MTV to the Rescue: Changing Library Attitudes through Video

Abstract

Freshmen from small environments often are intimidated by a large campus and a large library. Knowledge about and respect for libraries and confidence in librarians are considered essential to overcoming student reluctance to make effective use of either. Students at a large public university were surveyed about library use and attitudes; 78 percent of the respondents were freshmen. Of the 1,879 respondents, 61.8 percent watched an eight-minute video, which was found to influence positively their self-projected future use of libraries as well as their attitudes about libraries and librarians. Comparisons also were drawn to faculty attitudes on the same campus.