Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research

The review focuses on studies conducted since 1990, which show that school libraries can have a positive impact on student achievement-whether such achievement is measured in terms of reading scores, literacy or learning more generally-in the following key ways:

• a strong library program that is adequately staffed, resourced and funded can lead to higher student achievement regardless of the socioeconomic or educational levels of the adults in the community;
• a strong computer network connecting the library's resources to the classroom and laboratories has an impact on student achievement;
• the quality of the collection has an impact on student learning;
• test scores are higher when there is higher usage of the school library;
• collaborative relationships between classroom teachers and school librarians have a significant impact on learning, particularly in relation to the planning of instructional units, resource collection development, and the provision of professional development for teachers;
• a print-rich environment leads to more reading, and free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability, and writing style;
• integrating information literacy into the curriculum can improve students' mastery of both content and information seeking skills; and that
• libraries can make a positive difference to students' self-esteem, confidence, independence and sense of responsibility in regard to their own learning.

(Londsdale, M 2003 Impact of school libraries on student achievement: a review of the research, Report for the Australian School Library Association, Australian Council for Educational Research, Camberwell, Vic., p. iv.)

Last updated 4 May 2008