Abstract：Using robot animal companions in the academic library to mitigate student stress Purpose The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the relationship between self-reported levels of acute stressperceived social support and interactions with robot animals in an academic libraryThe authors hypothesized that1participants would report lower stress and higher positive affect after their interaction with a robot support animal and2perceived supportiveness of the robot support animal would positively predict the amount of stress reduction the participants reportedDesignmethodologyapproach The authors hosted a robot petting zoo in the main library at a mid-sized Midwestern university during finals weekParticipants were asked to rate their stress level prior to interacting with the robot petsT1and then after their interaction they were asked about their current stress level and the perceived supportiveness of the robot animalT2Data were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for the pretest and post-test scoresFindings The results showed a significant decrease in acute stress between T1 to T2as well as a significant increase in happiness and relaxationParticipants reported feeling less bored and less tired after their interactions with the robot support animalsThe findings also reveal that the degree to which individuals experienced a reduction in stress was influenced by their perceptions of the robot animals supportivenessLibraries could consider using robot pet therapyOriginalityvalue This study reveals the benefit of robot support animals to reduce stress and increase happiness of those experiencing acute stress in a library settingThe authors also introduce the concept of socially supportive contact as a type of unidirectional social supportConsulting ServiceThis study uses robot animals as a consulting service in the library to help reduce studentspressureThe focus of this study is to explore the use of robots in academic libraries to support animals to reduce the acute pressure of studentsAfter the participants supported animalsthe participants reported that their pressure levels were reducedand they felt happier and relaxed