Brief Intervention to Change Students’ Attitudes Regarding Library Research

Abstract

Many students who would benefit from a reference librarian’s help do not ask for assistance. This study experimentally tests whether having students read a brief passage can shift attitudes. Two hypotheses are experimentally tested: (1) students who read about students’ positive interactions with librarians will express significantly greater comfort to seek help from librarians; (2) students who read positive accounts of students’ efforts to become good researchers will express significantly greater willingness to work at becoming proficient researchers. The two hypotheses were not supported. However, students who read about positive interactions with librarians expressed significantly less confidence in their ability to conduct library research. This unexpected finding suggests that a brief intervention may be an effective way to begin a library instruction session.