Why Do Students Seek Help in an Age of DIY? Using a Qualitative Approach to Look beyond Statistics

National statistics indicate that academic libraries are experiencing declines in reference transactions, but the references services in some libraries continue to thrive. While many studies explore reasons that students do not seek assistance from librarians, there is limited research explaining why students do ask for help. The authors conducted a study to answer two questions: (1) How do undergraduate students look for information? (2) What prompted the students to seek out help from a librarian? To answer these questions, the authors conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students who had received reference assistance. An important theme that emerged from the interviews was students' preferences to search independently without assistance. Despite this "do-it-yourself" mentality, students aware of library research consultation services still continue to seek out assistance for librarians when stressful and time-consuming research questions arise. The findings from this study will help librarians better market their research services and understand how students perceive the help-seeking process. I think our generation is really good at finding information. If we can't find it then I'll [sic] just rephrase it and type in Google and see if other hits come up," commented one Pepperdine University undergraduate about how today's students approach research. With national reference transactions at doctoral institutions declining 60 percent between 2005 and 2014, many librarians fear that students who share this attitude will be less likely to view librarians as a valuable resource for research help. (1) While the 13 percent rise in reference interactions at Pepperdine University between 2012 and 2014 is notably different than comparative national statistics, these numbers only show usage without explaining context. Why are our students increasingly seeking the help of librarians? In addition to identifying reasons for students' decisions to approach librarians, the authors wanted to explore how students independently look for information and to examine help-seeking behavior from the students' perspective. We determined that a qualitative approach using one-onone interviews would be more effective than surveys because it would allow us to follow up with additional questions and gain insight into our students' research habits. There are three important benefits to understanding students' information-seeking approaches and their motivations for seeking help. First, our study can aid in determining how students decide to approach librarians. We wanted to know if students seek research help in response to referrals from faculty and fellow students or whether it could be attributed to a direct interaction with a library staff member via class instruction or public service desk. This information can help librarians increase reference transactions. Second, learning more about what students' perceived as helpful during their time with librarians provides much-needed feedback about the skills students gain as a direct result of working with librarians. The students' perspective of their experiences with librarians will also reveal if there are real or perceived barriers preventing students from making connections with librarians. Third, by learning about how students search for information independently, librarians will better understand their mindset and how they approach research. This knowledge will provide guidance for information literacy efforts. BACKGROUND Pepperdine University is a racially diverse Christian liberal arts institution nestled in the hills of Malibu, California. It has 3,300 FTE undergraduate students, the majority of whom receive library instruction during First-Year Seminar and English 101 courses. Additionally, most students will receive library instruction in capstone classes and other courses that have been designated "research intensive. " Pepperdine has a strong library subject liaison program, and public services staff in the undergraduate library will commonly refer students to the subject specialists for assistance with difficult research questions. …