Rozifa Akhtar; Md. Jahangir Alam; Bilkis Begum2024-08-312024-08-312023Akhtar R, Alam MJ, Begum B (2023) Measuring Library Anxiety of Students in University Libraries of Bangladesh Applying Bostick’s Scale. KYAU Journal. 6(1), 116-124.2791-3759http://dspace.iiuc.ac.bd/handle/123456789/8331Academic achievement can be significantly impacted by using library resources and services, but anxiety about libraries may limit students' willingness to use them. Less initiative is taken to assess user anxiety levels in academic libraries in Bangladesh. This study assessed library anxiety levels, evaluated the effect of library anxiety on comfort with library service and technology as well as measured individual differences in library anxiety by different demographic groups applying Bostick's Library Anxiety Scale (LAS). Bostick's LAS was adapted as per the academic library environment, including forty-eight items under five dimensions with a five point Likert scale. A survey was conducted among 392 students from two private, one international and two public universities in Bangladesh. For data analysis, negatively worded statements were reverse-scored so that all the statements were scored in the same direction. The multiple regression analysis was done to evaluate the effect of library anxiety on comfort with library service and technology. The individual differences in library anxiety were computed through ANOVA and Independent Sample T-test by different demographic groups. The overall mean score of library anxiety was 3.99 out of 5, indicating that library anxiety level was reasonably low among the students. Affective and staff barriers significantly affected comfort with library services as well as affective, cognitive, and staff barriers significantly affected comfort with library technology. The overall and dimensional library anxiety was significantly different among the users by category of university and user. Numerous statistical methods supported sampling adequacy, reliability, and validity of the adapted scale that will prompt further studies on assessing library anxiety in academic libraries locally and globally. The findings would have significant policy and practical implications for developing and implementing strategies that help students feel less anxious and do better academically.enEffectLibrary anxietyBostick’s ScaleIndividual DifferenceUniversity librariesBangladeshArticle