..................................................................................................................... 147
Appendix M .................................................................................................................... 148
Appendix N ..................................................................................................................... 149

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List of Tables and Figures

Tables

Table 1 Percentage of Participants by Year in Law School and Gender………… 41

Table 2 Percentage of Participants by Gender and Age Range………………….. 41

Table 3 Percentage of Participants by Gender and GPA Range…………………. 42

Table 4 Demographic Descriptive Statistics……………………………………... 53

Table 5 Initial Eigenvalues and Loadings for Original Principal Components
Analysis Solution………………………………………………………… 59

Table 6 Initial Eigenvalues and Loadings for Six Component Solution…..……... 61

Table 7 Loadings on Initial Six Component Structure…………………………… 64

Table 8 Loadings on Final Six Component Structure……………………………. 68

Table 9 Potential Low, High, and Mean Scores and Standard Deviation,
Skewness, and Kurtosis for Overall Library Anxiety……………………. 72

Table 10 Low, High, and Mean Scores and Standard Deviation, Skewness,
And Kurtosis for the Six Components…………………………………… 74

Table 11 Repeated Measures ANOVA Across the Six Components……………… 76

Table 12 Paired Samples t-Test for LibResearch and the Other Five Components.. 77

Table 13 Paired Samples t-Test for TechOnline and the Other Five Components... 77

Table 14 Paired Samples t-Test for ValueLib and the Other Five Components…... 78

Table 15 Paired Samples t-Test for ComfortLib and the Other Five Components... 78

Table 16 Paired Samples t-Test for LibInperson and the Other Five Components... 79

Table 17 Paired Samples t-Test for LibStaff and the Other Five Components……. 79

Table 18 Levene’s Test of Equality – Gender……………………………………… 80

Table 19 Analysis of Variance for Overall Library Anxiety and the Six
Components and Gender…………………………………………………. 81
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