Self‐perception and library anxiety: an empirical study

The relationship between seven dimensions of self‐perception and five dimensions of library anxiety was studied using canonical correlation analyses. Participants were 148 students enrolled in graduate‐level research methodology courses. The first canonical function revealed that students with the lowest level of self‐perception associated with perceived scholastic competence, perceived intellectual ability, perceived creativity, and perceived social acceptance tended to have the highest level of library anxiety related to affective barriers and comfort with the library. A comparison of the standardized and structure coefficients suggested that perceived self‐worth, barriers with staff, and mechanical barriers served as suppressor variables that assisted in the prediction of library anxiety. Implications of the findings are discussed.