Generative artificial intelligence reshapes university students' sustainable use of academic information resources: mixed evidence from behavioral logs and perceptual survey data

Introduction Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping how students retrieve and consume academic information, yet whether it substitutes for or complements library resources remains contested, and prior surveys rarely separate auxiliary from substitutive use. Methods This study uses a convergent triangulation design that combines multiple quantitative methods. It addresses the same set of research propositions by collecting perceptual-level questionnaire data and behavioral-level logs and platform usage statistics, analyzing them independently, and comparing the findings at the interpretation stage. Using 368 student questionnaires, we test an auxiliary-substitutive dual-path structural equation model and compare the results with an interrupted time-series analysis of 3.2 million print-loan logs (2017-2025) and digital-platform statistics from 2021 to the first half of 2026. Results Print-resource continuance intention is positively associated with deep-reading demand, but not significantly associated with auxiliary GenAI use. Survey results showed auxiliary GenAI use positively associated with digital-resource continuance intention, yet insufficiently distinct from perceived digital-resource convenience; platform data showed nascent use of embedded AI features. Substitutive GenAI use shows only a weak negative association with print-resource continuance intention, while the nine-year loan record reveals no significant level or trend change at the January 2023 breakpoint; task-channel fit shows no significant moderating effect. Discussion In this institution, findings align more with dual-channel coexistence than with the “AI-replaces-libraries” narrative; the survey-level substitution association has not yet appeared in aggregate borrowing behavior, informing collection development, service redesign, and AI-literacy education.