Information literacy efforts in academic libraries commonly target first-year students as a way to ensure that students learn foundational research skills at the beginning of their college experience. However, little has been written about different populations within the category of first-year students. First-year students may come to college with a variety of different experiences, concerns, and backgrounds. In this study, the researchers explored how students from several different first-year learning communities described their previous experience with libraries, research, and their perceived preparation for college-level research. The researchers found that different groups of first-year students did express varying perceptions about their level of preparedness for college research, research anxiety, and perception of librarians at the beginning of their college experience. An end of year survey after a library intervention showed a reduction in research anxiety and increased confidence for some groups of students. These findings support library efforts to tailor instruction to the needs of a particular student group.

高校图书馆中的信息素养工作通常以一年级学生为目标，以确保学生在大学学习之初就学习基础研究技能。但是，关于一年级学生类别中的不同人群的文献很少。一年级学生可能会以各种不同的经历，关注点和背景来上大学。在这项研究中，研究人员探索了来自多个不同的一年级学习社区的学生如何描述他们先前在图书馆，研究领域的经验以及他们为大学水平研究所做的准备。研究人员发现，不同类别的一年级学生确实对他们对大学研究的准备程度，研究焦虑，在大学学习初期就对图书馆员有所了解。图书馆干预后的年终调查显示，研究焦虑有所减轻，对某些学生群体的信心增强。这些发现支持图书馆为使教学适应特定学生群体的需求而做出的努力。